Monday, June 09, 2008
How to avoid shopping cart abandonment
Your shopping cart on your web site is more likely to be abandoned than used. Around six out of every ten people who select a product for purchase, give up just before pressing the "pay" button. It's rather like walking up to the checkout in a bricks and mortar shop, handing over the items you want to purchase then as the assistant asks you for your payment you say "Oh no, sorry, I've changed my mind". So why do people give up so easily when trying to buy from a web site?
One of the reasons is the socially constructed notion we have of these two different shopping experiences. It is not deemed polite or acceptable to go so far with the potential transaction in a "real" shop and then change our mind. There is social pressure from the "tut-tuts" of other shoppers in the queue, for instance, which means we almost always go through the purchase process in a physical shop.
Online, that social pressure does not exist. There's no-one, such as a checkout assistant or another shopper in the queue to make us more likely to pay up, even if we have a few doubts about the purchase. The result is, we feel much more able to withdraw from the shopping process online than we do in the "real world".
Trust is a key issue in the online future
Trust is a key issue in email marketing
7 Steps to Generating Trust in Your Web Site
Trust is often quoted as a reason for abandoning shopping carts. However, this is unlikely to be the case. The need for trust happens earlier in the transaction. We need to trust the web site well before we decide to purchase anything. For example, take MarketLive, the company that recently released the figures on shopping cart abandonment. Go to their site and look up their latest news and you discover that the most recent item is from last July (2007). How much do you now trust them to really know what is going on with e-commerce? The fact is, they do, but they are not showing us they do as well as they might. This hit on their trust makes it less likely someone will purchase e-commerce facilities from them; people don't even get as far as the shopping cart if web site trust is an issue.
Another view on shopping cart abandonment is the fact that online it is easy for shoppers to make comparisons. We can switch from one supplier to another quickly or use price comparison sites to find the cheapest source for the products and services we want. And whilst that may happen, it is going to be a rarity; changing your mind and looking for alternative suppliers at the point of purchase doesn't really happen. The comparison sites and the ease of online shopping all happens before people get to the shopping cart.
So what is going on? Two possible things explain the abandonment rates. Firstly, most shopping carts are "non human"; how many bricks and mortar stores do you go to where you have to register or give your name and address before you can buy anything? Yet's that what most web site shopping carts require. Secondly, most shopping carts are too cumbersome and technical - even the relative simplicity of Amazon's shopping cart requires you to look in several different places on the screen, go through several different pages and confirm, then re-confirm who you are. Even this successful company has a shopping cart that appears designed to make it difficult for people to buy.
Just sit and watch people trying to buy from a web site. The shopping cart is usually the stumbling block because it is too technical and requires too much input from the shopper. It is so unlike their stereotypical shopping experience in their mind that they give up.
Online retail is predicted to grow dramatically, but your web site will only succeed with this opportunity if your shopping cart is so simple a five year old can use it. Think that's daft? Ask a five year old to buy some sweets in a shop - they know exactly what to do. Ask them to do it online and they'd be as confused as the rest of us.
Shopping cart abandonment has little do with what the "experts" are telling is; it's because the shopping cart companies have just made it all too technical and difficult.
Labels: internet, internet marketing, internet psychology, shopping
Readers' Comments:
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June 09, 2008 11:35 PM 
Jeremy Jacobs said…
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June 09, 2008 11:37 PM No idea what to post said…
All of those confirmations end up making me question the wisdom of buying the product. Also if shipping was a flat rate or included in the total cost, and thus invisible, that would cut a step out that usually results in me walking away from buying something. Why don't internet stores follow what infomercials have done for years and just state that the shipping will be $5.99 (or whatever) for within the country and a different flat cost for out of the country? Also why not just put everything you need to do onto 1 page? Do they really need to have you go to a different page each for each thing? Put a couple of check boxes stating you agree and then hit submit and then have a page pop up thanking you for ordering and giving all the information you'll need plus a number you can call with questions or concerns. People can call that number if they fell there's been an error. It just all seems silly that it takes so much.
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June 10, 2008 9:09 AM 
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Spot on, Graham. It amazes me that people don't test the experience of using their website and online shop. I design websites for a living but probably abandon online shopping something like 30-40% of the time because of frustration. Pure frustration, not any lack of web savvy or intelligence.
Here's a tip to all the website 'designers': ask your mother if she can use the site you've just built. Mums can rarely do one thing at once (too much to do) so if your site is simple and engaging enough to carry her through to clicking the 'pay now' button then it's a good site.
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June 10, 2008 9:19 AM said…
Maybe the stats included a high proportion of users of the Littlewoods website.
I wanted to buy a mobile phone from them the other day and I had to set up an account with them, then I ordered it and went through to the payment page to be told guess what - it wasn't in stock!
Can you believe that in this day and age with such a well-known brand? At least Amazon show the stock situation instantly and if it's out of stock they give an expected date.
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June 11, 2008 2:23 AM Nick said…
Shipping costs are the main reason I abandon a cart. Often you can't see the costs without starting the checkout process, and shipping costs from the US to Australia can sometimes be very over-the-top, so that's the main reason I personally walk away. Note that here the real-world analogy does not hold up. It'd be like if you could see part of the cost of the item in a real shop, and then when you went to the counter they said "and the actual real total is $x more than the sticker price of $y". In that situation, a LOT of people would say "nah, forget it" and walk away at the checkout, particularly if $x is large, so in this regard the analogy is a bit flawed.
"it's because the shopping cart companies have just made it all too technical and difficult".
More of the K.I.S.S. principle is required here I think