TRAV Shares His Top 10 Reasons Why People Check Out of Checkout.

As an experienced e-retailer, partner, consultant and mentor, I know firsthand that ecommerce success does not just happen. The challenges are many. First, you’ve got to get visitors to your site. That alone takes planning and most often a serious investment of time and money. You’ve then got to make their shopping journey inviting and simple. Even at that point, the greatest challenge still awaits…getting them to give you their cash. 

Now you understand why I remind the many groups that I work with that getting your visitor to place items in their cart is absolutely no guarantee that any dollars at all will be coming your way.  That’s because cart abandonment is real, too real, matter of fact. Why? For lots of legitimate reasons…many of which you can eliminate or at least minimize. It starts with being aware of them.

1. Most people are naturally reticent about pulling the trigger on spending money in the first place. Research confirms that although the pandemic has increased web traffic, it has also increased the percentage of online “window shoppers.”
2. People are naturally afraid of what they can’t touch and feel for themselves. That explains why your site’s visitors are more skeptical of turning over their personal information, like email, credit card details, etc. to you as an online e-seller than if you were a brick and mortar retailer. 
3. Buyers become lookers when they are not made aware of your specific return policy. They need to know their recourse before they place an item in the cart. If you sell sized clothing, don’t let this suggestion fall through the cracks.  
4. Your customers will run away quickly if you make their cart experience too complicated, prefer the fewest steps possible once they place something in their cart.  Not all customers are willing to create a new user account. The cart is often not the best place to extract any personal data that is not absolutely necessary for a transaction to occur.
5. Unless it’s a birthday, no one likes surprises. If a visitor gets to their cart and finds that shipping costs almost as much as the item or that they will have to wait 2 weeks for one of their selections to be in stock, they’ve got reason to lose trust in you. 
6. Speaking of shipping, there really is only one word an online consumer wants to hear…”FREE!.” If there is a reasonable threshold for free shipping, make that prominently known well prior to checkout.
7. People want to know when to expect their purchase to arrive. The cart is not the place for them to discover that information. If you can’t provide them with an accurate estimate, they won’t humor you with a sale. 
8. Nothing causes a visitor to exit their cart more quickly than the inability to apply the coupon or promo code that they have in their possession. If you make saving money difficult, expect them to abandon their cart hell bent on never returning. 
9. If your ecommerce site does not feature a carefully outlined FAQ section, expect more cart abandonment. It’s that simple. They should be able to check out without reservation. 
10. Poorly constructed ecommerce sites worry buyers. If their shopping experience hits any glitches after they put an initial item in their cart, your chances of completing a transaction sink like a rock. 

I can already hear you. How can I successfully address the above concerns? That’s a much longer conversation. 

That said, I do have a few suggestions to immediately consider.  Build your ecommerce website on a legitimate platform. I am a Shopify guy. Why? Take advantage of the Shopify apps that address some of these concerns. And take some courses. 

No one said kicking butt and making online sales would be easy. But one thing is certain, if you got them all the way to the cart stage, give your buyer the motivation to press PAY.