Shopping cart abandonment means that someone goes to a website, reads the sales letter, and clicks on the buy link to go to the secure order form, but they don’t finish filling out the form.
According to a recent Stompernet study, the industry average for shopping cart abandonment is 59.6%.
So, this means that for every 10 people who click on a “buy” or “order” link to go to a shopping cart, only four (4) actually complete the transaction.
And that’s in an OPTIMAL environment, assuming the overall site traffic is high-quality and targeted, and the order process is crystal clear and caveman-easy.
Pretty sobering, eh?
Where do they all go?
To answer this question, we start by checking shipping rates. The Stompernet study also reveals that one of the top causes for shopping cart abandonment is that shipping is too high, or numerous options make it too confusing.
3 Easy Ways to Stop Shopping Cart Abandonment
Resulting From High Shipping Prices
1) Avoid real-time shipping tables that offer too many shipping choices
Here’s something we encountered on a client’s shopping cart…
To buy a $14.95 CD, the “real time shipping” on a shopping cart gave them prices anywhere from $5.82 to $68.44 for various air, ground, and rush options for shipping. Of course customers would leave.
It’s just too much to think about. And seeing the option to pay $70 to get a $15 CD the next day really jumped out at the customer. They left, saying “shipping’s too expensive.” Even many customers who bought said “wow, that’s a lot to pay to have it shipped.”
2) Have only one or two shipping options
Replace that long shipping table with 78 different options that you need an abacus to decipher with statements like:
“It’s $2.50 shipping, and you should get it in the mail in 2-3 business days.”
“Price includes all shipping and handling. Orders are typically shipped the same day we receive them.”
See the difference?
We recently had a client end their real-time shipping calculations, end rush-shipping options, and simply offer two rates (one domestic and one international.)
Their shopping cart abandonment rates dropped and their conversion rates went up a consistent 5% with just that one change. And, the fulfillment house said that the client is having far fewer instances of collecting “too little” shipping (and losing money) than they did when it was real-time!!!
3) Don’t do rush shipping – instead offer instant downloads
If there’s any reason why a customer would “need it right now,” instead of rush shipping, how about adding an instant download option?
This way, not only can your prospects have it RIGHT NOW (instead of “tomorrow”) but then you’re also spared the headache of making sure “rush” orders, indeed were “rushed.”
Bottom line: when it comes to shipping, get to the bottom line and make it easy. When interested customers have to stop and think about shipping, they hesitate. It gets right in the way of the sales momentum. Give prospects too much to think about and they’ll think about buying somewhere else. This means you lost customers for life!
So, keep it simple – and you will reduce shopping cart abandonment fast.
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