Billions of dollars are spent by consumers on retail websites every year. Those ecommerce merchants that can keep website visitors engaged, and manage to convert them to paying customers, are those that dominate the digital landscape.
But many merchants fail because the software platforms they use, the virtual shopping carts they push around your online store, are simply broken. And if not broken outright, then they certainly not optimized for the modern buying experience online.
Upwards of 63 percent of website shopping carts are abandoned after products are added by consumers. There are many reasons for this but with some expert insights and best practices, your business can accelerate revenues by creating a digital experience where users want to buy and will return to buy at in the future. Website Magazine addresses ecommerce in every print issue (Ecommerce Express channel online.
Here are several tips to reduce your shopping cart abandonment rate to help you get started achieving Internet retail success today:
Design for the Optimal Experience
Online shoppers are fickle and they'll leave a website as quickly as they came if the digital experience your brand creates doesn't meet their often high expectations. The practice and process of landing page/product page optimization has skyrocketed in popularity as merchants come to understand that the more appealing, most trustworthy, more seamless and the more action-oriented these website pages are, the more successful their brand will become.
Offer Transparent Pricing
One of the main reasons that consumers abandon shopping carts is they are surprised during checkout at the price of products and what it costs to ship them. Merchants that are transparent with their pricing, clearly displaying item cost on search results and product pages, along with the cost to ship those items, are those that achieve higher conversion rates on the whole, and higher repeat visits as well. Whether it's free shipping notifications, or indications that first-time buyers or returning shoppers can receive discounts, making the price transparent is an effective way to reduce abandoned carts.
Consider Remarketing
There are many reasons that shoppers leave a website and some are out of the merchants control. Fortunately, there are ways that retailers can remind visitors that they've left items in their cart should they become distracted, drawing them back into the website to complete their purchase. Remarketing is one such opportunity, and the technologies that make it happen are now powerful mechanisms in the digital marketing of savvy retailers. Remarketing can be done in two ways: by emailing shoppers that have registered on your site after they've left without buying, or by displaying advertising to them as they navigate the Web when away from your website.
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