Sherlock Holmes and the Mysterious Case of the Abandoned Carts - Part 2

Read Part 1 Here... https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/sherlock-holmes-mysterious-case-abandoned-carts-steen-rasmussen/

The third rule of ecommerce still goes.?

"You do not own your conversion rate"

"You do not own your conversion rate"

You might be able to impact it, but unlike what most people will tell you, you actually do not have full controle.

One of the most hard earned lessons from some really experience digital marketeers and optimizers is that "the more generic a product you sell, the more competitors you have and the more fuc*ed you are because the more factors can impact selection"?

I said it and I am not sorry, because you need to know.?

Because what we often fail to accept in analytics and optimization is that we do not exist in a vacuum.?

we do not exist in a vacuum

Your own site and activities are part of a world of business.??

Only looking at internal data is like trying to determine if we are dressed appropriately by only looking in the mirror, but not looking in the calendar or at the weather forecast. We might look and feel mighty fine in Speedos, but if it is winter and the calendar says work, then it is most likely not the right attire.?

And it is the same for data, analytics and business.?

And what the hell does that have to do with your cart abandonment rate, you might be asking????

Well...

If I am in the market for a pair of Nike Air Force 1, then odds are that you are not the only reseller in the world, nor the one with the lowest price.?

In my experience the main impact on your conversion rate is not what you control on your site. It is what your competitors do in their world. Accepting that it is external forces which impact your demand and poison you conversions will help you see your data in a new context.

And this is where we come back to the original Sherlock Holmes reflection.?

Why do people abandon products??

We research, we build baskets and just before checking out there is a good chance we will search for the specific product to make sure we are not getting cheated.

And if I find something better, I will bail and buy somewhere else.??

Boiling down my likelihood of ending up with a given product is besides my internal factors like desire and ability (the money) is mainly impacted by The Trinity of Ease: Trust, Price and Convenience.?

The Trinity of Ease: Trust, Price and Convenience

• Trust - Does another reseller have a better reputation or a stronger brand?
• Price - Does another reseller offer the exact same product, but at a lower price?
• Convenience - Does another reseller offer me benefits you do not that I perceive as valuable?

It is the match of these 3 factors which will determine my path.?

In the larger picture the two main forces to impact any action are friction and drive.?

The two main forces to impact any action are friction and drive

Drive is the energy which moves you forward, your motivation and desire. It is the energy you go into a situation with and how determined and important it is for you to get it concluded.?

Imagine you are on your way to your mother’s birthday and have yet to get a gift, then you are peaking in drive of securing anything which might resemble a qualified gift. You need to get the transaction closed with no room for delay or thought.?

Your dive is BIG.

On the other hand, imagine you are looking for the right 5-year anniversary present for your partner, but the day is still 3 months away. Then your motivation might be high, but your drive to close a deal much lower. You will most likely not close the transaction because there is no urgency and it is hopefully one you want to get just right.??

Drive defines your will to act.

Friction on the other hand are all the things which work as barriers and might eat your drive before you reach your target. Broken links, complicated forms, lines of people, bad signs or navigation all the problems you encounter along the path to your desired outcome.?

You want to order a vacation online, but the payment gateway does not accept your card and keeps coming up with the same obscure error statement. And then it just resets your transaction, so you have to start over. In this way friction are all the stupid usability issues, unplanned customer paths and the techo glitches which slowly eats away our resolve and makes us give up, run out of patience, or walk away in frustration from our shopping carts.

I once had the pleasure of traveling to India and while there I decided to do some online shopping at one of the big local portals. Well imagine my surprise when I found out they had shut down the ability to purchase on the site Saturday because there was a sale coming up on Monday and they wanted to make sure no one missed the amazing deals for their product.?

So, no matter how much drive I had, because I needed the products on Tuesday at the latest, I could not buy. Good customer care from one side might be a problem from another.?

So friction is also all the factors which prevents you from acting.?

Friction is all the factors which prevents you from acting

And yes you can certainly destroy sales with friction, but there really has to be a seriously critical amount of friction to stop someone from buying, if you are delivering on these 3 areas.?

The simple magic of cart abandonment is not analyzing the cart itself but instead focusing on the products in the carts, because this is where the actual pattern will be. The products you are competitive on and the products you are not.?

And this is what you need to know and push.?

Some products might drive a lot of traffic, but if you are not competitive when broken down, then you will not close the sale and just have wasted money on marketing for a product that you most likely won't sell. For these products you need to determine if you could tweak any of the 3 factors to become competitive again.

For the products where you are competitive, just push harder.?

All in all, worry less about the cart and more about the products.?

worry less about the cart and more about the products

And this is where we will go next…?