16 December 2014 Business Planning Guide www.greenmediaonline.com
E-COMMERCE
Online Checkout
Checklist
PPPPPP
The fi ne art of window shopping is alive
and well online — shoppers click that
magic "add to cart" button, only to click
away before checking out. If you've noted
high shopping cart abandonment rates on
your website, you're not alone. According
to aggregate data from the Baymard
Institute¹, the average shopping cart
abandonment rate is 67.91 percent
So how do you encourage customers
to complete their online purchase? Let's
explore why shoppers abandon online
carts, so that you can remove those barriers
in your mission to increase your online
shopping cart conversion rate.
ComScore² data reveals the top two
reasons shoppers abandon their carts are
because they aren't quite ready to make a
buying decision (see Figure 1).
Conversion Tip 1: Provide robust
product details
To convert window shoppers to
buyers, ensure that your product pages
are as detailed as possible, including
specs, features, benefi ts and images. The
less off-site research customers have to
do, the more likely they will complete
the sale. In terms of replacement parts,
providing fi tment specifi cations will
give a shopper the confi dence that the
part they have selected is the part they
actually need and likely curb shopping
cart abandonment.
Conversion Tip 2: Create a sense of
urgency
Who doesn't love a sale? But how you
present the savings to your customers can
impact the success it has a checkout — if
you always offer 15-percent-off online, it
doesn't create that sense of urgency many
customers need to encourage them to
complete their purchase.
Create limited-time promotions on
specifi c product categories that are only
available for a short period of time each
year. Perhaps your Spring Special promotes
regular maintenance items, and your Fall
Special highlights winterization products.
You can go even further and create an acute
sense of urgency by offering a fl ash sale that
only lasts for a very limited time, say 12
hours. The key here is to communicate that
this offer has a fi nite end date.
Another way to create a sense of urgency
is to display available inventory. If you only
have a single part in stock, this may incite
more immediate action.
Conversion Tip 3: Refi ne your shipping
charges
The third- to fi fth-ranking reasons for
shopping cart abandonment all revolve
around shipping charges (see Figure 1).
Springing high shipping charges on your
customers late in the checkout process is
one of the fastest ways to lose a sale. If you're
making money on shipping, consider a
break-even approach. And while offering
free shipping on every item you sell online
may be cost prohibitive, it may be worth
offering for sales that hit a specifi c dollar
value threshold or for smaller products
that cost very little to ship.
Figure 1
Six must-dos to increase online shopping cart conversions
Top reasons shoppers abandoned their shopping carts
Just window-shopping/
not ready to purchase
Saving items for later
Shipping cost
was too much
Items or amount did not
qualify for free shipping
Shipping and handling
costs were listed too late
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
57%
56%
55%
51%
40%
