It is a much more complex issue when they are bulky and relatively low cost like chef uniforms!

Still it is a great idea for us to test.

Dennis

Your customers deserve to get what they expect. And they really hate it when they don’t. Here’s why.
……

Caricature King,

Great point, and we’ve got you covered! Bryan Eisenberg already wrote that article: “Why Must I Register Before Checkout?”

Enjoy!

In many instances, why pay $15+ in shipping when it is $2 in gas to buy it locally – unless it is some exotic product.

Personally high shipping kills 90% of my potential online purchases.

Not to mention the need to create an account first…but that’s a new article, right

Some specific points on this:

1) Irrespective of a customers landing page (homepage, category, product page) delivery messaging, in particular the ‘FREE delivery over £xx’ business USP, are prominent throughout the store, plus there is a dedicated delivery page which can be visited from the marketing messages

2) At shopping basket stage, above all basket information is large page heading and statement, saying:

Shopping Basket
2 items, £55.21 inc. VAT and delivery

The total basket amount is broken down beneath the basket contents, but by having this statement at the top, along with a ‘proceed to checkout’ button, customers don’t need to scroll all the down the page to know what they will be charged with their current order

3) Also at shopping basket, each of the delivery methods (FREE over £xx, FREE if picked up in person, Special Overnight Delivery etc) are presented along with information on each option, are presented, giving the customer full control of their shipping method

4) If a customer updates their delivery option, a prominent message is presented to ensure they know that change has been made and what affect (if any) has been made to their total basket cost

5) Our clients products range from pens to bubble wrap to machinery, but rather than confusing customers with weight or physical size based delivery costs, fixed costs depending on the speed of delivery required are provided, providing easy to understand (and potentially very cost effective!) delivery costs.

More developments in delivery are planned as our e-commerce platform evolves, but to conclude we at PRWD couldn’t agree more with the importance of highly visible delivery charges throughout a shopping journey, especially using FREE delivery as a strategic buying motive.

Even though we are a very lean operation (there are only two people who work on our web site design and ecommerce strategy full time), we pay attention to and implement the best ideas we find here on your site.

Shipping is a very big deal – a deal maker or breaker no matter what you’re selling online. We try to do a few things to set shipping expectations on our site:

1. We tell people on every page that orders over $100 get free shipping (there are exceptions for very large, bulky items, which we have very few of, but they do exist).

2. We put that “free shipping” graphic on every page, just above the cart summary. If the items you have in your cart total $95, you can easily see that if you add one more item for $5, you’ll get your shipping for free. Obviously, if shipping was $7.95 before adding the $5.00 item, and it’s free after adding it to your order, it’s like getting a small discount on your order! Fine. We’ll trade the couple of bucks if that means a converted cart vs. an abandoned one. We’ve toyed with the idea of having a “countdown to free shipping” function in the cart summary module, but we haven’t tried it yet.

3. We also tell people that their orders normally ship within 1-3 days. Usually, they ship the same day, but if a customer orders something in the middle of the night on a Friday, UPS isn’t going to ship it until Monday.

4. We put the estimated shipping charge right there in the cart summary on every page. Never a surprise when the customer gets to the checkout. Also, the shipping charge is right there in the cart when customers add an item to their cart. Again, no surprises.

5. Finally, for those items that cost over $100, we insert a graphic into the item detail page right above the “Add to Cart” function that says “This item includes Free Shipping!”. This eliminates doubt for the customer, and removes a potential friction point that could cause site or cart abandonment.

We do some other things, too, but those are the major points.

When I bought my wedding dress, I was taken to a page that specified the shipping cost for the postal code i typed. i personally think this is better than adding the shipping cost to the product itself (as this will Shock customers as well!!). Its better to add the price of the product then the shipping cost without adding them together.

Great points! There are many factors that could result in cart abandonment, and it’s not always the most important thing. Average order value is very important, and it’s certainly no better if someone proceeds one more click without completing the sale.

You’re right. Showing too much information can lead to unintended consequences in some cases. That’s why, as you say, testing is so important. People shouldn’t get too fixated on a single metric, but it is important to see what factors might be affecting a single metric, so you can develop a hypothesis for how fixing it can improve overall conversion.

I realize this article is about improving shopping cart abandonment; however, focussing upon this single metric may lead the store owner astray.

If the shipping and handling rates are displayed all over the site, then the decision of buying something has been moved up one step. Meaning, a customer can decide not even to click the ‘add to cart’ button because the total price (product plus shipping) is out of line. The sticker shock just happens earlier in the process.

Now, if this happens and the ‘add to cart’ button is not pushed, then the shopping cart abandonment will decrease because the leads have been more qualified. Is this a good thing?

Not necessarily… regardless of where it happened (on the item page displaying total price or in the cart) you still lost the sale.

I would think that your cart abandonment rate coupled with the number of times a SPECIFIC item sells on the site are the metrics that must be optimized.

One should test each of the above methods to see which way ultimately converts more sales (more clicks into the cart or more qualified clicks into the cart).

I realize that this is somewhat intuitive. But sometimes people get so fixated on a single metric to improve that they forget about the big picture.

That’s very interesting. I wonder what would have happened had you tested “free shipping when you buy X number of products” or “free shipping when you buy X worth of products”.

We’re using flat rates based on the weight and whenever the shippingcost is 8% or less of the total order amount, there’s free shipping.

Dave

I disagree that shipping costs should be calculated in to the initial cost. Then the prices don’t look competitive.

For most of the products on our site, we offer ground shipping to the 48 continental states for a flat rate, which is displayed at the top of every page.

Naturally, some of our larger products cost more to ship, and we do charge more for international shipping, which we outline on our “Information & Policies” page.

We also offer three-day express and second-day air shipping through FedEx for most of our items, the cost of which is calculated directly on the page so that the customer can see it before making the final decision. For overnight shipping, we invite customers to call us for a direct quote.

Yes, I recall you showing me that on your screen now that you mention it. Seems odd that we got different shipping estimates, considering that neither of us entered a postal code and we were visiting the website from the same office.

You’re right, I’ve never worked directly in shipping or logistics. And, like I said, the customer’s expectations of what they should have to pay for shipping is what’s most often out of step with the realities product delivery. So, like Jeffrey in this scenario, I’m looking at this from the customer’s point of view.

As far as the U.S. is concerned, yes, we’re especially spoiled over here. We have a fantastic delivery system — regardless of how much we complain about it — that often leads to other unintended biases (like e-commerce shops failing to plan for overseas buyers or not even giving much attention to Canadian buyers).

I should also be clear that I’m not advocating that e-commerce shops offer to ship TV’s, furniture, etc., for free. Although some might be able to afford it, that’s a business model issue that few companies could implement. All I’m saying is that if they can do it, for any particular item, they should seriously consider some level of free shipping.

In this case, it seems odd that Jeffrey and I saw two different prices for shipping — especially since we’re searching from the same location and it never asked us to put in a postal code before estimating cost. And like we both pointed out, this could have been mentioned on the product page instead.

I also want to say again that I don’t want people to think we’re picking on Toys ‘R’ Us. This is a VERY common way of showing prices, and it’s something e-commerce shops need to pay attention to — and test solutions for — if they want to lower cart abandonment.

Loved your comment! There are definitely even more complex shipping concerns to account for in Europe than there are in North America, but we all should look at setting expectations from the same point of view: The customer’s.