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Member You - Discover 7 Proven Shopping Cart Enhancements to Increase Your Sales
At some time in the life of almost every person there comes the urge to establish a business of their own. Not very many ever attempt to do so, but it's a fact that most of the large businesses of today were created from the individual enterprise of one person.There are at least three choices open to ambitious entrepreneurs through which they may enter into business. First, the founding of an entirely new business; Second, the combining of two or more established businesses through the introduction of some new plan of operation; Such as the production of a new product, a new advertising technique, or a better plan for marketing the product. And third, becoming a part of an already established businessThe idea to establish a business brings with it two questions. What line of business, and how to finance it. Generally success is more certain in the line of business in which you have the largest experience. It also helps immensely when the line
Make sure that you provide visitors the opportunity to review what they did in previous steps without erasing the information they had already entered.
If a visitor enters information incorrectly or forgets a required field, have your checkout process remember their correct information and identify the missing information clearly. Do not make people repeat an entire step because of a missing field.
Surprisingly, the number of steps in your checkout process may not have a significant effect on your visitors’ commitment to purchase. Although for many businesses, a two to three step checkout process is ideal.
5. Provide purchase options
Offer your visitors the opportunity to call a 1-800 number for customer support or online chat like LivePersonTM (www.liveperson.com) during your checkout process.
Visitors may be uncomfortable with completing a purchase online or become confused during checkout so clearly present your 1-800 number and/or online chat support link on every page within your checkout process.
6. Clearly identify what your visitor should click nest to complete the step
Clearly indicate the “c
Mirror, mirror on the wall - which incentive plan is the most effective of all?Granted, it's not the most scientific method of determining your course of business this year, but in this age of rapidly changing technology, fickle customer loyalty and increasing distributor expectations, more and more companies are needing to pull out all the stops in order to keep expanding in the coming years. So if you don’t happen to have a magic mirror hanging around, where can you turn for the answers?Let’s look at the options.Past Performance- Certainly the person who coined the phrase “the best predictor of future performance is past performance” did not live in the age of technology, where change is the norm and predictability is out the window. Executives today need to think “future focus” not pine for the good old days.Technology - After a decade of trial and error and billions of dollars invested, direct selling companies have emerged
What is “shopping cart abandonment”?
Basically, shopping cart abandonment is when a visitor initiates your checkout process but leaves before completing their purchase.
Why is it important to know?
Industry publications report a 70% average shopping cart abandonment rate for the majority of retailers. Since, on average, websites convert visitors-to-sales at a rate of 1% to 2% then 98% to 99% of the visitors to your website leave without purchasing!
These percentages identify an enormous improvement opportunity for online businesses.
A Traditional Retail Example of Shopping Cart Abandonment.
Let me illustrate shopping cart abandonment using a traditional department store.
Imagine walking into your local department store to pick up a gift for a friend’s wedding.
You find the three items you want but together the price exceeds your budget so you drop one of them and head with just two to the checkout counter.
When you get close to the checkout counter, you grow frustrated with the long lines ahead. After a ten minute wait in line, the cashier asks you to complete a membership form before they will compete your purchase.
The membership form requires your driver’s license information so you pull out your wallet while people behind you start huffing impatiently.
As you register, you mind lingers about whether two items is just too much for your friend’s wedding gift. “I mean they only gave us one item for our wedding” you think. So you ask the cashier to remove one of the items.
While ringing up your one item, the credit card reader fails. After the fourth swap by the cashier, you panic wandering if your card has just been charged four times.
At this point you give up and leave the store empty handed. While storming out you wander if the department store up the street will make your purchase any easier.
Know These Top Reasons for Shopping Cart Abandonment
This example is filled with some of the top reasons why visitors to your website may abandon their shopping carts. A recent study by Vividence Corporation, a Customer Experience Management company, reported the most significant reasons for Internet shopping cart abandonment are:
• High shipping prices or long delivery times
• Comparison shopping and browsing
• Changed Mind
• Total cost of items is too high
• Checkout process is too long
• Checkout requires too much personal information
• Site requires registration before purchase
• Site is unstable or unreliable
• Checkout process is confusing
Seven Shopping Cart Abandonment Solutions for Your Online Business
Although some of these reasons may be outside your control such as a visitor changing their minds, the majority is manageable and can be reduced by incorporating seven improvements into your current shopping cart process.
1. Remove Member Registration until AFTER the sale is completed.
Many checkout processes require a visitor to register as a new member before they begin the actual checkout process. A principle of selling is to never stall a visitor from buying once they make the decision to do so. Instead support their decision by clearly and conveniently leading them through your checkout process.
After the sale is complete then offer your customer the opportunity to register. Since you have their personal information from the purchase, you can pre-fill the information (or request less of it). This enhancement removes the visitor’s buying barriers and enables them to perceive the registration as a value-added customer benefit.
2. Show shipping costs and other costs (i.e. applicable taxes)
Show the visitor all costs associated with their product purchase either in the first step of the checkout process or even in the product description. If you offer multiple shipping methods then default the shipping cost to the most popular one. If you apply taxes for certain States then communicate this early in the checkout process. Sometimes, retailers it is relevant for their market to ask a visitor for their zip code which can be used for calculating tax.
3. Build Confidence and Trust Throughout the Checkout Process
Place your guarantee, return, privacy, delivery, customer service and security policies in visible and relevant areas throughout the entire checkout process. Adding the policies at the very bottom of the web page is not effective since you are causing your visitor to search for it. Add the individual policies next to the information field or line item where it is most relevant to the visitor.
For example, add the privacy policy next to the email address field in the checkout process and add the delivery and return policy next to the shipping cost line item. In addition, add your security policy next to the “checkout” button.
Also, add your physical address and other contact information at the bottom of every web page. Usability studies suggest adding an “About Us” and “Contact Us” links to your navigational structure to build confidence and trust as well.
4. Add a progress indicator on each checkout page
Is it important to let visitors know how many steps are in your checkout process and to show progress as thy work through it. A progress indicator is commonly located at the top of the checkout pages and is clearly numbered with the current step highlighted.
Make sure that you provide visitors the opportunity to review what they did in previous steps without erasing the information they had already entered.
If a visitor enters information incorrectly or forgets a required field, have your checkout process remember their correct information and identify the missing information clearly. Do not make people repeat an entire step because of a missing field.
Surprisingly, the number of steps in your checkout process may not have a significant effect on your visitors’ commitment to purchase. Although for many businesses, a two to three step checkout process is ideal.
5. Provide purchase options
Offer your visitors the opportunity to call a 1-800 number for customer support or online chat like LivePersonTM (www.liveperson.com) during your checkout process.
Visitors may be uncomfortable with completing a purchase online or become confused during checkout so clearly present your 1-800 number and/or online chat support link on every page within your checkout process.
6. Clearly identify what your visitor should click nest to complete the step
Clearly indicate the “co
Recently StopBadWare.org has been taking complaints about websites on the Internet where a certain website might have illegal pop-ups, spyware, badware, etc and then they lock them out of the Search Engines, but putting a page between the site and the Search Engine. Unfortunately, this is an issue in its self because it is run by some folks from Harvard Law, which are hardly politically neutral and graduates have been known to abuse power in the public sector.One has to wonder if those who started this group and have some credible names behind them as Board of Directors, which are deeply involved in the project; thought all this thru carefully, because being in a very competitive service industry in our sub-sector it is known fact that many complaints come from competitors. A recent SEC survey showed over 85% of the complaints coming into the SEC about broker dealers were invalid? How many coming into StopBadware.org are?And if this group doe
The membership form requires your driver’s license information so you pull out your wallet while people behind you start huffing impatiently.
As you register, you mind lingers about whether two items is just too much for your friend’s wedding gift. “I mean they only gave us one item for our wedding” you think. So you ask the cashier to remove one of the items.
While ringing up your one item, the credit card reader fails. After the fourth swap by the cashier, you panic wandering if your card has just been charged four times.
At this point you give up and leave the store empty handed. While storming out you wander if the department store up the street will make your purchase any easier.
Know These Top Reasons for Shopping Cart Abandonment
This example is filled with some of the top reasons why visitors to your website may abandon their shopping carts. A recent study by Vividence Corporation, a Customer Experience Management company, reported the most significant reasons for Internet shopping cart abandonment are:
• High shipping prices or long delivery times
• Comparison shopping and browsing
• Changed Mind
• Total cost of items is too high
• Checkout process is too long
• Checkout requires too much personal information
• Site requires registration before purchase
• Site is unstable or unreliable
• Checkout process is confusing
Seven Shopping Cart Abandonment Solutions for Your Online Business
Although some of these reasons may be outside your control such as a visitor changing their minds, the majority is manageable and can be reduced by incorporating seven improvements into your current shopping cart process.
1. Remove Member Registration until AFTER the sale is completed.
Many checkout processes require a visitor to register as a new member before they begin the actual checkout process. A principle of selling is to never stall a visitor from buying once they make the decision to do so. Instead support their decision by clearly and conveniently leading them through your checkout process.
After the sale is complete then offer your customer the opportunity to register. Since you have their personal information from the purchase, you can pre-fill the information (or request less of it). This enhancement removes the visitor’s buying barriers and enables them to perceive the registration as a value-added customer benefit.
2. Show shipping costs and other costs (i.e. applicable taxes)
Show the visitor all costs associated with their product purchase either in the first step of the checkout process or even in the product description. If you offer multiple shipping methods then default the shipping cost to the most popular one. If you apply taxes for certain States then communicate this early in the checkout process. Sometimes, retailers it is relevant for their market to ask a visitor for their zip code which can be used for calculating tax.
3. Build Confidence and Trust Throughout the Checkout Process
Place your guarantee, return, privacy, delivery, customer service and security policies in visible and relevant areas throughout the entire checkout process. Adding the policies at the very bottom of the web page is not effective since you are causing your visitor to search for it. Add the individual policies next to the information field or line item where it is most relevant to the visitor.
For example, add the privacy policy next to the email address field in the checkout process and add the delivery and return policy next to the shipping cost line item. In addition, add your security policy next to the “checkout” button.
Also, add your physical address and other contact information at the bottom of every web page. Usability studies suggest adding an “About Us” and “Contact Us” links to your navigational structure to build confidence and trust as well.
4. Add a progress indicator on each checkout page
Is it important to let visitors know how many steps are in your checkout process and to show progress as thy work through it. A progress indicator is commonly located at the top of the checkout pages and is clearly numbered with the current step highlighted.
Make sure that you provide visitors the opportunity to review what they did in previous steps without erasing the information they had already entered.
If a visitor enters information incorrectly or forgets a required field, have your checkout process remember their correct information and identify the missing information clearly. Do not make people repeat an entire step because of a missing field.
Surprisingly, the number of steps in your checkout process may not have a significant effect on your visitors’ commitment to purchase. Although for many businesses, a two to three step checkout process is ideal.
5. Provide purchase options
Offer your visitors the opportunity to call a 1-800 number for customer support or online chat like LivePersonTM (www.liveperson.com) during your checkout process.
Visitors may be uncomfortable with completing a purchase online or become confused during checkout so clearly present your 1-800 number and/or online chat support link on every page within your checkout process.
6. Clearly identify what your visitor should click nest to complete the step
Clearly indicate the “c
While traveling by plane has become popular, affordable, and quick, another problem has reared its head, parking at airports. Often the flight time is shorter than the time taken to find a parking slot.One off-shoot of increased security is a great reduction in the number of parking slots on-site at airports. The booking, costs, and time are escalating and forcing travelers to seek more feasible alternatives like using of-site airport parking facilities or finding other means of transport to get to the airport like a cab.Here are a few tips that can help you get the best off-site airport parking:1. Use online booking facilities. Many websites like www.parkingcompany.com handle off-site lots at several major airports. And you can even choose to print out an e-booking coupon for any of the company run locations. This way you will have reserved your parking days before you have to leave for the airport.2. Surf the net and try and f
• Site requires registration before purchase
• Site is unstable or unreliable
• Checkout process is confusing
Seven Shopping Cart Abandonment Solutions for Your Online Business
Although some of these reasons may be outside your control such as a visitor changing their minds, the majority is manageable and can be reduced by incorporating seven improvements into your current shopping cart process.
1. Remove Member Registration until AFTER the sale is completed.
Many checkout processes require a visitor to register as a new member before they begin the actual checkout process. A principle of selling is to never stall a visitor from buying once they make the decision to do so. Instead support their decision by clearly and conveniently leading them through your checkout process.
After the sale is complete then offer your customer the opportunity to register. Since you have their personal information from the purchase, you can pre-fill the information (or request less of it). This enhancement removes the visitor’s buying barriers and enables them to perceive the registration as a value-added customer benefit.
2. Show shipping costs and other costs (i.e. applicable taxes)
Show the visitor all costs associated with their product purchase either in the first step of the checkout process or even in the product description. If you offer multiple shipping methods then default the shipping cost to the most popular one. If you apply taxes for certain States then communicate this early in the checkout process. Sometimes, retailers it is relevant for their market to ask a visitor for their zip code which can be used for calculating tax.
3. Build Confidence and Trust Throughout the Checkout Process
Place your guarantee, return, privacy, delivery, customer service and security policies in visible and relevant areas throughout the entire checkout process. Adding the policies at the very bottom of the web page is not effective since you are causing your visitor to search for it. Add the individual policies next to the information field or line item where it is most relevant to the visitor.
For example, add the privacy policy next to the email address field in the checkout process and add the delivery and return policy next to the shipping cost line item. In addition, add your security policy next to the “checkout” button.
Also, add your physical address and other contact information at the bottom of every web page. Usability studies suggest adding an “About Us” and “Contact Us” links to your navigational structure to build confidence and trust as well.
4. Add a progress indicator on each checkout page
Is it important to let visitors know how many steps are in your checkout process and to show progress as thy work through it. A progress indicator is commonly located at the top of the checkout pages and is clearly numbered with the current step highlighted.
Make sure that you provide visitors the opportunity to review what they did in previous steps without erasing the information they had already entered.
If a visitor enters information incorrectly or forgets a required field, have your checkout process remember their correct information and identify the missing information clearly. Do not make people repeat an entire step because of a missing field.
Surprisingly, the number of steps in your checkout process may not have a significant effect on your visitors’ commitment to purchase. Although for many businesses, a two to three step checkout process is ideal.
5. Provide purchase options
Offer your visitors the opportunity to call a 1-800 number for customer support or online chat like LivePersonTM (www.liveperson.com) during your checkout process.
Visitors may be uncomfortable with completing a purchase online or become confused during checkout so clearly present your 1-800 number and/or online chat support link on every page within your checkout process.
6. Clearly identify what your visitor should click nest to complete the step
Clearly indicate the “c
Over the years, eBay has introduced all sorts of different auction types, in an effort to give people more options when they buy and sell their things on eBay.For every seller who doesn’t like the idea that their item might sell for a far lower price than they intend, there’s another who wants to shift hundreds of the same item quickly. eBay tries to cater to all tastes. This email gives you an overview of the different kinds of auctions and their advantages for you.Normal Auctions.These are the bread-and-butter of eBay, the auctions everyone knows: buyers bid, others outbid them, they bid again, and the winner gets the item. Simple.Reserve Auctions.Reserve auctions are for sellers who don’t want their items to sell for less than a certain price – a concept you’ll know about if you’re familiar with real auctions. They work just like normal auctions on eBay, except that the buyer will be told if their bid does not meet the
3. Build Confidence and Trust Throughout the Checkout Process
Place your guarantee, return, privacy, delivery, customer service and security policies in visible and relevant areas throughout the entire checkout process. Adding the policies at the very bottom of the web page is not effective since you are causing your visitor to search for it. Add the individual policies next to the information field or line item where it is most relevant to the visitor.
For example, add the privacy policy next to the email address field in the checkout process and add the delivery and return policy next to the shipping cost line item. In addition, add your security policy next to the “checkout” button.
Also, add your physical address and other contact information at the bottom of every web page. Usability studies suggest adding an “About Us” and “Contact Us” links to your navigational structure to build confidence and trust as well.
4. Add a progress indicator on each checkout page
Is it important to let visitors know how many steps are in your checkout process and to show progress as thy work through it. A progress indicator is commonly located at the top of the checkout pages and is clearly numbered with the current step highlighted.
Make sure that you provide visitors the opportunity to review what they did in previous steps without erasing the information they had already entered.
If a visitor enters information incorrectly or forgets a required field, have your checkout process remember their correct information and identify the missing information clearly. Do not make people repeat an entire step because of a missing field.
Surprisingly, the number of steps in your checkout process may not have a significant effect on your visitors’ commitment to purchase. Although for many businesses, a two to three step checkout process is ideal.
5. Provide purchase options
Offer your visitors the opportunity to call a 1-800 number for customer support or online chat like LivePersonTM (www.liveperson.com) during your checkout process.
Visitors may be uncomfortable with completing a purchase online or become confused during checkout so clearly present your 1-800 number and/or online chat support link on every page within your checkout process.
6. Clearly identify what your visitor should click nest to complete the step
Clearly indicate the “c
If you’ve never attempted to write a book, or haven’t done much writing at all, creating an Ebook might appear difficult. Add to that an informational product you will have to be knowledgeable about and the task will seem insurmountable. No attempt will be made to make it appear easy. On the other hand those who have never written anything of consequence before have been known to perform this achievement.Just what is an informational product? It is one the author has knowledge of and is willing and anxious to share with others. These products can take the form of an eBook, an audio CD or video series. There is a lot less work involved in creating an eBook than an audio cd or video.Following are steps to be considered.1.What are your strong points? Do you have knowledge or skills about a given subject? Do you have a financial background, a medical background? Do you know a lot about animals or gardening?2. Whatever you can think
Make sure that you provide visitors the opportunity to review what they did in previous steps without erasing the information they had already entered.
If a visitor enters information incorrectly or forgets a required field, have your checkout process remember their correct information and identify the missing information clearly. Do not make people repeat an entire step because of a missing field.
Surprisingly, the number of steps in your checkout process may not have a significant effect on your visitors’ commitment to purchase. Although for many businesses, a two to three step checkout process is ideal.
5. Provide purchase options
Offer your visitors the opportunity to call a 1-800 number for customer support or online chat like LivePersonTM (www.liveperson.com) during your checkout process.
Visitors may be uncomfortable with completing a purchase online or become confused during checkout so clearly present your 1-800 number and/or online chat support link on every page within your checkout process.
6. Clearly identify what your visitor should click nest to complete the step
Clearly indicate the “continue checkout” button. Make it obvious where the visitor should click to move forward in the checkout process and keep it consistent for every step.
7. Use a readable and clear font size and color
The font size and color of your copy may influence your visitor’s desire to complete their purchase. If your font size is too small or the color is too difficult to read forcing a visitor to strain then the potential for abandonment will increase. This is especially serious for online businesses marketing to older populations.
Get to know your shopping cart abandonment rate and start implementing the above improvements. Most importantly, test different strategies and track which ones produce the greatest increases to your sales conversion rate.
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