asknet AG: 15 tips to help prevent shopping cart abandonment
(firmenpresse) - (DGAP-Media / 19.06.2013 / 10:08)
15 tips to help prevent shopping cart abandonment
Karlsruhe, June 19, 2013 - Shopping cart abandonment isn't pretty - neither
for customers nor for sellers. Providers are left feeling the sting of lost
sales opportunities, and customers feel like they've wasted time and
energy. asknet is showing operators of online shops what they can do to
reduce shopping cart abandonment rates with its 15 best-practice
recommendations.
1. Allow guest checkouts
Use the sales potential of one-off shoppers! According to Forrester
Research, 23 percent of shoppers abandon their shopping carts if they are
required to register before making a purchase. If registering is not
absolutely necessary leave it up to your customers whether or not they want
to create an account.
2. Have a prominent login button for registered customers/visitors
Make purchasing easier for registered users by providing a login button in
a prominent spot. After logging in, customers find their user information
and can complete their purchase quickly without having to enter their
billing and delivery address again.
3. Take local shopping habits into account
Your checkout process can consist of several steps, or can display all of
the relevant information fields on a single page. What's the best option?
The answer depends, and is strongly influenced by product type, price, and
country-specific preferences. There is no 'one size fits all' option.
Incorporate regional expertise into the initial shop set-up, and conduct
A/B tests to identify the right checkout process for your sales region.
4. Localize your shopping cart
Provide the purchasing process in the local language and offer the usual
payment methods for the country in question. Make sure that the local
currency doesn't just appear in the store. Charge your customers in their
local currency.
5. Gain customer trust
Is your site secure? Then show off about it! Security badges, SSL
certificates, data protection policy and trustmarks can help allay
potential customer fears about providing personal data.
6. Big, self-explanatory buttons
Who would have thought? The size, color and position of the checkout button
all affect conversion! Customer-friendly buttons can even notably improve
your conversion rate. Plus, instead of just labeling buttons 'Continue',
it's always better to explain exactly where the customer is continuing to,
such as 'Continue to address details.' This gives your customers a feeling
of security and control over the purchasing process.
7. Add a clickable progress bar
Give your customers the chance throughout the payment process to go back
one step or correct the information they have entered easily, by providing
a clearly visible 'Edit' button at all times. That way, customers can
easily change or amend the ordering process. If you use a progress bar,
allow customers to click on the steps that they have already completed.
8. Avoid displaying any unnecessary information fields
Less is more: For example, don't confuse your private customers by
displaying company address or VAT number fields. The delivery address
should also only be displayed if it is different from the billing address.
9. Check information automatically
Instead of waiting to show data entry errors after the customer has clicked
Send, advise your customers of possible errors there and then, while they
are entering their information in the relevant field. Usability studies
show that automatic online validation can improve success rates by 22
percent.
10. Point out country-specific payment methods
To make your online store as attractive as possible, it's important to
advise customers of the payment methods you can offer at the relevant
point, early in the purchasing process. Local payment options like 'Klarna'
in Sweden, 'iDEAL' in the Netherlands or 'Lastschrift' in Germany should be
displayed clearly to customers from the relevant country. You should also
make sure that you differentiate visually between immediate payment and
product delivery, and deferred payment and product delivery options.
11. Tell customers where to find their credit card verification numbers
It's easy to forget, but if you ask customers to enter their credit card
verification number for credit card payments, you should explain exactly
where they find it on their card. There are still online shopping newbies
who won't know what you're talking about!
12. Provide contact information
Make sure that a customer service telephone number is clearly displayed
throughout the checkout process. That way, if customers have problems with
their purchase or the website, they know immediately whom to contact.
13. Optimize store availability and performance
Be fast and be available! Forrester discovered that 47 percent of consumers
expect a website to load in two seconds or under. They suggest that 40
percent of users leave sites that take longer than three seconds to load.
This doesn't just apply to the homepage or individual product sites - it
also affects each step in the checkout process. As soon as a store is not
available, the probability increases that the customer won't come back.
14. Clearly highlight the specific advantages of your online store
It's ok to boast! If you offer your customers a longer money-back guarantee
period than the statutory requirement, for example, then tell them about
it!
15. Abandoners are potential customers
Use the e-mail address that the user might already have given you in the
early steps of the order process to make contact. Send follow-up emails to
support abandoners who had problems that may have led them to abandon their
purchase, and to remind them that you're there. That way, you can convert
abandoners into committed, repeat customers.
About asknet
asknet, a leading global provider for customized e-commerce solutions
allows merchants to sell into more than 190 countries around the globe.
asknet's e-commerce gateway exceeds market standards for software and
digital media distribution. The company develops and maintains portals for
software distribution and supplies 80% of all German universities with
software products. asknet acts as a large account reseller for Adobe and
Microsoft in the Academic Market and won the IBM Bestseller Award 2012.
asknet offers students a wide range of software downloads for personal use
through its leading Internet platform 'studyhouse.biz'. asknet's customers
include numerous providers of specialty software including ABBYY,
CyberLink, F-Secure, Nero, NetObjects, Norman, Panda Security and Steinberg
Media Technologies. asknet was founded in 1995 as a spin-off of the
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT, formerly the University of
Karlsruhe). In 2012 the company's transaction revenues amounted to more
than 90 million euros. For more information, visit www.asknet.com.
Press Contact:
asknet AG
Katja Speck
Phone: +49/721/96458-6369
eMail: katja.speck(at)asknet.com
End of Media Release
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Issuer: asknet AG
Key word(s): Internet and Multimedia
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