Forum Moderators: buckworks
a) the user puts an item in a shopping cart
b) the user completes the order form
c) the user process survives the shipping selection
d) the user completes the credit card process
There are many other in between steps where we
lose customers, but they are not measureable, and b,c,d may be combined for some sites.
Once the user puts something in the shopping cart, their is a 25% chance they will complete the order fullfillment process. I lose aprox 25% of my orders between b,c,d so this works out to the industry standard.
I sell retail goods in the under $100 range, and my industry is well developed. What im finding is that the big hurdle is getting the user to place something in the shopping cart in the first place. If 1.8% is the normal conversion rate for orders, then close to 8% of users should be putting things in their shopping baskets in the first place. Or 1 in 12 will commit to the first stage of the shopping process.
Do you find that these numbers are in line for your business?.
Most websites will have not just 1 "conversion rate" that must be tracked, but should be monitoring several conversion rates as customers progress through the sales process.
In my offering, a B2B online service, I track the following "conversion rates" as a way to figure out where work needs to be done:
1/ First hit to subsequent page view (i.e. did the visitor take one look and "walk out", or did they delve into further information from the homepage)
2/ Sign-up for the free trial
3/ Actually using the free trial having signed up for it (yes, people do sign-up and that's the last I hear of them)
4/ Finally purchasing a license and becoming a customer
You can of course get too bogged down in stats if you're not careful, but it just goes to show that most websites should be considering more than just their overall "conversion rate".
If they add something to their shopping cart the item will magically arrive on their doorstep and their credit card will be charged.
You need to do everyting you can to make them fell compfortable using the cart. Add text like "Go ahead and play with the shopping cart it's fun!". Or other such phrases.
It's all about getting shoppers into the comfort zone. There are loads of ways of doing this.
We did usability studies and found most people did this to see what shipping would cost. If too much, they bailed.
