Firetop

A Firetop client recently had problems with an impolite search engine robot which was indexing links on their website to ‘add to basket’ when it should have followed instructions and ignored them. The result was that many items were being added to a non-existent basket and taken ‘off sale’ for several hours at a time (they are unique one-off items and have to behave that way). Having fixed the matter and installed a new ‘basket watching’ function on the client’s customised Content Management System the question came up – “Why, when shopping online, do so many genuine people still abandon their transactions?

Before looking at potential reasons for e-commerce dropouts I wanted to see what statistics are already in existence on shopping cart abandonment rates, I found the following statistics which are rather alarming:

> Jupiter Research: 66% abandonment
> PaymentOne: 70% abandonment
> BizRate.com: 30% abandonment
> AT Kearney: 80% abandonment

We can assume from these separate research studies that the number of people failing to complete online purchases from their shopping carts ranges from 30% to 80% (it would logically vary from website to website) - the average from all four numbers is 61.5%. Having identified the size of the online sales dropout problem the question is now ‘Why are 61.5% of online buyers abandoning their online baskets?’ There are many reasons for why people drop out of an online purchase:

1. A buyer doesn’t have their credit card handy.
2. There aren’t a wide enough variety of payment options.
3. Packaging/shipping (or other) costs were unexpectedly high.
4. Security suspicions of the website or it’s e-commerce provider.
5. Lengthy forms with multiple fields requiring completion.
6. Poor navigation enabling transaction completion.
7. Shopping was a feel good factor only - like window shopping.
8. Other unanswered questions about the potential sale.

Here are some of my solutions for addressing each of these matters when designing and building a website’s buying system:

1. A buyer doesn’t have their credit card handy.
Enable a customer to save their basket, requiring a simple minimum of username, password and email address. After 24 hours send them a reminder that their shopping basket still exists. If the basket is still unfulfilled after three days consider offering a discount on the total price or offer free shipping as an incentive. Also see next solution.

2. There aren’t a wide enough variety of payment options.
Credit card payment is one option, but if somebody doesn’t have their credit card handy (1.) they may still remember their log in details for an e-merchant such as Paypal. Set up an account with Paypal as well as your chosen e-commerce vendor.

3. Packaging / shipping (or other) costs were unexpectedly high.
Be as transparent as possible about shipping costs at all times, this is one area you can’t do much about (unless your prices ARE too high). However, if you can live without the shipping costs and can obtain a client’s basic contact details before they drop out, it might be worth a follow up marketing email offering ‘free shipping’. This relies a lot on (5.) below.

4. Security suspicions of the website.
Your choice of e-commerce processing vendor can add or remove client faith. I prefer websites which use Worldpay for example; it’s a name I trust. Anything which looks poorly designed won’t get my card details even if it does sit on a secure encrypted server of https:// with a padlock symbol. A solution to the security conscious buyer is to include a freephone (0800) number for paying by phone; whilst somewhat ‘retro’ one has to remember that many buyers are still afraid of technology

5. Lengthy forms with multiple fields requiring completion.
It’s a good idea with any online data capture forms – registration, web surveys or e-commerce, to have multiple shorter pages than one long one, it’s less daunting for the end user to begin and once past short pages one and two a buyer won’t want to waste their prior effort by failing to complete the final page(s) in the process.

6. Poor navigation causing transaction completion failures.
“Where’s the checkout button, where is it?! I’ve been frequently known to shout at websites when trying to make a purchase. I’m sure the web designer thought it was in an obvious place but you can’t have too many checkout buttons. Always remember the golden triangle and make the process stand out – large buttons with meaningful jargon-free language. If you have any ‘informational’ pages which might be viewed during any kind of data capture process, do ensure that these pages open in new windows and don’t completely ruin the transaction process – the ‘back’ button should NOT be relied upon!

7. Shopping was a feel good factor only – like window shopping.
We’ve all done this, you go to Amazon, you load up with DVDs and CDs but when you look at the total price of your basket you have a heart attack. Somehow, having added the items you almost feel like you own them already, and when are you going to watch all these films anyway? Luckily Amazon have already mastered the technique (at least with frequent customers) of tracking the items added to a shopping basket – reminding you of them next time you visit and sending you promotional emails. I love Amazon for ensuring they maximise every opportunity – learn from them.

8. Other unanswered questions about the sale.
There maybe something your website just hasn’t answered ‘what version is this product’, ‘what if it’s delivered and I’m not home’ etc. An FAQs page will go some way to addressing these if it can be found during the sales process (as a pop-up window - see 6.). However, including a ‘live chat’ function or freephone number (4.) will provide the instant question / answer service which just cannot be addressed fast enough by email.

Any number of these solutions will lower the transaction abandonment rate from 61.5%, putting in place all of them should ensure that your website maximises sales opportunities - something online marketers will be most grateful for.

Technorati Tags: e-commerce, online transaction abandonment, web usability, shopping online, secure purchases, shopping carts, shopping baskets, online sales, e-marketing, ecommerce dropout

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