Going to all the trouble and work of convincing a prospective buyer to the checkout page, and then seeing them abandon the cart, as some 67 percent of them do, is a real problem.
Sometimes the reasons are none of your doing: second thoughts, insufficient funds, kids spilling face paint all over the floor. We get it. But more often than not, it is likely something we've either done or not done that leads to shopping cart abandonment. Here's 7 ways to help keep you from creating problems for yourself, while improving your checkout page conversions many times over.
7 Ways to improve checkout page conversions
1. Free shipping – If at all possible, you need to be able to offer free shipping for any physical product you can. Of course if you're selling tractors, we can fudge some here, but high shipping costs and the lack of perceived value in that are the #1 reason people abandon shopping carts.
2. Words matter – The text you use on your calls to action and especially any buy buttons needs to be carefully planned and tested. It can be the difference between a purchase or an exit.
3. Clutter free forms – Make sure you're not asking for anything you don't really need in your shopping cart forms with respect to information. People are only going to give you what's needed for the transaction, and if you press for more, they're outa there.
4. Reassurance works – Trust seals and especially guarantees near the credit card fields make a huge difference.
5. Easy contact information – Give prospective customers ways to contact you if they need more information. This can be an email, phone or webpage.
6. Images sell – It's comforting for a person to see what they're buying before they pull the trigger. Including a small product thumb nail on the checkout page can suffice.
7. Live chat – If you find that your product offering is getting a lot of questions, check your sales copy and consider offering a live chat solution to help. The mere act of connecting with another human may be all the impetus they need to complete the sale.