Comments on: Abandoned shopping carts cost the industry dear http://www.internetretailing.net/2010/07/abandoned-shopping-carts-cost-the-industry-dear/ News, insight and analysis for Europe's ecommerce and multichannel retail professionals Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:27:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jimbohttp://www.internetretailing.net/2010/07/abandoned-shopping-carts-cost-the-industry-dear/comment-page-1/#comment-12611 Jimbo Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:18:03 +0000 http://www.internetretailing.net/?p=5667#comment-12611 With any ecommerce site it’s critical to identify exactly where your customers are falling off – and do something about it. Apply some intelligent logic: if it’s when you show the shipping costs, change how you do it, be more upfront. If customers are not quite ready to purchase, how can you interact more? do they have unanswered questions? Consider a high street retail store, if 90% of people left without making a purchase the owner would be fixing it – finding a way to improve conversion rate. He would undoubtedly speak to the customers, look at prices/range/customer service/promotions/window display – all these can be applied to an online operation. The key one, and most underutilised (yet is extremely effective for conversion rates) is speaking to customers – so when a customer falls off your site it can trigger a phone call into your contact centre where a helpful agent is directly connected to the customer to discuss the order, offer advice and answer any questions (and maybe an incentive). You’d be surprised how effective this can be. Companies such as LeadCall are doing this for a number of big brands, and not so big, right across the various sectors. (Clearly the site has to be designed to capture their contact details first, but there are best practice ways to encourage this) With any ecommerce site it’s critical to identify exactly where your customers are falling off – and do something about it. Apply some intelligent logic: if it’s when you show the shipping costs, change how you do it, be more upfront. If customers are not quite ready to purchase, how can you interact more? do they have unanswered questions?

Consider a high street retail store, if 90% of people left without making a purchase the owner would be fixing it – finding a way to improve conversion rate. He would undoubtedly speak to the customers, look at prices/range/customer service/promotions/window display – all these can be applied to an online operation. The key one, and most underutilised (yet is extremely effective for conversion rates) is speaking to customers – so when a customer falls off your site it can trigger a phone call into your contact centre where a helpful agent is directly connected to the customer to discuss the order, offer advice and answer any questions (and maybe an incentive). You’d be surprised how effective this can be. Companies such as LeadCall are doing this for a number of big brands, and not so big, right across the various sectors.

(Clearly the site has to be designed to capture their contact details first, but there are best practice ways to encourage this)

]]> By: Charles Nichollshttp://www.internetretailing.net/2010/07/abandoned-shopping-carts-cost-the-industry-dear/comment-page-1/#comment-12547 Charles Nicholls Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:55:41 +0000 http://www.internetretailing.net/?p=5667#comment-12547 Unfortunately I struggle a bit with having Royal Mail producing research that suggests that ecommerce teams should offer free shipping! But having said that, it is a bit problem: on average 71% of shopping carts are abandoned without a purchase being made in the same session. A recent US study by analysts Forrester concluded that the number one reason why consumers abandon their shopping carts is the cost of shipping and handling. This has been the top reason for abandonment for many years, and not much has changed. The top 5 reasons in the Forrester study are all related to either (1) cost in some way, or (2) timing – the customer is not yet ready to buy. I have written a blog reviewing the Forrester research in detail here: http://seewhy.com/blog/2010/06/03/reasons-why-website-visitors-abandoned-their-shopping-carts/ In ‘Our View,’ you also suggest that not showing the shipping and handling until late in the process is a significant contributor to the overall shopping cart abandonment rate. In the Forrester study, 22% of consumers stated that it was one reason that they had abandoned shopping carts, making it the sixth most significant cause of shopping cart abandonment. Compare this with ‘Shipping and Handling costs were too high’ (at 44%) and ‘I was not ready to purchase’ (41%). In fact the top 5 reasons given all relate to either cost (too high, searching for a better deal etc) or because the customer wasn’t yet ready. Having said all that, I agree that it is intensely annoying (and you might argue discourteous to the potential purchaser) not to show the shipping and handling costs up front. For some ecommerce sites it can be hard to bring the cost up onto the product detail page: if they are shipping to international destinations, or if their shopping cart is provided by a hosted provider. Unfortunately I struggle a bit with having Royal Mail producing research that suggests that ecommerce teams should offer free shipping! But having said that, it is a bit problem: on average 71% of shopping carts are abandoned without a purchase being made in the same session.

A recent US study by analysts Forrester concluded that the number one reason why consumers abandon their shopping carts is the cost of shipping and handling. This has been the top reason for abandonment for many years, and not much has changed. The top 5 reasons in the Forrester study are all related to either (1) cost in some way, or (2) timing – the customer is not yet ready to buy. I have written a blog reviewing the Forrester research in detail here:

http://seewhy.com/blog/2010/06/03/reasons-why-website-visitors-abandoned-their-shopping-carts/

In ‘Our View,’ you also suggest that not showing the shipping and handling until late in the process is a significant contributor to the overall shopping cart abandonment rate. In the Forrester study, 22% of consumers stated that it was one reason that they had abandoned shopping carts, making it the sixth most significant cause of shopping cart abandonment. Compare this with ‘Shipping and Handling costs were too high’ (at 44%) and ‘I was not ready to purchase’ (41%). In fact the top 5 reasons given all relate to either cost (too high, searching for a better deal etc) or because the customer wasn’t yet ready.
Having said all that, I agree that it is intensely annoying (and you might argue discourteous to the potential purchaser) not to show the shipping and handling costs up front. For some ecommerce sites it can be hard to bring the cost up onto the product detail page: if they are shipping to international destinations, or if their shopping cart is provided by a hosted provider.

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