What is the first “wish” listed down in every e-tailer’s wishlist? The answer is simple and obvious; higher conversion rates. After all, every business is driven by bottom lines, and e-commerce is no different. Generally speaking, conversion rates in e-commerce refer to the percentage of visitors who convert to actual buyers on your site. Similarly, shopping cart conversion rates simply refer to the instances wherein people actually go ahead with purchasing the products that they have added to their shopping carts. The shopping cart conversion rate is inversely proportional to the number of abandoned shopping carts, that is when customers discontinue the check-out process midway. Hence, tactfully dealing with the issue of shopping cart abandonment is the key to boost your shopping cart conversion rates.

Don’t compel Registration

Visualize yourself standing in the queue of a retail store. After a long and tiring wait, the clerk at the counter hands you a 3-page compulsory membership form to fill. For an online shopper, the situation is not that different either. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you do not include registration as a compulsory part of the check-out process. Rather, you can provide them with the option of registering after the checkout is successfully completed. Still, if you feel that registration is necessary, keep the form as short and simple as possible.

Hidden Charges: A Big Turn Off

By choosing to display shipping charges and other hidden costs in the very end accounts for 44 percent of the total shopping cart abandonments. Therefore, a sizeable percentage of abandonments can be reduced by eliminating hidden charges, and clearly displaying the shipping price (as well as any other charges) in the product page itself, next to the product price. With your customers knowing exactly how much to pay from the very beginning, your shopping cart conversion rates will automatically increase.

Seamless Check-Out = High Conversion Rates

Make your check-out pages focus solely on the process of check-out without any distractions like up-selling, cross-selling and so on. The lower the distractions during the check-out process, the greater are the chances of a successful conversion; so use the post-sale page for suggestive selling. An ideal check-out is a fast, smooth and distraction-free process with minimum number of clicks between “buy now” to “transaction successful”. A one-page check-out is highly recommended; however, if that is not possible, minimize the number of pages and use the header to provide a visual indication of the all the stages of check-out, and where the customer presently is.

Visual Credibility

A lot of potential customers leave the check-out process mid-way owing to credibility issues. Therefore, it is very important for your site to look trustworthy so that customers feel confident enough to make online payments on your site. Starting from the homepage till the checkout pages, be as approachable as possible by clearly displaying your phone number, contact address and a live chat option as well. Provide links to your privacy policy, FAQs and terms and conditions on the check-out pages (with an option of returning back) and most importantly, let them easily locate and view your security certifications.

Window Shoppers and Info-seekers

Knowing that several end-users visit your site for purposes other than buying, it is up to you to gratify their requirements so that they reconsider visiting your site next time to actually make a purchase. Be it in the form of blogs, free trials, demo videos or downloadable content, try to keep them engaged on your site, because an engaged customer is most likely to associate with you and thereon, buy from you.

Last but not the least- Follow Up

There could be times when customers are in a hurry or their internet connection gets disrupted mid-way of the checkout process. Hence, despite doing all the right things, shopping cart conversion rates can realistically never attain the hundred percent figure. Shopping Cart Abandonment will continue to prevail (at much lower rates though), so you can make the best of the situation by following up. How? It’s simple. When a registered user leaves half way through the checkout process, send them a mail offering them to resume the process with a discount coupon code or a freebie. For those who are not registered, you can pine your hopes on your cookies and breadcrumbs when they choose to return! Happy Selling!