Every wondered how to get more sales out of your online store? Or even more to the point, how do you get more people to checkout and stop this thing called “Shopping Cart Abandonment”? Well, I’m not only going to tell you how to do that, but ill also tell you how to increase your profits once you stop your precious visitors from jumping ship! Hi, I’m Lucas Raby and I’ve been a Digital Marketer for some time now and I am always looking for new and improved ways of stopping people from choosing other providers or other online stores to purchase their good from and lucky for you, I like sharing my knowledge. Follow the helpful tips below and I’m so sure that you will get a better conversion rate that I’ll even let you give me half of your profits!
Reducing Shopping Cart Abandonment
Shopping cart abandonment is an online business killer. If your online sales are dwindling or non-existent, its generally due to three key factors. A) You aren’t getting any traffic B) Your product is terrible (in which case you should shut up shop) or C) people just aren’t checking out. If you have traffic and a great product but people just aren’t checkout out, try to implement the below solutions. It could be as simple as adding more payment options onto your shopping cart…
Make Your Checkout Super Easy To Navigate And Complete
You need to make the whole checkout process as easy and as seamless as possible. If possible, offer a guest checkout system so that your customers can breeze right through the checkout process. If you can’t or even don’t want to offer a guest checkout on your store, make the registration process super easy and reduce the number of fields and steps that they have to take.
Ensure There are Little Distractions To Lure The Eye Away
People can be easily distracted by even the smallest of things. Ensure that there are no flashy banners or big advertisements within the checkout process. This will lure the buyers eyes away and ultimately post-pone or even stop them from purchasing from your online store. This is not what you want!
Make Sure Your Checkout Pages Load Super Fast
If your pages load slowly due to various content on the page, third-party add-ons such as Facebook boxes or even dodgy hosting and SSL certificates, this is a massive problem. You need to ensure that your pages load super fast to ensure your visitors don’t get frustrated and bounce. I suggest getting hosting from a local hosting provider (in the same country or region at least), reduce the amount of third-party content you put on your site and ensure your ecommerce web design is coded properly.
Increasing Your Sales During Checkout
Whether you just aren’t making enough money at the checkout or you are a just as money hungry as me, here are some extra little tips to help you increase sales or the sale value when people checkout of your online store. Keep in mind that I have only listed three core options and there are countless ways to increase your sale volume, you just need to be a little crafty in your thought process.
Offer Free Shipping If You Have The Margins In Your Product
I see it time and time again where an online store owner will offer dirt cheap products but then whack the customer with a hefty deliver charge. Don’t make the customer have to think because we all know what that could result in. Either offer free postage and delivery or if you don’t have the margins, include it in the price of the product. This minimizes the chance of them thinking about costs and having to total things in their mind and makes them feel like they’re getting a good deal.
Offer Gift Certificates To Your Customers For Their Friends
Right at the last part of the checkout process, throw a carrot in front of your customer. Offer them Gift Certificates or vouchers that they can buy and give to friends, family or work colleagues. It is more than likely that one of their friends, family or work mates has the same tastes as them and they may just go for it. This wont increase your sale by much but at the end of the day, its all a numbers game.
Offer Quantity Discounts To Entice Them To Purchase More Products
My girlfriend is a sucker for bulk or quantity discounts and will also go for them…”Look honey, I can buy one for $20 or 10 for $150!”. Regardless of the fact that she doesn’t need 10, she will always take the offer because she thinks she is getting an amazing deal! People will buy when they think they are getting an amazing deal and this is a great way to get an up-sell. You may reduce your margins slightly but your overall sale value and turnover will be higher as a result.
In conclusion, shopping cart abandonment is a serious problem and you always need test and measure things to see what works and what doesn’t. I have only listed three main reasons on how to reduce abandonment and how to increase sales but if you have any tips or tricks that you think are worthy, go ahead and leave a comment below and help your fellow online business owners.
Lucas Raby is the Director of a Website Design company based out of Melbourne, Australia. He loves to give helpful tips and tricks to startup online business owners to help them achieve success online. If you would like to know more about what SuperFastWeb can to for you and your online business, click here.