Improving shopping cart conversion rates should be an ongoing practice for any business that sells online through e-commerce websites. For a shopping cart to produce sales, it has to be properly created, designed, and optimized.
Shopping cart abandonment is a problem for any online retailer and can be as high as 70%. The average shopping cart abandonment rate is roughly around 50%, which means every other shopper who starts the shopping process, leaves a website without purchasing.
What can e-commerce websites and online retailers do to improve shopping cart conversion rates. Well, here are 5 methods and tips to increase online sales and conversion rates.
5 Methods To Improve Shopping Cart Conversion Rates
1. Shipping Cost
Shipping costs are one of the main reasons why consumers and customers abandon their shopping carts. According to a Forrester study, over 40% of online customers abandon their shopping carts because of high shopping costs. Furthermore, over 20% of consumers abandon the shopping cart due to the fact that the online retailer did not mention or disclose well enough the cost of shipping the items.
An online retailer and business should offer free shipping or give discounts on shipping to improve their conversion rates. In addition, the shipping costs need to be well displayed and easily understood by consumers for best results.
2. Checkout Process
Complicated and lengthy checkouts on e-commerce websites increase shopping cart abandonment. As a customer wants to check out and finalize the purchase, long checkout processes and forcing customers to click more often than necessary increases the rate of abandonment. Consumers do not like complicated, lengthy, and confusing checkouts on shopping cart pages and websites.
Online retailers and companies should drastically decrease the pages necessary to check out and purchase on their websites. Every single extra click that is required to complete the purchase can cause the customer to leave without completing the buying process.
3. Payment Options
Websites that operate e-commerce shopping carts and offer only limited payment options can suffer from low conversion and high shopping cart abandonment. Consumers want options when it comes to payment methods. Forcing a customer to use only a couple specific methods to pay will certainly affect the company’s ability to increase online sales.
To improve conversion rates, online retailers should offer as many payment options as possible. These options should be well displayed and incorporated into the merchant services and checkout process of the website for best results.
4. Purchasing Guarantees
Shopping carts and e-commerce websites that leave the consumer wonder about their purchase can loose the sale quickly. This is especially true for new customers or first time shoppers. Consumers want guarantees with their purchase, such as “Money-Back Guarantees”, “Returns”, and so on.
Online retailers that want to improve their online sales should offer any kind of guarantee possible to earn the trust of the consumer. This guarantees must be well displayed throughout the website for best results. Online consumers want to feel safe when purchasing products from an e-commerce website.
5. Shopping Incentives
Every customer wants to get a deal. We all look for bargains, discounts, and deals. This is especially true online and with e-commerce websites. People that go online to shop want to reap the benefits of getting a deal and savings.
E-commerce websites and companies that want to improve their online sales and conversion rates should offer many incentives to their customers and desired target audience. These promotions and incentives should be advertised, marketed, and well displayed throughout the website.
Professional website design companies that have plenty of experience tend to understand this and create for their clients well performing online shopping sites. Too often template websites, hosted solutions, and more amateur designed websites convert poorly. For best results, a company or entrepreneur should hire an experienced company to create their e-commerce website and online business.
