Decrease Abandoned Shopping Carts, Increase Sales - Solutions for shopping cart abandonment
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Quick downloads - For the sale to go all the way through to the final stage of the transaction, it is crucial that the web page does not take too long to download. On average, a shopper will not give your site more than 10 seconds to download. It is therefore important that the web page is not filled with images and that the graphics, if any, are compressed for easy downloads.
Easy navigation – If the buyer wanted to solve a jig saw puzzle, a games site is what he or she would be visiting. Keep the website's navigation and links clear and simple. Golden rules like a right hand index, links to the buy tab and home page on all sub pages, and pastel-colored backgrounds should never be overlooked. Over time, people have come to expect certain tabs at certain spots on a website, and not finding them there tends to make the prospect move on.
Short sale routine – There are many sites that go on forcing a sales pitch on the prospect despite the customer already being sold on the idea. Allow the client to buy the product as soon as he or she is convinced. Close the deal quickly, so as to not allow time for the prospect to rethink the transaction. For this, it is important that the journey between the sales pitch and the payment gateway be as short as possible.
Lay down facts – Do not allow any grey area to creep into your sales pitch. State the facts about the product in clear black-and-white terms. The price, the shipping cost, the availability and other such facts must be explained in simple and clear terms to the prospect, so that they do not come as a shock later.
Offer attractions – If you find that the customer is leaving the site without purchasing what was placed in the shopping cart, step in with an attractive offer, which may be introduced via a pop-up window. This works very well in cases where the prospect is half sold on the idea and just needs a bit more cajoling to undertake the final transaction.
Avoid distractions – Do not place banner ads or other, similar distractions on your shopping cart pages. While the prospect is looking at the product(s), you do not want to distract him or her. It is therefore very important that you do not fall into the trap of allowing other sites to take your prospect away by letting a small blinking advertisement break the shopper’s concentration.
While there are several other tips that help increase conversion rates for commercial websites, the basic essence of each trick is to add to the shopping experience of the customer. It is imperative that problems and solutions both be figured out from the client’s point of view. Be it a bricks-and-mortar store or a virtual one, the customer is the final and most crucial link of the sales process, and therefore must be kept happy at all times.
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