With average cart abandonment rates falling anywhere between 55 and 72%, it’s no wonder checkout optimization is the number one concern for ecommerce marketers. But redesigns and A/B tests often ...
With average cart abandonment rates falling anywhere between 55 and 72%, it’s no wonder checkout optimization is the number one concern for ecommerce marketers. But redesigns and A/B tests often fail to move the needle because they focus only on checkout design, and ignore the psychological reasons customers are abandoning their purchases.
In this deck you will learn:
*A systematic process for optimizing your website that addresses the FUD (fears, uncertainties and doubts) surrounding the purchase process *How to perform a heuristic evaluation on your checkout process for design and usability *Tips for breaking out of your testing rut
Maximizing conversion with checkout optimizationPresentation Transcript
Maximizing Conversionwith Checkout Optimization Linda Bustos Director of Ecommerce Research www.GetElastic.com @getelastic
Avg cart abandonment55-72%
Why customers abandon checkout
44% Shipping/handling too high 41% Not ready to purchase 27% Wanted to compare prices 25% Price higher than desired 24% Want to save for laterThe top 5 reasons are non-design / usability issues
14% Didn’t want to register 12% Felt site was asking for TMI 11% Checkout too long/confusing 11% Website too slow 10% Not enough informationThe next 5 reasons are design / usability issues
Conversion happens in the mind Not on your web site -Dr. Flint McGlaughlin
People will put up with bad processTo get something that’s indispensible
what’s your valueproposition?
Value Props in Cart pages
Include value propositions In the cart summary proximal to calls to action
dealing with FUD
“shipping and handling costs too high”
• “For whatever reason, a free shipping offer that saves a customer $6.99 is more appealing to many than a discount that cuts the purchase price by $10.”--David Bell, WhartonSchool of Business
Cart abandonment spikes when cart total is low and when shipping charges are close to the cart totalIt also spikes near the $100, possibly due to the “triple digit” mark
Macy’s free shipping thresholdat $99 may be more persuasive than $100
A “carrot” shows the dollar amount remaining before free shipping. Placing it proximal to thecart total may make it more noticeable
“I was not ready to purchase the product”
Saving cart contents save sales. Useyour web analytics days to purchase report for ideal cookie length.
This call to actionreinforces urgency
Urgency
“I wanted to compare prices on other sites”
again…what’s yourvalueproposition?
“product price was higher than I was willing to pay”
Promo code boxes encourage code hunting.
coupon snipers
suppress coupon boxShowing coupon boxes only when customer has beenreferred by email/affiliate is one solution
“just wanted to save products in my cart for later consideration”
Remarketing emails: Optimize them like landing pages
Use incentives wisely (notthe first time / not every time)
“shipping and handling costs werelisted too late during the checkout process”
59% expect “total cost” before checkout -OneUpWeb
“I didn’t want to register with the site”
23% of shoppers will abandon checkout if forced toRegister –Forrester Research
users don’t read instructionsmay start typing in open fields
ditto for returning customers
Captures the email address in first step for remarketing, one form for all customersThe “Amazon”way
“site was asking too much information”
save unnecessary marketing segmentationauestions for a post-conversion survey
“checkout process was too long or confusing”
usertesting
heuristicevaluation
calls-to-action
CTA clarity, styling and placement
Competing CTAs
CTA outside of eye path
CTA labels matter
Point of actionassurancesproximal to CTA
form usability
Labelalignment Localization toolsRequiredfieldformat Tabbability Flexible inputs Tooltips and instructions
Time savers Dropdown menus Call to action (not this)Unnecessaryfields
VisualCVV explanation
Clear errorhandling (notthis)
Not this
Inlinevalidation
inline validation• 22% increase in success rates• 22% decrease in errors made• 31% increase in satisfaction rating• 42% decrease in completion times• 47% decrease in the number of eye fixations (easier to visually process) – Source: Etre / Luke Wroblewski
Browser test
split path testingReducing steps may work, but don’t test shortened processes until you optimize the elements within the steps
Olympic Store improved checkout by 22%, but results may varyone page checkout
“Web site was too slow”
Test site speed all the way through your funnel,not just the home page!
slow speed culprits• Table based layout• Uncompressed images• Payment gateway – Magnified on slow-band connections, mobile/WIFI, overseas
“I didn’t have enough information to make the purchase”
proactive chat
challenges to moving the needle
• Testing the minutiae• Starting with multivariate (or using A/B testing like multivariate)• Focusing on site elements rather than psychology
interpreting test results
example: should you show cross-sells on the cart page?
• What are you measuring? Conversion rate or profit?• How were they presented? Above below fold? Labeled?• Did you use the correct price points? What were the merchandising rules?
Positive or negative results depend on how wellyou’ve nailed it with the treatment design What might be influencing your analysis?
takeaway• Optimization starts with in-head factors, not on-page factors• Form your testing hypothesis with user testing first, then heuristics• Start with radical redesigns and work from there• Interpret test results wisely
Winchester Puckett