Ruth P. Stevens Articles and Columns: IM Press (Interactive Marketing Press)

New ways to rescue abandoned shopping carts

Since e-commerce emerged about 10 years ago as a consumer sales channel, e-tailers have struggled with the problem of abandoned shopping carts, when buyers give up part way through the purchase process, and—very likely—never return to complete the transaction.

There is considerable debate about the size of the problem. Some researchers report abandonment rates as high as 75%. Others argue that it's more like 25%. One of the most recent studies, by Marketing Sherpa, comes in at 59.6% on average. A wide spread, to be sure. But all agree that it's an important problem looking for an effective solution. Once you have customers on the verge of making a purchase, you certainly don't want to lose them.

Early theories about shopping cart abandonment focused on the obvious problems relating to ease of use, simplicity, and risk reduction within the shopping cart itself. Smart e-tailers agreed about a number of "best practices" in shopping cart strategy, among them:

Reduce the number of clicks required to complete the sale
Don't force customers to register before buying
Show shipping costs and product availability as early in the process as possible
Add a progress indicator on every page of the checkout process, so buyers know how much further they have to go
Include on every page your toll-free telephone number and/or the chance to conduct live chat with a call center representative
Design the instructions to be as readable, clear and transparent as possible
Add pictures of the product in the checkout item list, and provide a link back to the product page, in case customers want more information
Include a price guarantee, like "Lowest Price Match"
Provide multiple payment options, like PayPal and BillMeLater
Offer "Add to Wish List" option along with your usual "Add to Cart" message, to allow fence-sitters to postpone their purchase decision
Keep your cart software current. If it's even a few years old, your abandonment rates can probably be improved with a simple software upgrade

In recent years, online merchants have moved to a more sophisticated approach, realizing that the problem of abandonment goes way beyond the shopping cart and its technological underpinnings. It actually embodies the entire customer experience, and can best be solved via changes in marketing strategy, among them:

Sensible returns/exchanges policies, plus clear and prominent display of how easy it is to make returns and exchanges
Clear language about data privacy and site security throughout the site
Email follow-up messaging, either a survey asking why they abandoned, or a reminder that items still remain in the cart, or both

New Solutions to Try

The newest technologies aimed at reducing shopping cart abandonment include:

Ajax, the tool that combines asynchronous JavaScript and XML, and allows the shopping cart experience to be conducted on a single, dynamic checkout page. Buyers can modify the information without leaving the page, and if they do decide to keep shopping, the checkout page data is saved automatically. Ajax is not without its problems, however. For one thing, much of the variable data is cached on the user's browser, so buyers with older, slower computers cannot use it easily. For another, Ajax requires complex development processes, and many firms are having trouble integrating Ajax development into their IT departments.

Virtual chat, such as services like UpSellit.com, where a proactive invitation is offered during the checkout process to inquire about problems and move the purchase process forward. UpSellit is priced on a pay-for-performance basis, only charging the online re-tailer if the sale is completed. The company claims to have prevented a half a million abandons for its clients in the past 12 months, representing sales of over $38 million.

Direct-to-the-desktop e-commerce, such as Allurent's Desktop Connection, which lets e-tailers place an icon directly on their best customer's desktops, and serve up content in real time, without a browser, or a search engine involved. The apparel re-tailer Anthropologie is planning an experiment in 2009 with the new tool, which offers a "cinema-like" experience.

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