So, lets admit it! We have all been guilty of shopping cart abandonment at one time or another. You get a great deal or coupon in your inbox and then the next thing your know your shopping online adding EVERYTHING that catches your eye to your shopping cart. All of a sudden you panic and just ditch?Why? Well, during a recent survey over why consumers are most likely to abandon their shopping carts, had most people list more than one reason. Here are the top reasons why and how you might correct this from happening on your site:

- High shipping prices (72%) ? This is a biggie! All shipping charges need to be presented to the buyer before they have to give you their information. This allows buyers to see everything up front without the intimidation or worry over what the next page may reveal.

- Comparison shopping or browsing (61%) ? Every good mom does this, so this is something that is beyond your control and not worth losing sleep over.

- Changed mind (56%) ? While this is also beyond your control, you may want to test your ?cart steps? to see if this may be attributing to why your consumers are changing their minds.

- Saving items for later purchase (51%) ? If you offer this feature, you need to get their name and email address so that you can drop them a reminder. If you don’t, data shows that shoppers, who choose this option rarely come back to purchase what they saved.

- Total cost of items is too high (43%) ? The best way to help this is to evaluate how your products rank compared to other similar products in the market? If your costs are still higher, can you justify the difference to your shoppers?

- Checkout process is too long (41%) ? Every mother knows that time is valuable! We?ve all perfected the 30 minute get ready routine in the morning and how to get your child to eat in less than an hour, so you should know that your customers time is also valuable. You should have as few steps as possible in your checkout process. Maybe you could investigate some other sites and their checkout process to see how you can improve this.

- Site requires registration before purchase (34%) ?People probably didn’t understand this question, because if they did this number should have a t least doubled! This goes back to shortening your check-out time. Maybe you could make it wear when they purchase an item it automatically registers them to your site. If not, most consumers probably just see this as a waste of time.

- Site is unstable or unreliable (31%) ? No one likes an ?if-ey? site! People want to shop at places that are reliable and protected, so if this is your site, then you need to fix it!

- Checkout process is confusing (27%) ? How do you know if your site has this problem? Well you would probably be getting calls from customers saying, ?Your site was too confusing, so I just decided to call.? Just like you get annoyed when the directions to assemble your kid’s latest toy are confusing, that how people feel when they are trying to purchase something, but aren’t too sure about the ?directions? on how to do so. If you are getting these calls then your staff needs to be giving you this feedback so it can be corrected. They should also be mindful to ask, ?Would you mind telling me briefly what you found confusing so we can fix it?? You should also consider rewarding your customers for helping you correct this problem, maybe you could offer them free shipping or a free gift with purchase. A great bit of advice is this line from Bo Bennett, ?I like to think of sales as the ability to gracefully persuade, not manipulate, a person or persons into a win-win situation.?

So as you can see from these statistics, shopping cart abandonment is a significant problem for any website owner or affiliate. In some market verticals between 65% and 75% of online shoppers abandon their shopping carts before completing the checkout process. What is even more amazing is the numbers are basically the same as they were in the late 90′s! This just shouldn’t be because technology has come a long way since then and people should be finding their online shopping experience as a convenience and never as a hassle. So here’s what you?ve been waiting for! Here are seventeen tips to decrease shopping cart abandonment on your site.

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1. Check how many steps are in your checkout process-remember time is valuable to everyone, not just moms! Your check out process is usually a prime ?knee jerk? target for results, but we have found that whether you have one step or seven steps in the checkout process is not all that critical (which totally goes against the above advice!). The authors of ?Call To Action? state that they had a client that was able to bring their checkout process from six steps down to one, but for them there was no reduction in the abandonment rate. Through testing, I have also found this to be true. There was not a significant reduction in abandonment rate by decreasing the steps to checkout. Surveying also revealed that once people found what they came to buy, they were going to buy, regardless of the steps involved. In other words, the customer is going to buy the product, regardless of how hard your site works to make it so that they can’t! So here is a suggestion: Look at the steps of your check out process. You may want to have a group of independent people look at the process and give you some honest feedback. Look for consistency in complaint or praise. My advice is that you don’t have to reduce your steps to make a difference, but if you do have a lengthy check-out process, you should still probably consider reducing the steps to make it as painless as possible, because that reflects good customer service and that is the most important aspect of any sale.

2. Include a ?Progress Indicator? (e.g. ?Step 2 of 5?) on each checkout page. Because no matter how many steps you have in your checkout process, it is highly advised to keep shoppers oriented by letting them know exactly how long the checkout process will be. The best way to do this is to show your shoppers a step number. Be sure to clearly label the task to be completed at each step. Always give them an opportunity to review what they did in the previous steps and a way to return to their current step if they do go back. Don’t let your site delete information they have already provided if they do have to go back or start over. Make it as easy and painless as possible for them. But this suggestion is only necessary if you have three or more steps in your checkout process.

3. Provide a link back to the product. When an item is placed in the shopping cart, include a link back to the product page, so shoppers can easily jump back to make sure they have selected the right item. Everyone who shops online has had this experience, you are looking over your shopping cart items and you realize the tiny picture of the pair of pants you just bought, doesn’t really look like the ones you wanted, but how do you go back without having to navigate all over the stores website to find them again? Not all consumers are willing to take on this navigational challenge and choose to abandon their carts instead, so by providing an ?Edit? or other link back to the item, you are giving them easy access to correct or review any product before the buy. A good suggestion: According to my testing, having a link BACK to the product page and then relying on the customer to know what to do to get BACK to the shopping cart is just a bad idea. They can do it, sure, but at what cost? In fact, only 4% of users who clicked on the product link were able to get back to the shopping cart without causing a system error or adding a duplicate item to the cart. That highly escalates abandonment. Instead, use a pop-up system to allow users to see more detail on the product without leaving the page. But, you may want to instruct them to press Ctrl as they click to override pop-up blockers.

4. Add pictures inside the basket. Adding a link back to the products details may reduce cart abandonment, but by placing a thumbnail image of the product inside the basket, you can increase conversions by as much as 11%. The best suggestion is that if you are going to include a link back to the product details page, take some time and create a pop-up instead (as mentioned above), so the product details ?hovers? over the shopping cart page so the customer can make the review and not get ?lost?. I tested the ?link back? and it does not reduce abandonment.

5. Provide shipping costs as early in the process as possible. If you can, provide an estimated cost while the prospect browses your site. Your visitors want to buy; but they also want the answers to all their questions, and total cost is one of those critical questions. Another things shoppers don’t want to do is repeat themselves! So, if the shipping information is the same as the billing information, you should include a box that shoppers can check to automatically fill in the same information. How do you do this? A great suggestion is that Free Shipping or ?Low Cost Flat-Rate Shipping? test the same, and because of this, you may wish to offer a flat rate shipping over free shipping as you will get the same results in terms of conversions, but your margins will be better with getting at least something for the shipping charges.

6. Show stock availability on the product page. Nothing is more annoying than getting almost all the way through checkout only to find something is not available. One of the best ways to take care of this is to offer an ?Estimated Delivery Date? or ‘this product usually ships in x days?. This will deal with the ?I want it now!? mentality, by allowing them to know when they should expect their item. (Note: Amazon.com does an excellent job at this, so maybe you could do a little spying.)

7. Make it obvious what to click next. A prominent ?Next Step? or ?Continue with Checkout? button on each checkout page is a great idea. If possible, you should give the shopper a visual cue as to where they are in the process by making the button you want them to click next obvious. For example, one top 50 e-tailer mistakenly placed visually similar ‘remove from cart? and ?checkout? buttons right next to each other?do you see where this is going? As a result, at this site they ended up clearing their cart, and when they went to checkout found nothing there and immediately abandoned the site in frustration. A good suggestion may be to have different colored buttons, because that seems to test out the best.

8. How many times have you bought a pair of slacks online and wanted the same pants in two different colors? Make it easy for the shopper to edit and add to their shopping cart. If a product comes in multiple sizes or colors, make it easy to select or change values in the shopping cart. This suggestion isn’t for every ‘shopping cart?. If you aren’t sure whether your site needs this function, you should survey your customers. Surveying is a powerful tool that many companies don’t use enough, and it may just end up being very beneficial in this situation.

9. Make shoppers aware that you are there for them. Checkout is when most shoppers start to panic, especially if they aren’t clear on how to do something. You should provide full contact information throughout the entire checkout process that way your customers can pick up the phone and call you at any time. You may consider using a separate telephone number that is different from the one you use for the rest of your site. This will help you track, evaluate and understand shoppers? needs and behaviors. We have found that a separate phone number is very effective when used with a pop-up that basically states that if customers do not feel secure about giving their credit card information online, they can call and then list the toll-free number to order. This pop-up usually appears as a warning when the back button is hit too many times. While you’re at it, don’t hesitate to give them a fax-order form so they can complete their order by fax if they prefer. The trick is to ALWAYS make it about convenience for your customer.

10. You should always make it about your new customer. Make the focus of the checkout process easier for your new visitor with whom you do not yet have a relationship than for your registered customer. It is much harder to acquire a new customer than to keep selling to loyal customers. Registered customers will find a way to sign in (if they don’t already have a cookie), but don’t make the registration and log-on a barrier in the way of new visitors finding their way to check out. A lot of customers hate to have to register before they purchase and that is why most people abandon their shopping carts, and most likely you know exactly how they feel. If that’s the truth and you hate it as much as your customers do, don’t make that a requirement for your site.

11. Add 3rd party reinforcement messages. Verisign, HackerSafe, BBB, or logos of credit cards have either greatly boosted conversions rate or kept them neutral. In other words, they never hurt. HackerSafe certification seems to be helping clients all across the board especially in sites with larger average order size. They claim a 15.7% average increase in orders ? directly attributable to earning the HACKER SAFE certification. Another tip, consider some appropriately placed customer testimonials shown throughout your checkout process. This can also boost customer confidence, and be another way for 3rd party reinforcement.

12. Present coupon codes carefully. Be careful how you handle these, you don’t want to decrease your conversion rate. You might want to think carefully about where you present this option and how you label it. Coupons should add to the experience not create doubt for those who may not be shopping with a coupon. You want your customers to feel like they can still find a great deal at your site without a coupon.

13. GTC: Get the Cash. You can do this by offering visitors an option to pay by credit card, check, eCheck, PayPal, Google Checkout, or any other means you can use to get the cash. Suggestion: One of the worst mistakes that you can make is not giving all options, especially American Express. Many companies do not take American Express because of the high fees. For example: I was about to perform a transaction with a company but they didn’t take American Express. I asked to speak with the owner. ?Sorry, we don’t take that card, the fees are too high,? was her reply. I politely informed her that while she feels she is saving 1% by not accepting American Express (that is how much more AMEX charges over Visa and MasterCard typically), she was actually losing $400.00 because I was turning around and walking out the door. Not taking American Express is just plain stupid. There are many business owners just like me that only carry one credit card. Don’t turn your back on any payment option you can get your hands on.

14. Offer Point of Action (POA) reassurance. Check how often information critical to your customer’s buying decision gets buried in tiny type at the bottom of the page. When a customer wants to know something, they want an answer. If you walk into a store, it’s fairly easy to find out product warranty information. You can read the box or ask a salesperson. You should give your customer the same option online. A couple examples of POA would be when your customer can examine the box link right there to product warranties, your company’s specific policies, testimonials, even optional extended service plans, all while he’s looking at the product. Another example would be when your customer has started filling in a form with personal information; you should reassure the customer that privacy is sacred to you. You may also consider having that page secured. POA reassurance could also occur when the customer might be curious about your company’s shipping costs or how easy it is to return an item, you should make that information concretely available to them. You should make the best use of your assurances at the right time and place.

15. Track your mistakes. Develop a system that keeps you notified of errors during your checkout process. For example one client noticed a portion of their visitors had cookies turned off. So she developed a cookie-less checkout option and her conversion rate and sales jumped. If this is you, you should check your web logs for an exact numbers of visitors who have cookies disabled. This month, 10.1% of visitors to our sites have cookies turned off. Looking at the data since June of 2005, the numbers are 12.1%. So the news here is that fewer surfers have Cookies Disabled. This is good news since most shopping cart systems require cookies. But before you invest in a cookie-less system, make sure that the ROI of going to the new system makes sense. How do you find out? Look at your web stats!

16. Give your customers the option to save their items. While customers abandon shopping carts frequently, sometimes they do return. So, give them the benefit of the doubt and provide this option to them. You shouldn’t let it concern you either, just plan on doing your best to give them a reason and reminder to return and complete the sale. This can be done online at your website via email or through the telephone with IVR (Interactive Voice Response). Remember, if they?ve gotten to the shopping cart, they are most likely considering the purchase, so have a little faith.

17. When all else fails, the best thing you can do is: Survey! You could try an exit survey (think of it as an ?objectionator?) that appears when people abandon your checkout. Try offering them an incentive to complete your survey or even save their cart. But a word of caution, offering an incentive to fill out a survey is a good idea, but offering an incentive for those who abandoned the cart to come back is not a good idea. According to my testing, the rate of abandonment increases after about 45 days of putting in the process. The numbers indicate that users will abandon the cart on purpose to get the incentive and an additional savings. That isn’t why you wanted to offer the incentive in the first place. You may want to look at other incentives instead of a percentage off the sale.

While these seventeen tips may help you reduce your shopping cart abandonment rate, every site is different and has its own environment and issues. So don’t overly obsess about abandonment rates, since many people simply use the shopping cart as a placeholder for considering purchases of interest to them. Everyone is guilty of that! Just the other day I purchased several outfits for my daughter online, as I was shopping I would pick something and place it in the shopping cart for safe keeping in an attempt to build a matching outfit, and I know I?m not the only one who has ever used the shopping cart to hold onto things for later review.
Another issue to consider about cart abandonment is that competitors will go through your site to find out how you operate, by doing this they will in turn abandon their carts. Because of these issues, you should really not allow yourself to lose much sleep over cart abandonment.

Remember, the only way to improve your conversion rate is one step at a time. The best way to reduce the shopping cart abandonment is not by changing the ordering process, but changing the message on the product page. Prospects that have a higher level of trust with the merchant, are more compelled to buy the product. And those who can see a real need for the product and/or service have a lower rate of cart abandonment. These tips are meant to empower you to make a change, and give you some tools to help you do it.

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