In most parts of life, it’s poor form to emulate romantic comedy heroes, like Wesley from the Princess Bride.
If you fail to wow someone as a farm boy, no matter how much you say “As You Wish”, you aren’t going to win them over.
At best, you’re just going to annoy them and at worst, you could go run off and become the Dread Pirate Roberts.
But, those rules go out the window when it comes to winning back prospects on your ecommerce site.
When they like your products enough to put them in their digital shopping cart, but aren’t quite ready to pull the trigger, try, and try again.
It may not give much consolation to learn this, but, cart abandonments are a common ecommerce problem.
By some estimates, four out of every five shopping carts filled on an ecommerce website are abandoned before the buyer completes their purchase. However, instead of accepting the status quo, you can find out what’s making shoppers walk away and do what you can to win them in the end.
A few of the reason that people leave items in shopping carts behind and how you can get to your happily ever after:
1. They were just looking.
Not every first date is going to lead to wedding bells and not every first look at a site is going to lead to a sale.
Sometimes, people will add items to their shopping carts when they haven’t quite decided to buy.
Give you and your buyer a second chance with remarketing on as many ad networks online as possible.
For example, show them Google and Facebook ads that give them another look at that product they left behind.
If you have their email address, you can reach out in their inbox.
You can even instantly message them on Facebook Messenger to follow up right away on why they left the product in the cart.
2. Shipping was more than they planned for.
Tons of rom-coms hinge on a relationship that looks like it’s going to be great… until that deal breaker moment.
One in four online shoppers specifically cite shipping costs as a reason not to seal the deal even after they have a product they love in their shopping cart.
If you want to keep that customer from getting away, honesty and transparency from the start is the best practice.
Post your shipping costs on your website so that potential customers can see what they’ll spend before they get too far in the process.
Alternately, you can look at offering free shipping to win those shoppers over.
One way to do this is baking shipping costs into the price of items on your site. We’ve seen in various tests, conversion rates going up by baking in shipping costs into a product’s price.
You can also include codes for free shipping in your remarketing ads, messages, or emails to get them to come back and purchase.
3. They didn’t want to make a user account.
Not everyone is looking for a long term relationship with every ecommerce site they shop with.
Sometimes, they want to test things out before they commit.
If you are losing customers at a point in the transaction where you are asking for a sign up, try offering guest check out instead. You can always offer the opportunity for them to sign up later to continue the relationship.
4. Your payment process doesn’t make them feel safe.
At this point in ecommerce history, we’re all a little gun shy.
Most of us have been hurt by data leaks before. Sites that have red flags like missing or outdated SSL certificates, missing images, broken links or other design flaws can send potential customers running.
To make sure that you are not losing customers because of fears like these, you need to do everything you can to show them that you are one of the good guys and have professionalism.
Address technical issues quickly and resolutely to ensure a safe and smooth experience. Display forms of social proof that demonstrate that other customers have had a safe and positive experience with your brand.
Display customer testimonials and reviews on your site.
Make sure that full and up to date contact information is easy for potential customers to find.
Consider seeking endorsements from trusted individuals.
All of these together can make people feel safer handling their personal financial information over to you.
5. You have too many steps in your check out process.
Long and convoluted story lines can lose audiences during movies.
Long and convoluted check out processes are just as likely to lose customers when they are checking out on your site.
Do everything you can to make your check out process as smooth, simple and painless as possible.
While it can be tempting to include extra forms and questions to learn more about a customer, during check out is just not the time.
Only ask for the information that you need to take payment and get your product shipped to them.
By removing unnecessary screens and fields, you increase the chances of a whirlwind romance with your brand that goes quickly from first site to taking your product home.
6. The website had crashes or errors.
Just like that rom-com heroine is going to choose the guy who has it all together, your customers are more likely to do business with the website that works smoothly without any glitches.
Test from a number of devices to make sure that all pages load quickly, that transactions progress without errors from one screen to the next and that everything looks as it should.
This is especially important when it comes to mobile devices.
Consumers abandon items on smart phones and tablets at a higher rate than they do on laptops or desktop computers.
If your site is not fully mobile-compatible, you are missing out on valuable opportunities. More and more consumers either primarily use mobile or use it exclusively.
If they cannot make a purchase on their device at your site, you risk losing them to your competition.
7. They had commitment issues.
It can be hard for some people to feel confident taking the plunge.
Maybe your return policy left them worried that they’d get stuck with a product that they may not ultimately want.
Maybe you sell a service or subscription instead, and they were worried that they’d wind up with buyers remorse.
The first problem can be solved with a return policy that shows faith in your products. Let potential customers know that, if they are unhappy with a product, you will do what you have to to make it right.
For membership or subscription products, consider starting the relationship with a free trial period.
A free trial gives them a chance to see what you have to offer and whether it is a good fit for them. That introductory period gives them a chance to get used to having your service in their life, and decide that they just can’t live without it.
Taking a good look at the shoppers that got away can help you win successful relationships with them and other shoppers in the future.
By reducing your number of cart abandonments, you can cut your cost per acquisition and increase your rate of conversions.
CVO is passionate about building our ecommerce partners’ success and one powerful, low-hanging fruit that 90% of E-Commerce companies have is curbing their Cart Abandonment.
This is a quick-win that we can produce for you that can be the first of many wins for your company that we provide to you.
Just imagine what 2X, 4X, 10X the amount of customers coming in can do for your business?
Depending on the amount of traffic getting into the cart… this can be huge ROI for you.
Want to know what this means for you and your brand?
It’s easy to set up a consultation to discuss what we can do.
Just click “Book a Call” to get to the next step.
