Originally Published: February 2004
Website administrators and e-marketers face many challenges when developing e-commerce websites. These challenges range from proper website design, navigation, copy, photos, choice of shopping cart style and functionality, etc. Everything associated with an e-commerce website needs to be carefully crafted to ensure readability, ease of use, quick download times, and many other factors. But one challenge that does not receive much attention is shopping cart abandonment. Cart abandonment is defined as a customer choosing items for purchase, loading them into his or her shopping cart, proceeding to checkout and then abandoning the process prior to final submission of the order. Abandonment has always been a problem for e-commerce sites, but the subject of preventing such desertion gains little attention. There are many reasons why consumers may abandon a shopping cart, including: lacking enough product information for the consumer to make an educated buying decision, asking for too much information prior to the purchase, surprise shipping and handling costs, and unexpectedly long delivery time.
When a consumer shops online, he or she wants to gather enough information to make a buying decision. However, websites are a much different environment than traditional brick and mortar stores because the shopper does not have the ability to read a product’s package, hold merchandise in his or her hands, or visually examine an item. As such, e-commerce sites must include enough information to guide a buying decision. And since products range from very personal items to commodities and from very expensive luxury items to those costing only a few dollars, the proper amount of information must be determined on a product by product basis. If you are experiencing cart abandonment that you think may be due to a lack of product information or not giving shoppers the right information, you must examine your consumers’ buying behavior and determine how they make their buying decisions. Proper buyer behavior research can greatly help in this situation. Sometimes, this is as simple as asking shoppers for their feedback. Just remember, all products are different, so an engineer buying a replacement part for an industrial burner will have much different information needs than a grandmother buying a children’s book. Accurately identifying appropriate information needs will allow the seller to give consumers the information they need to commit to a buying decision.
Trying to gather too much information from a shopper is another good way to increase your abandonment rate. Marketers want as much information about customers and prospects as can be gathered, as this information helps guide product and service offerings. However, information gathering can be seen as intrusive if pushed to the limit – even to the point of a shopper choosing not to purchase a product through your e-commerce website. A very good way around this issue is to only require the information necessary to complete the sale. You can ask for additional information as an option, but must only require essential, non-intrusive information. Some sites require shoppers to “register” to become a site “member”. This alone can cause a consumer to abandon the purchase. These sites should always include a “checkout without registering” option. This way, the consumer is given a choice instead of being strong-armed into handing over information they would like to keep private. With the tremendous rise in identity theft over the past several years, consumers are very wary of handing over personal information. Giving shoppers a choice makes the transaction much more comfortable and decreases the level of cart abandonment.
Two other significant reasons consumers abandon a shopping cart are unexpectedly high shipping and handling rates and long delivery times. I’m sure some of you have experienced this nuisance. You find an item online that is exactly what you are looking for and at a low price. You drop the item in your cart, enter all of your personal information, click the button to pay, and then realize the shipping charges cost as much as the product you’re buying. And, you won’t receive it for three to four weeks! While this may be an exaggeration, high shipping costs and long delivery times are commonplace. There is a very simple solution to reduce cart abandonment in this case, price your product fairly and charge actual shipping costs, devoid of inflated, unexplained handling charges. Many e-marketers will lower their prices so their site looks more attractive to shoppers, then they increase their shipping and handling fees to make up for it. But, consumers are smart and are aware of this trick. E-marketers should also be upfront when it comes to long delivery times. If an item takes a significant amount of time to manufacture or is currently on backorder, the shopper should be made aware of this and be provided with an explanation on the product’s description page, not during checkout – or worse yet, in the order confirmation email sent after the purchase is complete. Just be upfront with your customers. It is better that a consumer chooses not to put the item in his or her cart, than for him or her to walk away with a very bad impression of the buying experience with your company. The former will cause you to lose one sale, but the latter could cause you to lose many more through negative word of mouth.
Proper e-commerce site tracking will provide you with an accurate abandonment rate. If you are getting a high or increasing abandonment rate and don’t know why, ask your shoppers. While this may sound overly simple, it works. Create a very short, one question, pop-up survey that asks why the customer chose to abandon, using a simple drop-down menu of possible reasons for abandonment. You can also include a write-in area where consumers could list reasons not included in the drop-down. Customer response rates have proven to be surprisingly high and very valuable in correcting issues that had resulted in high or increasing levels of cart abandonment.
It is very important to track the abandonment rate of your e-commerce website. By analyzing this rate and gathering buyer behavior information, you can optimize your e-commerce efforts, giving consumers what they are looking for and increasing your sales in return. Remember, give your shoppers the right kind and amount of online information, require only the minimum amount of personal information needed to complete the purchase, and be upfront about shipping costs and delivery times. You will increase your online sales, customers will be pleased with their buying experience, and they will return for more.
3 comments:
Great post. I think another thing to consider is that "cart abandonment" is becoming a purposeful and sometimes useful trend of the consumer in some instances. Sites like Amazon that will keep items in my cart from visit to visit are very helpful and I tend to rely upon them for that. The marketer loses the urgency of the sale this way, but the convenience of coming back later to purchase also needs to be considered.
Great post. I think another thing to consider is the emerging trend of shopping carts that will keep the consumer's items from visit to visit. These are giving consumers security in the idea of leaving an e-commerce site and returning later. Amazon.com and others have used the cached-cart concept for a convenience, and it may be leading to a trend of purposeful, useful cart abandonment.
That's very true. It's also a good reason to have a "Wish List" on your e-commerce site as well. I use wish list functions all the time.
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