People adding to cart and not completing purchase

[phatweb]

Ok... my website is http://www.magazines2u.com

I seem to have a LOT of Guests come in from google/yahoo ads and add products to their cart then leave.

Average 20-25 registered users a day doing the same. I'm getting a good many more orders than people leaving but I'm wondering what I can do to stop some of this or what the problem may be.

 

I have recover carts installed and I recover on average about 13.5% of the registered user's abondoned carts.

 

For the guests that abondon theirs, I am looking for suggestions as to why...

Would a purchase without account addon correct some of it?

 

I am open to suggestions and greatly appreciate any helpful information provided.

 

Thanks in advance.

[jonw118]

If you find the answer let me know the secret. I've been working in ecom for over 8 years on all different levels and have determined there is no answer... I call it cart fear.

 

There are things you can do-

 

1) I always think having a checkout without an account is a good thing

2) Have promotional ads on the cart page (if you offer free shipping, etc--- remind them here)

3) Often times people want to see an estimated shipping cost here (put a graph if flat rate- there is a shipping calc contribution out there as well)

 

The biggest fear on peoples mind in the cart is: what else is there? If there are no additional charges, make it clear- you'll be surprised the number of people that will take the next step once they feel reassured the cost they are viewing is the final price they'll pay.

 

The cart is not only an upsell opportunity... it is also where you can "seal the deal". This page should be treated as one of the most important, use it as a positive sales tool.

[Guest]

Imagine a store where you could walk around in total anonymity strolling through the isles in your pajamas (or whatever) doing whatever you want, tossing items into your cart as you please. Imagine being able to jump from one end of the store to the other in an instant. Then imagine being able to jump instantly to the competitor's store without the embarassment of walking away from a cart you've loaded with stuff (to the glares of the store employees who have to clean up after you). Cart abandonment has been studied hard by pros for years. The bad news is that osC is behind the latest checkout models by a couple of years. The good news is that you can do something about it. Thre are three Contibs you should look into: PWA is the leading checkout update right now and is a mature Contrib. Fast Easy Checkout is a twist on it and looks really great to take it to the next level, but I think it may still have a bug or two before it is stable. The third one is a simple little bit called More Logical Checkout. I used it to streamline just a bit and it has made a difference. I actually used it as inspiration to chop several steps out of my checkout process for my cart's next release.

There is a direct relationship between cart process (length, wording and data) and cart abandonment.

[phatweb]

Out of the contribs you mentioned, Which has worked best for you thus far?

 

Thanks!!

 

Imagine a store where you could walk around in total anonymity strolling through the isles in your pajamas (or whatever) doing whatever you want, tossing items into your cart as you please. Imagine being able to jump from one end of the store to the other in an instant. Then imagine being able to jump instantly to the competitor's store without the embarassment of walking away from a cart you've loaded with stuff (to the glares of the store employees who have to clean up after you). Cart abandonment has been studied hard by pros for years. The bad news is that osC is behind the latest checkout models by a couple of years. The good news is that you can do something about it. Thre are three Contibs you should look into: PWA is the leading checkout update right now and is a mature Contrib. Fast Easy Checkout is a twist on it and looks really great to take it to the next level, but I think it may still have a bug or two before it is stable. The third one is a simple little bit called More Logical Checkout. I used it to streamline just a bit and it has made a difference. I actually used it as inspiration to chop several steps out of my checkout process for my cart's next release.

There is a direct relationship between cart process (length, wording and data) and cart abandonment.

[giapet]

Hi,

 

I've done it myself several times. Only one reason, shopping 2 or 3 sites for the same item and need to figure out the total cost with shipping & that nasty handling fee. The cheapest total wins and the others are abandoned. Can see where it would frustrate a store owner. Much nicer when they post their shipping & handling fees upfront.

 

Karen

[Guest]

PWA has the biggest following right now since it was the first big look at some issues, but FEC is going to be better, I believe. It makes checkout short and sweet. If I hadn't hacked up my own quick checkout, I would be on FEC right now. Mine is short and sweet since we offer free shipping all the time. I was able to bypass the shipping page. Between that, More Logical Checkout and some well phrased changes in wording (like never use the Account word until you have a happy customer), I think we'll have a much better close ratio. I'll let you know in April!!

Meanwhile, I've been encouraged to make it into a Contrib, so maybe you'll see what I've done. By the way, I know free shipping has been a big part of our success. I highly recommend everyone consider working it into their marketing effort. Yeah, I build it into my pricing structure and dep down most folks probably know it, but they bite anyway.

[phatweb]

See my shipping is always free too. I'm selling magazine subscription and there's never a shipping or handing charge on them.

I still need the ability for customers to enter a seperate ship to address so they can send a subscription to a different address, as a gift etc.

 

I'm just trying to decide what contrib will do the best.

 

PWA has the biggest following right now since it was the first big look at some issues, but FEC is going to be better, I believe. It makes checkout short and sweet. If I hadn't hacked up my own quick checkout, I would be on FEC right now. Mine is short and sweet since we offer free shipping all the time. I was able to bypass the shipping page. Between that, More Logical Checkout and some well phrased changes in wording (like never use the Account word until you have a happy customer), I think we'll have a much better close ratio. I'll let you know in April!!

Meanwhile, I've been encouraged to make it into a Contrib, so maybe you'll see what I've done. By the way, I know free shipping has been a big part of our success. I highly recommend everyone consider working it into their marketing effort. Yeah, I build it into my pricing structure and dep down most folks probably know it, but they bite anyway.

[phatweb]

I have talked with several customer who abandoned their carts... Quite a few believed they had completed the order. What they are doing is leaving once they get to the checkout_confirmation page and never submitting it. What can be done to correct this? Can checkout_confirmation be skipped or what should I do to correct it?

[nana]

hi you are the second person that i heard saying that, and thinking about it the way the page looks it could be ssen as an after purchase page maybe a submit button on top of the page with some message might do the trick.

or a redesign of its look and feel.

removing the page is complicated and requires changes to a lot of files and all payment modules. i did this for paypal but i am not sure about other payment modules,

would love to hear what other people think

[phatweb]

I changed the text at the top of checkout_confirmation to let people know that their order won't be finalized until they click CONFIRM ORDER at the bottom of that page.

 

I'll see if that helps...

 

 

hi you are the second person that i heard saying that, and thinking about it the way the page looks it could be ssen as an after purchase page maybe a submit button on top of the page with some message might do the trick.

or a redesign of its look and feel.

removing the page is complicated and requires changes to a lot of files and all payment modules. i did this for paypal but i am not sure about other payment modules,

would love to hear what other people think

[phatweb]

UPDATE...

I added this text to the top of the checkout_confirmation page:

Please review your Order Details below:

 

 

Your order will not be completed until you click the CONFIRM ORDER button at the bottom of this page.

 

Thus far (3 days time) I've had approximately 40% less abandoned carts so it definately seems to be helping.

[phatweb]

I used recover carts and these are 2 replies I got from customers who abandoned their carts:

 

1.)

 

"I found your ordering process much longer and involved than other websites, although

you did have the best price.......sorry"

 

2.)

 

"...Your website seems to be a bit complicated during checkout.. I dont like to have to click so many things to finalize my orders. It's just not as simple as other sites and I happen to like simplicity."

 

----------

 

So basically my checkout is too complex. I've installed PWA but other than that my checkout flows like the stock OSC

 

What can I do?

[♥toyicebear]

I used recover carts and these are 2 replies I got from customers who abandoned their carts:

 

1.)

 

"I found your ordering process much longer and involved than other websites, although

you did have the best price.......sorry"

 

2.)

 

"...Your website seems to be a bit complicated during checkout.. I dont like to have to click so many things to finalize my orders. It's just not as simple as other sites and I happen to like simplicity."

 

----------

 

So basically my checkout is too complex. I've installed PWA but other than that my checkout flows like the stock OSC

 

What can I do?

 

Take a look at these contribs...

 

1. fast easy checkout

 

or

 

2. Alternative Purchase System v2.0

[phatweb]

Since I already have PWA installed and using it, I'm gonna try and use JUST the combining of shipping and payment features from fast easy checkout to work with PWA.

 

Once I manage to get that done I'll report back again with results.

 

 

 

Take a look at these contribs...

 

1. fast easy checkout

 

or

 

2. Alternative Purchase System v2.0

[zerocoolmtl]

Does anyone have an example of what the 2 contibutions mentioned above look like, either in a demo or on their Live site.

 

Thanks

Domenic