Shopping basket problems

One of our clients recently mentioned that her customers were abandoning their shopping baskets. We asked half a dozen people from her target market to test the site and to fill out a short questionnaire. We discovered that there was a problem with the shopping cart solution she was using, including:

• Her customers were being asked for too much personal information at checkout.
• The PayPal payment facility didn't give enough reassurance about the security of the transaction (which was a surprising objection considering how well known PayPal is).
• There were a number of frustrating steps that buyers had to complete to make the payment.

We have now switched the website to a more user-friendly shopping cart solution.

Causes of abandoned shopping baskets
Why do your customers stop at the moment just before they click to submit the order? Causes of abandoned shopping baskets are linked to:

• Privacy issues
• Payment security concerns
• Delivery options

Studies in the US showed that 65% of online shoppers abandoned shopping baskets because they didn't feel secure providing payment information. 83% of online shoppers are concerned with giving personal information on the web.¹

Source: ¹ The VeriSign Secured™ Seal Research Review 2006

According to a poll by web accessibility and usability specialist Webcredible, two of the main causes of abandoned shopping baskets are being asked to register to complete the order and hidden charges that are only discovered at checkout.

The feelings expressed by these online consumers offered a real insight in to the reasons why customers don’t complete their orders. Hidden charges evoke feelings of dishonesty, which stops them trusting the business. Having to register and provide personal details makes them feel annoyed and vulnerable.

Here are some suggestions to help you troubleshoot your site to see where there may be any gaps. You can then write content today that reassures your customers that you are meeting (and hopefully exceeding) their expectations in this area. Avoid the mistakes that drive online customers away. Overcome these buying objections and gain more satisfied customers.

Overcome your online buying objections

Safety

1. Check to see whether you publish your returns policy clearly on your site.
2. Ensure that the promises/guarantees you make are completely clear and unequivocal.
3. Emphasise the safety of the site's transmission of data and money and advertise this everywhere on your site (especially on your homepage, the page where they are entering personal information and where the transaction is finally completed). Research in the US found that 89% of online shoppers wanted to see some kind of trust mark on an ecommerce site.
4. Provide a choice of payment methods.

Website ease of use

1. Add an effective website search facility to speed up the search for products on your site so that the visitor doesn't get fed up and leave if they can't find what they are looking for.
2. Pre-populate the online order form as much as possible.
3. Let customers see what they'll be buying! Use only high resolution images.
4. Make this whole process as seamless as possible by checking links for error messages and the page download times of your web pages (I like to use www.siteconfidence.co.uk to check download times).

Delivery

1. Provide the lowest cost, most efficient delivery possible.
2. Consider giving the consumer an option such as a higher cost for faster service.
3. Give a choice of delivery addresses i.e. work as well as home.
4. Let customers know (via e-mail) the progress of the order and the expected delivery date.
5. Ask your drivers to telephone your customers if they are going to be late.
6. Think about lifestyles - can they deliver until 9pm and on Saturdays? There is nothing worse than returning home from work to find a 'we tried to deliver, but you weren't home' note posted through the door. This could mean the difference between a one-time sale turning into a more profitable repeat customer.

Customer service

1. Make it easy for your customers to contact you if they can't find the info they need on your FAQ page.
2. Offer the same facilities as your offline business - telephone, post, fax and e-mail.
3. If they do send you an e-mail reply to it! Straight away if possible, if not, manage their expectations and let them know that you will respond within 24 hours.
4. Add a customer service section with the e-mail addresses of real people rather than support@xyz.co.uk
5. Use your auto responder (you may have one incorporated in your e-mail software so check with your website hosting company) to send a reply to an enquiry immediately. Then respond with an e-mail, or telephone call, from a member of your support staff within 24 hours.