The rather sad thing about ecommerce these days is that early 80% of all online shoppers abandon their shopping carts before they are able to complete a purchase. It seems that despite all of the hard work and the planning that has gone into getting your prospects to the point of purchase, it just may be that it is your checkout process that is killing those conversions.
- Just as all of your social media and landing page strategies have gently led them by the hand to the checkout, so too must that strategy apply. Often times, shopping cart pages are far too complicated and busy. One of the major problems is that many companies want shoppers to fill out these ridiculously long and involved forms. They are not going to take the time to go through all of that. A name and an email address is data enough. They don’t need a password. Don’t people have enough passwords to remember already? And, get them to fill out the form after the sale has been made and offer some manner of incentive to do so.
- One of the ways to keep them constantly engaged throughout the buying journey is allowing them to see the products they have already placed into their carts. Include more than images of the products. Also, have all of the relevant information there too like size and color. Don’t give them a chance to jump back later to double check something because buyers remorse might be setting in. Also, allow them to see a running total of their purchases which includes any local taxes or shipping charges. If they get to the final step and see more than they are willing to spend, you have likely lost the entire sale.
- Finally, make sure that they know you. Have your contact information always available and insert a chat feature. Don’t distract them with links or other offers when they are at the end of the sales funnel. Hold their hand the entire way. Make sure that they have that focus and tunnel vision needed to complete the purchase every time they visit you.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer
