Is Your Online Shopping Cart Costing You Sales?

If you own an e-commerce store, then you’ve suffered a financial loss due to abandoned carts. (It’s an inevitable part of doing business online unless you are designing nightclub websites.)

And while there are multiple ways to recapture the sale once someone has left, we recommend starting with a proactive approach to ensure that your shopping cart isn’t the reason for the loss.

Here are a few simple improvements you can make to establish the online shopping cart for your business is easy for ideal customers to use and isn’t negatively affecting your ROI.

Have reliable software

Don’t think that all e-commerce shopping cart software is created equal. Make sure whether you have a custom designed cart or you buy software from a reliable company, you have room to upgrade, and your checkout experience can advance as your business does.

While you may only be involved in selling a service online such as antique car restorations, and your online store consists of branded t-shirts, leave room to grow! As more people discover your brand, perhaps you’ll find that you have an opportunity to sell rare car parts, and suddenly you have customers from all over the world. You want your software to be able to handle the new volume and clientele.

Give people payment options

Accepting all major forms of payment, including PayPal, will make life easier for customers. Often, they’ll have payment information stored in the device they’re using allowing an even faster checkout. You should also have a way for people to buy gift cards and redeem them at your store.

If you offer deals for specific customers, be sure you aren’t making them jump through extra hoops to redeem coupons or bonuses. They should be able to enter a code without being redirected to a new page. This is especially critical when you are trying to recapture a sale due to an abandoned cart.

Make security badges visible

People want to see that you have designed a site with a secure checkout, and it’s easy to add a security badge to your site from the company that protects it. Not only will this give you peace of mind, but your customers will be more likely to give you personal information when they see that trusted badge.

Eliminate distractions

We know that when people are checking out, you may see an opportunity to promote your brand’s social media or to gather more information about them, but this is a sensitive period that you don’t want people to be distracted from.

Web design features like pop-ups and surveys need to wait until the purchase has been finalized, and the confirmation email has been sent. In fact, you can incorporate the survey or upselling sales pitch in the confirmation email since the open rate is so high when customers get shipping and billing information.

Test your checkout process

Test your businesses checkout requirements for yourself to see if the process is smooth, or if it gets a bit bumpy on the way. Make changes as needed, and remember, the goal is to get people in and out as quickly as possible because time is of the essence when customers are making purchases online.