In today’s world, the internet has practically replaced the shopping mall as the number one go-to destination for all shopping needs. Does your company website enable its visitors to make direct purchases? If so, you may have some experience running into a particular problem. It’s that dreaded circumstance known as cart abandonment!
As the term implies, cart abandonment is when an online store’s visitors are about a step or two away from completing the purchasing process – but don’t. What can you do to make cart abandonment in your online store a thing of the past?
Keep the checkout process simple.
The more steps you force your customers to take, the less they’re going to want to take them. Ideally, once an online shopper’s cart is full of the items he or she wants, it should only take another click or two for the purchase to be complete. If your checkout process requires several pages and therefore, several more minutes to finish off, you’re bound to have people say “ah, forget this!” and move on to another website.
“An ideal checkout flow is a smooth, frictionless experience,” insists BigCommerce.com, “The typical checkout process is as follows: shopping cart > billing info > shipping info > shipping method > preview order > payment > confirmation. A checkout flow that does not follow a logical sequence of steps can deter customers. So will asking for too much information to complete the purchase, such as the customer’s phone number, date of birth or gender.”
Offer guarantees.
The word “guarantee” is a very favourable one to the average shopper. Can you guarantee your delivery dates? Do you offer warranties? Is there a money-back guarantee on defective merchandise? If customers know the answer is “yes” to these questions, they will be a lot more likely to follow through on their buying decisions.
According to Corey Morris of Voltage on Forbes.com, “the peace of mind in offering guarantees helps reduce the temptation to navigate away to competitor sites or back to Google. You can close the deal quicker with strong assurances.”
Be upfront about shipping costs.
The last thing you want to do is surprise your online shoppers with hidden charges near the ends of their shopping experiences. Make all of your shipping charges clear. As well, be sure there are no hidden fees associated with buying from your site. You may wish to consider free shipping options. Offsetting the cost of shipping by slightly increasing prices on items is actually more alluring than the prospect of added costs.
“Nothing turns shoppers off more than seeing unanticipated fees tacked on at checkout,” warns BigCommerce.com, “In fact, a study by Baymard Institute found that 48% of shoppers with actual purchase intent (i.e. those who aren’t window shopping) abandoned shopping carts because the extra costs (shipping, taxes and fees) were too high.”
Are you looking to either set up or improve your online store?
Enhance your customers’ checkout experiences with Unity Payments’ reliable and secure e-commerce solution. Seamlessly integrate our online payment gateway into your website or mobile application to facilitate secure credit card transactions. For more information, please don’t hesitate to call us at 1-800-661-3761 or email us at info@unitypayments.ca.
