Increase sales with eCommerce 2.0 by Nowshade Kabir
In recent years we are seeing a great deal of interest in eCommerce from
retailers. An increasing number of retailers are adopting eCommerce tools and
getting involved in online business. The influx of large number of new players
has intensified the battle for customer's time and pocket book. Gone are the
days when you could build a good site and expect a number of visitors to rush
in. Today, websites are using every possible promotional method available to
attract visitors. As a result, web promotion has become a complex and expensive
part of company's overall online marketing strategy.
However, getting a visitor to your site is just half of the job, even if the
visitor is from your targeted segment of the market! One of the primary issues
that you have to deal with as an owner of an eCommerce site is to convert a
visitor to a real customer. You have to take a number of measures in order to
increase this odd. Unfortunately, a huge number of prospective customers leave
a site after even placing items in the shopping cart. Most of the site owners
grossly underestimate the number of abandoning customers. When asked, none of
the respondent site owners gave a figure for visitors from this category more
than 30 percent. But, the reality is quite different! According to various
studies, the abandonment rate can be a staggering 67 percent for an average
eCommerce site! So, what do you have to do to reduce this number and increase
your sales? Some latest web development ideas combined vaguely under the name
of Web 2.0 technology can be used to increase functionalities of a website and
lower shopping cart abandonment rate.
Web 2.0 as a concept has become big in the Internet world, but this phenomenon
has yet to make large impact on conservative business segment like eCommerce.
Over the coming months this is going to change as more and more online shopping
sites are embracing Ajax based technology and other Web 2.0 ideas. The
originator of the Web 2.0 describes this term to define new generation websites
that use collective contribution, social networking, tagging, open APIs, remix,
etc.
Ajax, a short name for a combination of website developing technologies and a
key instrument of Web 2.0 concept, is used to create web applications with
enhanced usability, interactivity and speediness. Present eCommerce sites are
also in a position to reap similar benefits.
Below are listed the primary reasons for visitors to abandon a shopping cart
and possible ways of dealing with it.
1. Cost of shipping too high and not shown until checkout
This seems to be the number one reason for most of the people to abandon a
shopping cart. The first step you need to take here has nothing to do with
technology. You have to understand that people are not willing to pay extra on
top of the real shipping and handling charge. People are not stupid! They have
more or less rough idea, how much shipping might cost. That's why keep shipping
and handling costs really low or at least reasonable! The second step which can
radically improve your conversion rate is the use of new technology to keep the
shopping cart with all its content visible at the right upper side of the page
presently visited. Once a new item is added to the cart, all calculations will
take place right away without reloading the page or the cart. If you feel that
shipping and handling costs could be crucial in buying decision, once the first
item is added the system will ask for visitor's zip code and automatically
calculate the final price.
2. Changed mind and discarded cart content
In this case, unfortunately, you can't do much! However, if your site
automatically saves the content of the cart, there is a chance that the same
buyer might come back and continue shopping. Analysis of the exit page of the
visitor might also help you determine the reason why he or she has left.
3. Comparison shopping or browsing
Apart from monitoring your competitors' sites and keeping your offers
aggressive, you should also create a site with better functionalities and
contents than your competitors.
4. Total cost of items is too high
Again, if the cart is constantly visible with the final price always calculated
automatically, the buyer will be able to take a more informative decision.
5. Saving items for later purchase
The moment an item is added to the cart, it should be saved automatically
without reloading the page. If the buyer is not logged in, upon exit request
the buyer to register with just login and password, explaining that this way
she can come back and continue shopping on your site.
6. Checkout process is too long
If you have a shopping cart as described earlier all the buyer will need to do
is click to check out. A simple form with minimum information needed to execute
the check out process will appear upon checking out. The filling out of this
form should be the final step of the buying process.
7. Out of stock products at checkout time
The functionalities of the cart, as described earlier, will let the buyer
immediately know whether the product is available.
8. Checkout requires too much personal information
The Web 1.0 eCommerce sites collect a lot of information about the customer,
which presumably help get marketing data. These days, online customers are not
willing to reveal more than necessary information for nothing. Avoid the
temptation to ask questions unrelated to check out. All you need is name,
shipping and billing address and credit card information. That's it!
9. Poor site navigation and long download times
With the help of above mentioned technologies you will be able to increase
interactivity, speed and better navigation experience many folds.
10. Lack of sufficient product or contact information
Your contact telephone numbers should be always visible! Use A form or wizard
based product adding system. This will help you not to forget crucial
information related to an item when you add it to your database.
Of course there are other minor reasons why visitors abandon a shopping cart,
but if you make over your eCommerce site with the help Web 2.0 technologies
many of these issues will also disappear.
About the Author
Nowshade Kabir is the founder, primary developer and present CEO of
Rusbiz.com. A Ph. D. in Information Technology, he has wide experience
in Business Consulting, International Trade and Web Marketing. Rusbiz is a
Global B2B eMarketplace with solutions to start and run online business.
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