It’s likely you’ve never walked into a grocery store and noticed hundreds of half-full shopping carts cast haphazardly around the store. But change this grocery store to an e-commerce site, and you would see not hundreds, but thousands of abandoned carts. The issue of shopping cart abandonment has existed almost since the inception of e-commerce, continuing to raise the questions: why do customers leave and what can online retailers do about it?
The answers are varied, and rarely the same for different merchants. Some of the most popular reasons for abandonment consist of shipping costs that are too high, customers browsing or comparison shopping, and when the checkout process asks for too much personal information prior to purchase. However, the only way to really understand why a customer jettisoned his or her shopping experience halfway through is to have the shopper’s feedback. But can this be done effectively and with minimal intrusion into an e-shopper’s online experience?
Many online retailers, including WalMart and Petco, are using online survey tools to gain critical information on why customers leave before completing the checkout process. Online surveys given at the “point of abandonment” enable retailers to gather detailed information on each shopping cart abandoner, including detail on cart contents, item SKUs, exit page and online catalog pages visited.
Yet, it’s not enough to have survey pop up when a customer tries to exit a webpage or to send a survey via email. Retailers must act on the data collected: to benefit from the power of this customer feedback, the survey solution must be sophisticated enough to deliver actionable insights, while remaining simple enough to ensure it is used through easy deployment.
Internet-based surveys are now easier to implement than many e-retailers perceive. In today’s world, they need not be cumbersome, difficult to manage or expensive. “Feedback management” providers now offer survey tools with user-friendly dashboard interfaces that enable in-house resources to manage content, processes and rules, providing a new level of control over who, what, when and how a company surveys customers and potential customers. In addition, a number of providers now offer more options in terms of products and services, including pay per survey or flat fee options, as well as ad hoc or higher-level ongoing support services.
A number of online survey tools also provide subscribers with access to best practices and standardized pre-written survey question and response templates that streamline design and development – making it easy even for survey novices. Some tools enable the passing of hidden fields through to the survey, enabling them to secure additional information about each abandonment without relying on the shopper to complete an exhaustive amount of questions. By including data from the visit in hidden fields, such as shopping cart total and types of products abandoned, and by asking a couple of demographic questions, the company can get a good sense of customer profile.
What are the specifics involved in finding out why customers leave? It’s critical to limit the number of questions you ask in the online survey. These particular customers have already shown the tendency to abandon the Web site, so it is important to make the survey concise. However, here are some key questions to ask:
- Why did [you] choose not to complete the purchase? This question may be open-ended or options could include: cost security, no true purchase intent and user experience.
- What can [we] do to encourage the purchase in the future? This question may be open-ended or give choices similar to the categories above.
You might also inquire about online purchasing behavior and demographic information such as city and state, education level, household income or how a customer heard about the Web site. In addition, companies running promotions or special offers will want to know whether those campaigns are driving people to the Web site only to have them abandon their carts.
Based on feedback collected via surveys at point of abandonment, retailers can make changes to site design and marketing strategy. For example, if a particular promotion is successful in driving traffic to the Web site, but leaves transactions incomplete, the marketing team will want to change the strategy to one that drives customers to complete the transaction.
Online feedback solutions can help retailers understand customer pain points and concerns so that they can address them and revise Web site strategy and design accordingly. Internet retailers must look at high rates of abandonment as an opportunity for improvement by paying more attention to the shopping cart process, therefore making the lonely shopping e-cart a thing of the past.
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Dean Wiltse, chairman and chief executive officer at Vovici, brings more than three decades of experience in the marketing and technology industries to Vovici. Prior to Vovici, Wiltse spent four years as President and Chief Executive Officer of Greenfield Online and took the company public in 2004. Wiltse was named a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2006 and was nominated by Research Magazine as the “Marketing Research Industry CEO of the Year” for 2005.