I have a coaching client I am working with that has an amazing e-commerce product. The founder is an inventor who created an incredible patented one of a kind product that solves a massive problem in their industry. They recently attended a highly visible trade show and got a ton of traffic to their website. Sales were good, but when they looked into their “abandoned cart” customers, they realized they had close to $1 million dollars in abandoned cart orders!
This is a massive problem that needs to be fixed because if they just got 10% of those orders, that would be an extra $100,000 in revenue! I started to do some research that I thought would help anyone out there who has an ecommerce product they are selling on their website and came up with 7 ways to sell more products online:
- 1 Analyze the checkout process: Review the checkout process to see if it’s too complicated or lengthy, causing customers to abandon their carts. Look for any potential barriers that might be hindering the customer’s ability to check out and complete their purchase. Their product happens to have a 5 step process to customize their order (they have almost 200 options which can be too much for customers to choose from. What do customers do when they are confused or it takes too long? They go away! Maybe in their mind they plan to come back and do it later when they have time, but often they move on to something else.
- 2 Offer incentives: Consider offering incentives to entice customers to complete their purchases. This could be in the form of a discount code or a free shipping offer. Amazon has the world accustomed to free shipping and free returns! I would suggest adding the shipping cost into the product cost and promote FREE SHIPPING!
- 3 Implement retargeting: Use retargeting ads to remind customers of the products they left in their cart. Retargeting ads can be displayed on social media platforms or through Google AdWords to follow the customer online. Research says it takes 7-11 times to get in front of a customer to get them to buy! We have all been searching for something online and later discover it follows us everywhere we go for the next few months. This is retargeting and is brilliant marketing!
- 4 Improve website speed: Slow website loading speeds can be a major turnoff for customers. Ensure that your website is optimized for speed and performance. At D2 Branding, we do free website audits that check site speed. If you think your website is performing slow, reach out to us at D2Branding.com and click on Get a Quote and we will check it out! A slow website deters customers immediately! It takes 7 seconds or less to grab their attention and if your website takes that long to load, they are already gone!
- 5 Simplify the registration process: Consider simplifying the registration process for customers to make it easier for them to complete their purchases. This could include offering guest checkout options or reducing the number of required fields. A company that does a great job of simplifying the process is Warby Parker. The eyeglass company lets you pick your custom frames that are mailed to your door but there are 6 steps the customer must take when ordering! If it wasn’t simple, they wouldn’t be around!
- 1 Browse Frames: Customers can browse the selection of frames on the Warby Parker website, filtering by various options such as frame shape, material, color, and size.
- 2 Virtual Try-On: Customers can use Warby Parker’s virtual try-on tool to see how different frames will look on their face. They can either upload a photo of themselves or use their computer’s webcam to try on frames in real time.
- 3 Home Try-On: Customers can select up to five frames to try on at home for free. Warby Parker will ship the frames to the customer, and they will have five days to try them on and decide which ones they like best.
- 4 Choose Lenses: Customers can choose the type of lenses they want, such as single vision, progressive, or non-prescription.
- 5 Enter Prescription: Customers can enter their prescription information, either by uploading a photo of their prescription or by providing the information manually.
- 6 Add to Cart: Once customers have selected their frames, lenses, and entered their prescription information, they can add their selection to their cart and proceed to checkout.
As you can see it could be really cumbersome for a customer to do all of this if it wasn’t simple! They use simple graphics and a clean, white background to avoid customer confusion.
- 6 Monitor website analytics: Use website analytics tools to track the behavior of customers who abandon their carts. This can help you identify patterns and areas of improvement. A great way to see exactly when they leave your website is to use a company like Hot Jar that uses heat maps to monitor a customer’s journey on your website.
- 7 Implement cart abandonment emails: Use email marketing to send automated cart abandonment emails to customers who leave products in their carts. These emails can offer incentives or reminders to encourage customers to complete their purchases.
Overall, it’s essential to identify the reasons why customers are abandoning their carts and take steps to address those issues. By making improvements to your checkout process, offering incentives, and implementing retargeting and cart abandonment emails, you can increase your chances of converting these potential customers into completed purchases.
Here are some other things to think about with an e-commerce website:
- Offer guest checkout: Allow customers to complete their purchase without creating an account. This can help to reduce friction and improve the overall user experience.
- Use progress indicators: Provide customers with a clear indication of where they are in the checkout process, such as a progress bar or step-by-step guide.
- Provide multiple payment options: Offer a variety of payment options to cater to different customer preferences.
- Optimize for mobile: Ensure that your checkout process is mobile-friendly and optimized for smaller screens. Nothing is worse than getting on a website and it’s not mobile friendly! That will make sure your customers leave immediately!
By focusing on simplicity, ease of use, and visual appeal, your website can provide a seamless checkout experience that will increase conversion rates and improve the overall customer experience.
D2 Branding is a full service marketing agency in Tulsa, Oklahoma offering everything a Tulsa business would need for their strategic marketing plan. Our Tulsa marketing services include digital marketing, social media content posting, website development, graphic design, logo design, video production, SEO, Google Ad Words, social media marketing and more!
If you own a business in Tulsa, Oklahoma and are interested in how to boost your visibility, drive traffic to your website, receive more leads and get a return on your investment, contact D2 Branding in Tulsa today for a free consultation and free quote.
