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Keep Them In the Cart this Christmas
OK, Grok faithful, we all know that the Holiday Season is coming fast. Last year was “make or break” for a 
lot of eTailers, and this season will be critical for many more.
The ones who make it through will be those who are passionate about the customer experience, AND who are able to prioritize their work between now and the “Holiday Crunch” so that the hours expended actually impact the number of sales they make.
Where do you start if you want your site to be a stellar performer this Holiday Season? A great place for most to start is on Shopping Cart Abandonment. That’s low in your sales funnel, where you’re losing customers who were already acquired via marketing and persuaded to buy from you!
Let’s examine a prioritized list of reasons shoppers listed that caused them to abandon shopping carts. Then, we’ll offer actionable suggestions corresponding to each concern. The data comes from the 8th Annual Merchant Survey, conducted by PayPal and comScore in April of this year.
#1 High shipping charges
We’re all aware of this challenge, and it’s somewhat out of your hands, but there are things you can do. One is to thing is to test different shipping offers in the cart. Another, if you have a certain order value that qualifies for free shipping, is to display how much more the customer needs to qualify. For example, “You are $xx.xx away from free shipping! Continue shopping »”
#2 Wanted to comparison shop
Make sure you’re saving customer carts for at least 30 days, maybe more for the Holidays. A recent study sponsored by McAfee showed that the average time span between visiting a site and checking out was 34 hours! Acknowledge that this behavior is occurring and plan for it. If you’re sending “cart recovery” emails inside of 24 hours, you may be really annoying your prospective customers!
#3 Leaving to Google a coupon code
If you have a coupon code capture field on your “View Shopping Cart” page, you may consider moving that capture later in the checkout process, when prospects are more ‘invested’ in the process and less likely to bail and go “coupon Googling.” Some of our clients offer coupons right on their site as a way to combat this behavior, and it works.
#4 Couldn’t find preferred payment option
Most eStore owners offer a proper assortment of payment options, BUT are your customers seeing them at the point of concern? We call these Point of Action Assurances. When the prospect is in your cart, and wondering about their payment options, are you reassuring them at the point of action that you offer BillMeLater, PayPal, etc.? Test different placements of those assurances.
#5 Item unavailable at checkout
Yikes! This issue simply needs to be dealt with on your product pages, before the cart. If an item is out of stock, why not capture an email so you can notify when the item is back in stock? Zappos.com does a good job of this when a certain size of shoe is out of stock.
#6 Couldn’t find customer support
Similar to #4, most online stores do offer good customer service options, but sometimes your prospects aren’t seeing them at the appropriate point in the cart. Test those placements. Also, if you use live chat support, and the chat service is “offline,” what is the customer experience like?
#7 Security concerns
Similar to #1, this is somewhat out of your hands…the Web isn’t 100% safe for shoppers, and they know it. But, Point of Action Assurances, 3rd party security seals, and credibility of design are key. Another great opportunity for testing different placements and different seals in the checkout.
Blogger’s Note: Apologies for excluding other winter holidays in the title of this post; I was just going for alliteration 
About the author
Brendan Regan is a Senior Persuasion Analyst. Prior to joining FutureNow, he worked in B2C online travel and B2B marketing. He likes to grok web design, user experience, and persuasive copywriting.
More articles from Brendan Regan
- Nobody wants to read your sh**!September 21st, 2009
- Redesign? Ask The Right Questions!September 18th, 2009
- Cross-post: How to Improve a Product Page, Part 1September 15th, 2009
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October 6th, 2009
11:24 am
Great Post Brendan
There’s also an interesting idea to post coupon codes on your own site so that visitors don’t navigate away. This has been done by Macy’s and they’re getting a 40% conversion from everyone who visits the page. I blogged about this with more details and links here
http://websiteconversion.blogspot.com/2009/09/voucher-codes-website-conversion.html
Of course the other tactic which will be hot this holiday season is following up on abandoners. Even if you perfectly tune your list of 7 things, you are still going to have abandonment, so an immediate email follow up program can be very effective in getting visitors back to the site and convert. These are often the most lucrative programs that ecommerce teams run.
There’s some science in how to run these types of programs well, but the key things to remember are Tone and Timing. There a video of best practices for abandoned shopping cart remarketing up here
October 6th, 2009
12:13 pm
[...] Keep Them In the Cart this Christmas “The ones who make it through will be those who are able to prioritize their work between now and the “Holiday Crunch” so that the hours expended actually impact the number of sales they make.” [...]
October 6th, 2009
12:43 pm
Good post, it seems like I have been working the last few months getting ready for the Christmas season. I still have a lot to do…..
October 6th, 2009
1:49 pm
Hey Brendan
Good insightful article and yes definitely we need to be aware as the Christmas season is almost upon us. Heck, Walmart is now launching an early promo in the hopes of getting a few million early shoppers.
But yes, buying online, one needs to know they are buying from a reliable business. As a home based business owner, I am selective on where I shop online and am always reviewing how easy of an experience it is to actually buy from them. If its easy and they offer good value with customer support, I will be back.
October 6th, 2009
2:36 pm
Very insight points about getting the deal closed. We have to think about every aspect of the transaction online and this is arguably the most important factor. thanks for the tips.
October 6th, 2009
3:51 pm
Nice ideas its giving alot to think about for chritmas gifts
October 6th, 2009
4:42 pm
Great tips for closing sales this Holiday season. It is the busiest time for most retailers, so these tips will really help. Thanks!
October 7th, 2009
5:48 am
Here’s a tip: If all your text is bold, as on point #2, the emphasis is lost…
October 7th, 2009
10:02 am
Really nice article, so get ready for next holiday season
October 7th, 2009
4:35 pm
Great article I planto pass it to all my clients who have online shopping carts. One thing I would add is to check the competitions pricing, especially those close to you in SERPS rankings for a high value keyword. Also some warranty and gaurantee text doesn’t hurt as well..Happy Holidays!
October 7th, 2009
7:45 pm
So Nice Good idea share it’s giving alot to think about for Chritmas gifts
October 8th, 2009
2:19 am
A very good read, nice concepts. Thank you.
October 8th, 2009
2:58 am
Thank for the great idea…!!
October 8th, 2009
12:33 pm
Very nice !_!
October 8th, 2009
10:04 pm
Thanks for all the great ideas. Some very good points.
October 9th, 2009
9:09 am
There is so much money flying out the window when we don’t focus on those little things that let sales slip by. A little more time on each sales closing can really boost profits.
October 9th, 2009
8:02 pm
I entirely agree with all of that.. I also find that a well designed site that looks credible is EXTREMELY important.. Those that have a crap looking website will have ,uch lower conversion rates…
Cheers
October 10th, 2009
4:46 am
[...] We came across an interesting article from respected conversion rate optimisation company Future Now. They have put together a list of “reasons shoppers listed causing them to abandon shopping carts”. [...]
October 11th, 2009
4:29 pm
Oh man, can you believe christmas is nearly here already!
October 12th, 2009
1:16 am
Great list. Have lost a few dollars with products not available at checkout.
October 12th, 2009
1:48 am
Very useful insights. Transacting online must the first one in our list to consider, especially now that Christmas season is coming.
October 12th, 2009
2:59 am
What can i say… it’s a great post..I will think about Christmas gift..
October 12th, 2009
8:16 am
Very well said and very awesome tips, especially for this approaching Holiday season. I particularly liked when you said “The ones who make it through will be those who are passionate about the customer experience, AND who are able to prioritize their work between now and the “Holiday Crunch”. So – for those who are NOT passionate, you will lose! Thanks again for sharing!
October 12th, 2009
11:35 am
Great list, thanks very helpful
October 12th, 2009
12:47 pm
Good idea
October 13th, 2009
4:58 am
Will use these for a bathroom site we’re working with at the moment. Thanks!
October 13th, 2009
7:22 am
Providing coupons is a great way to make the customer feel privileged. You may also provide money off for every x amount spent. Often luring people to spend slightly more than they would normally.
October 13th, 2009
7:49 am
very nice good idea !!!!
งาน
หางาน
สมัครงาน
October 13th, 2009
3:10 pm
Would offering a coupon code on a website not mean that everyone uses it and mean that you actually lose more money that you would with the few people who go coupon googling?
I’d certainly think so…
October 13th, 2009
3:14 pm
@Alexander: Think about it in terms of your competition. If you have no competition, then you probably don’t want to offer coupons. If you have stiff competition, it’s almost a requirement. Besides, offering a coupon should never really “lose” you money, because it should be built into your margins, modeling, forecasting, etc. Finally, see Charles’s comment at the top of the comments section.
October 13th, 2009
4:17 pm
Awesome site with very valuable information. Thank you so much, I will come back often!
October 14th, 2009
4:35 am
Thanks I will definitely be using these tips on the upcoming Christmas season.
October 14th, 2009
2:06 pm
Real informative post regarding coupons. I will definitively use this on my site
October 14th, 2009
8:56 pm
High Shipping is definately out this season and sure to kill sales. Free shipping is on many of the sites I see now.
October 15th, 2009
8:46 am
Well written post with workable tips. I appreciate you Brendan for this.
October 15th, 2009
4:06 pm
good man
افلام للكبار فقط
October 15th, 2009
4:12 pm
Nice ideas its giving alot to think about for chritmas gifts
October 15th, 2009
4:13 pm
#
Real informative post regarding coupons. I will definitively use this on my site
October 15th, 2009
4:40 pm
#
Real informative post regarding coupons. I will definitively use this on my site
October 17th, 2009
5:29 am
Really nice article, so get ready for next holiday season
October 17th, 2009
9:31 am
Just discovered this blog. Great Article!
October 18th, 2009
8:10 am
Great post, everybody working the last few months getting ready for the Christmas season
October 19th, 2009
5:44 am
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October 20th, 2009
4:44 am
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October 20th, 2009
2:11 pm
The home always brings a good spirit and peace, I love Christmas. Time of going to the shopping mall
October 20th, 2009
2:42 pm
Happy X-mas
October 22nd, 2009
10:52 am
We’re interested in 3rd party security validation for our site and apart from mcafee who else is worth the expense?
October 22nd, 2009
11:10 am
@Mark Beds: if it were my $, I’d go with Verisign, and since you’re UK, I’d also look into Digicert.
October 28th, 2009
1:31 am
Brendan,
You make “The Sad Tale of Abandoned Shopping Carts” clearly.
October 28th, 2009
6:53 am
@Brendan – Thanks ill check it.
November 19th, 2009
8:27 pm
Christmas is coming, season of peace in all hearts.