Do You Have an E-Commerce Website? Here’s How to Reduce Basket Abandonment…

Selling online? Statistics suggest that online shopping basket ‘abandonment rates’ were just over 75% towards the end of 2015. That’s 75% of your customers clicking to add your products into their online basket, and then ending the transaction before actually purchasing. How frustrating!

If you’ve noticed a high abandonment rate, or are looking to ensure more of your online shoppers complete their purchases, these tips to improve your e-commerce site may just help:

a) Make sure your e-commerce website works

Functionality is crucial to ensuring your customers stay with you to complete their purchase

• Make sure pages load quickly
• Check that links work properly
• Keep everything updated, both technically and in terms of your products and services

76.6% of online transactions are abandoned before checkout

b) Simplify - everything

In a matter of a few short years, we humans have become incredibly impatient. We have short attention spans and we want everything now. May be that’s a huge generalisation, but as far as online shopping is concerned, that should be in your mind at every stage

• Keep all forms as simple as possible
• Reduce the number of pages that customers have to load between adding an item to the cart and completing the purchase.
• Resist the urge to require customers to register for your email updates before they can check out

c) Include a ‘progress’ indicator

Another aspect to our impatience; if we know how long we’ve got to go before checkout, we’re more likely to persist.

• Include a progress indicator to let customers know what’s left to complete and how long it’s likely to take.

d) Reassurance is key

Even the best e-commerce sight can have issues – or your customers may simply have questions about what they are buying. Many people still feel nervous about the security of online shopping.

• Offer access to a real live human being who understands your product, the sales process and everything in between during the check out process – a phone number or live chat
• Offer visual cues at the checkout stage to reassure people that the online payment process is secure.

e) No hidden charges

No one likes a nasty surprise

• Be clear about delivery charges (fees for credit card use and any other additional charges that might be unexpected) up front
• Make sure it’s clear early on if an item that has been selected is out of stock and whether it can be ordered in or if it is no longer available. If the latter, take it off.

41% of abandoners cite hidden delivery charges as the main reason for cart abandonment. 

f) Keep the basket in sight

You customers may need to check that they ordered everything they need. They may have become momentarily distracted, or realise the need to add something else in. If customers have to go back and search for what they’ve already ordered, you may lose them in the process.

• Keep the ‘shopping basket’ easily available (ideally in plain sight) during the check out
• Offer a ‘continue shopping’ option

g) Send out ‘abandonment emails’

It is a great idea to capture data that allows you to send out emails to customers who have abandoned their shopping baskets. It is possible to then remind them what they were about to buy and give them another opportunity to do so!

For a full assessment of your e-commerce website, how it’s functioning and an audit of improvements that should improve your online sales, why not give us a call on 01437 720033?