It's very probable that everybody has a clear mental representation of shopping carts (some empty, others with various items in them) scattered on the isles of supermarkets. It's a saddening image, but this happens very often.
By extension, the same phenomenon happens also to
e-tailers. Many of the visitors never get to the finish line and don't check out any item whatsoever. They lose their interest in making a purchase at some point during the process, or they simply click the much dreaded upper-right X ****on just because something went wrong;
another reason could be the fact that they had no intention, right from the start, to buy anything. Once this happens, many companies that rely on online sales find themselves completely defenseless when dealing with shopping cart abandonment.
What is Shopping Cart Abandonment?
Shopping cart abandonment is a reality of today's e-commerce. It is a concept that denominates the ratio between the number of people who go through all the steps of online purchasing and the number of the prospects who leave the e-tailers' sites at some point, without checking out. Sadly, the abandonment rate, as shown by many specialists in the field, is somewhere close to 60%.
Reasons for Shopping Cart Abandonment
Many explanations have been given trying to state why buyers abandon shopping carts. Most of the reasons are similar to the ones in the real-world shopping process. The top four reasons for shopping cart abandonment have been identified as:
• Impatience
In today's world, where everybody is on the run and the governing principle of purchasing is "I want it NOW", there's little chance that a prospect will be willing to spend more than a few minutes in front of the computer screen in order to fill in an order form and wait for your site's pages to load. This is similar to choosing the shortest line in a supermarket.
• Confusion
If it's not clear how to make a purchase and you leave your prospects on their own, assuming that "they'll figure it out", you're in for a huge disappointment. Also, if they are suddenly presented with some extra costs that they didn't expect, it's as if you were pointing to the door yourself.
• Caution
This can easily translate into fear. Most Web shoppers are cautious about disclosing their personal information, especially when it comes to the credit card details. They will easily become suspicious if too much information is requested from them.
• Indecision
As with real-life shopping, not any visitor is necessarily a customer. Most of them are "window-shopping", testing prices, added taxes and shipping fees, just to compare various e-tailers and see where and who can give them a better deal. It is possible that a visitor might return later on and make a purchase from your Web site.
Tips to Prevent Shopping Cart Abandonment
If you notice that your conversion rate has a downward evolution, it may be a sign that your shopping cart does not work properly. This should make you analyze and make you look for possible reasons why prospects fail to finalize their transactions and make your ROI (return on investment) go towards negative values.
In any case, there are some measures that could be taken to reduce shopping cart abandonment, if not to eliminate it completely. The following suggestions are some steps to be taken in order to prevent this phenomenon:
• Check the number of steps required to make a purchase
Keep this number as low as possible, preferably somewhere between one and seven. Make the process as short and as cumbersome as possible.