You had them. They hit “add to cart.” And then, they changed their minds. Why, oh why are you losing those sales? If you’re struggling with abandoned carts and that feeling of missing out on perfectly good sales, you need to eliminate the top reasons why people abandon their carts. Use these tips to get started.
Have a Great Shopping Cart Page Design
If you were about to shell out your hard-earned cash on an item, and you landed on a shopping cart page that was just a mess, you might have second thoughts. Is your shopping cart page good? Then it’s time to take it from “good” to “great.”
At all times, keep the purpose of that page in mind. It’s not just there to help you make sales – it should serve your customers and make a positive contribution to their overall customer experience. Clarity, simplicity, and user-friendliness are key principles to keep in mind; more advice on design can be found on this webpage.
Make Checkout Quick and Easy
Far too many businesses make checkout hard. Worst of all are the sites that insist on you creating a profile before you can get the goodies. Folks should be able to make a purchase as easily as possible. If you really want them to create profiles or sign up for your newsletters, incentivize it and make it an optional step.
The alternative is losing sales because people are in a hurry and don’t want yet another password to remember, etc, etc. Imagine having to fill out a form before you can make a purchase from a brick-and-mortar store. Would you be happy about that? Very likely not!
Troubleshoot your checkout process for ease of use. Eliminate unnecessary steps. Make sure that every step is as straightforward and uncomplicated as it possibly can be.
Be Transparent About Costs From the Start
The price of your product is what it says on the website. But the cost of getting it may be much higher. For example, what delivery charges can people expect to pay? Many people abandon carts for the simple reason that the items they wanted cost much more than they expected once they find themselves at the checkout. Prices that include delivery, at least in the geographical area where you make the most sales, are an example of a strategy you can apply to reduce cart abandonment.
Have Live Support
Imagine this. You’re about to make a purchase when a question occurs to you. Will you spend ages searching a website to find the answer? Chances are, you won’t want to make the effort. Live customer service and support, on the other hand, can be an easy way to get the answers you’re looking for. No live support? That could be a dealbreaker!
Bots and resource libraries can be a help, but having real people on hand to respond to customer queries is the first prize. If you don’t have the personnel, consider outsourcing it to a trustworthy call center.
Basic Principles: Easy to Do, Easy to Understand, Great Service
If you remember that you want to make it easy for people to shop at your online store, you’re already on the way to reducing cart abandonment. An understandable process and predictable pricing round off your efforts. Finally, customer service matters, and selling remotely doesn’t do away with the need to help your customers. Keep working on those abandoned carts! Intention to purchase should translate into sales. If it doesn’t, you need to figure out why.