You finally got the customer to your website. They clicked on one of your Google Ads, or a banner ad somewhere, or maybe from an email newsletter you sent out. These things take time and money to set up. Once you get the customer to your website, you want them to add products to their cart, and complete the checkout process. Let's look at our top 5 Tips to avoid shopping cart abandonment.
1.) Tax, Tag & Title: Let customers know up front what the product and shipping will cost them at checkout, and if at all possible any other fees that you may collect at checkout (Tax, etc). This way there are no unwelcome surprises at checkout that may keep them from completing their order.
2.) Shipping Options: Give your customer multiple shipping options. Some customers want the lowest priced shipping available. As long as it doesn't take forever, will be ok with slightly longer delivery times. Some customers need it the next day (or sooner). If you do not offer the shipping option the customer needs, they are hitting the back button and will find someone that does.
3.) Product Reviews: Sure, you can tell the customer how great your product is, that your customer service cannot be beat, that you ship fast, etc, etc, etc. Doesn't everybody say this very same thing? But when a customer of yours says it, consumers tend to believe it a little more. It works for Amazon and eBay, why not your website.
4. ) Payment Options: Make sure you offer a variety of payment options. If you do not take American Express, or Discover, or Paypal, and a customer wants to use one of those options, be it for the points, airline miles, etc, you may become victim to the back button, and just introduced your potential customer to a competitor.
5.) Email: That's right, email them. Many shopping cart's offer an Abandoned Cart Email program. We use one here. When a customer adds items to their cart, and leaves the site, 5-6 hours later they get an automated email from us reminding them of products in their shopping cart at our website, and often you can offer a small incentive for them to come back and complete their order. The incentive can be a small gift, or additional product that you stock, or a small discount. We have found these automated emails to be very useful and help us capture many orders that we would have lost all together.
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