September 18, 2009
OpEd By the ZippyCart Shopping Carts Content Team
There are a variety of reasons why people abandon their shopping cart, or the ecommerce site entirely, before they even get to the cart. With the holiday season approaching, there are a lot of things you could try to improve the conversion rate so you can turn more visitors into paying customers. Below are some helpful tips and suggestions that you can try and use in your ecommerce store.
Ensure Your Store is Secure – People want to feel safe when checking out of an online shopping cart and if you do not make them feel secure when going to check out, then you are missing out on sales opportunities. Partner with online safety companies like VeriSign or Network Solutions Security to show you have a safe store for people to shop. Also make sure to link to your privacy and security policy where applicable so your customers can review if needed. The final thing to remember is to ensure your checkout is secure and the URL displays https instead of http.
Survey Your Customers – Every online store is unique and the reasons why people abandon their shopping cart differ depending on the store and customer. Why not survey them to get their feedback on what should be improved and what they would like to see? Customers almost always will point out something you overlooked.
Be Upfront About All Fees – This includes shipping and all applicable taxes that the customer will have to pay when checking out of your online store. People like to comparison shop so they want to quickly and clearly be able to see all the costs involved so they can decide if they want to make a purchase from your ecommerce store.
Amy is the co-founder of ZippyCart. She went to school for film in Cleveland, Ohio and ended up working in the field of viral video marketing, which eventually led her to her real profession: SEO. When she's not writing for ZippyCart, she can be found out and about Seattle, WA.
