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How to reduce shopping cart abandonment and increase
sales
Abandonment for shopping carts cost
online businesses close to 75% of their
potential revenues. Hence it is
important for online business owners to
know how to increase the efficiency if
their checkout process in order to
prevent consumers from dropping off
half-way through the check-out
procedure.
The following points help in minimising
abandonment for shopping carts:
Privacy policy, refund and About Us –
The minimum requirement in checkout
pages is the inclusion of “Privacy
Policy”, “Refund” and “About Us”. These
links should have a description of each
of them clearly.
The “About Us” link must provide the
consumer details about the legitimacy of
the business. It should also include
details such as email address and
contact number, physical address and
business identification number.
The “Refund” policy should unambiguously
state about the methods and
circumstances in which a refund will be
issued. It is necessary for traders to
precisely stick to what is stated in the
refund policy.
The “Privacy Policy” has to clearly
state the manner in which a consumer’s
information will be used during a
checkout process. The privacy policy has
to clearly state that the personal
information of the consumers will not be
sold or passed to a third party.
Moreover, it is essential to assure
consumers that their e-mail address will
be used only for communicating matters
linked to their orders.
It is better that these links open in
separate or new windows so that the
consumers are not diverted away from the
check-out page.
No gimmicks and fancy advertisements –
The checkout page should not be used by
traders to advertise other products that
are sold by them. Texts that link to
other products and images should be
avoided. In addition to this, it is also
necessary to avoid “companion products”
appearing on the checkout page. If
consumers are persuaded to buy other
products at the check-out page, it could
lead to shopping cart abandonment.
Third party links should be avoided on
the checkout page – Third party services
and products should not be advertised on
the checkout page. Even advertisements
that bring some amount of revenue need
to be avoided. Completed orders are
better for an online business when
compared to the revenue generated from
ads.
Back links and full visibility – Back
links are important so that consumers
can navigate back to the previous page
so either check or check an order. The
current page should show all the details
regarding the ordered product. The
shopping cart contents must be shown
above all checkout pages. This provides
full visibility of the ordered items to
the consumer.
The amounts that will be charged should
be clearly mentioned – Checkout pages
should have complete details about
charges such as handling and shipping
charges. It is necessary that consumers
do not blindly go to a payment page
without having knowledge about such
information.
Checkout abandonment can easily be
avoided by following the above mentioned
points which in turn will increase the
profit margins manifold. |
