'Net Features : shopping cart abandonment

Checkout vs. Cart Abandonment

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 06 May 2013 16:25:00 GMT

Abandonment occurs when website visitors leave before their order is completed. But there's a difference between "checkout abandonment" and "cart abandonment" and as an e-commerce merchant you need to know the difference if you want to improve this key performance indicator - it's also important to have metrics in place to indicate the difference.

Cart Abandonment refers to the loss of a customer that has added products to their shopping cart but not yet arrived at a point where they can submit their payment information. Checkout abandonment on the other hand is when users have added items to their cart, pulled out their credit card and started entering their personal information into available payment fields, only then to abandon the process.

Merchants should know that users abandon carts before reaching the final payment stage all the time - it's not unlike an offline, brick-and-mortar merchant seeing people in store just looking around at their products. Many times, there's nothing you can do - users like to window shop - but that's not the case in every instance.

Industry abandonment averages, which hover around 60%, can be misleading if merchants don't look at exactly where (and why) users are leaving. As a merchant it's very important you understand what's happening on your own e-commerce website (is it cart abandonment or checkout abandonment) if you aim to correct the problem. In the case of cart abandonment, the use of incentives/discounts are a proven way to encourage users to continue to the actual checkout process. Many savvy merchants are even exploring the use of remarketing/retargeting to bring back those visitors that never arrived upon the checkout page.

In the case of checkout abandonment, merchants need to reverse engineer the problem. Exit surveys, for example, could reveal that perhaps the shipping costs were too high, the registration form was too lengthy, or that the coupons they had already expired. What can you do with that information? In the case of shipping costs, that data could be shared earlier in the funnel, registration forms could be shortened to only include payment information or break up lengthier payment forms into more manageable parts.

The problem of "abandonment" is a significant one for retailers but there are steps merchants can take to keep users engaged and moving through the conversion funnel.

E-Commerce For Every Size of Business

Allison Howen — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 19:30:00 GMT

All online stores aren’t the same – which is why e-commerce software provider X-Cart has expanded and revamped its entire product line.

The X-Cart platform, which is used by more than 25,000 merchants, has introduced new entry-level and enterprise e-commerce packages, as well as revamped its previous offerings to include new features.

Learn more about the new product line below:

X-Cart Gold – This starter package includes integration with Facebook and other social networks, as well as features like cross-sell suggestion pop-ups and a more refined order management system.

X-Cart Gold Plus – In addition to the features of the Gold package, this offering also includes social site login, the ability to show prices in multiple currencies, banners that can flag current or upcoming sales, expanded customer reviews and a choice of additional X-Cart Modules for extra functionality.

X-Cart Platinum – The Platinum package is designed for medium to large businesses and includes all of the Gold Plus features, plus the ability to work with multiple vendors, separate back-end access for vendors, as well as multiple vendor-defined shipping and tax options. Additionally, this package comes with an installation service and one year of customer support.

X-Cart Enterprise with dedicated staff – This package is X-Cart’s first turnkey offering built for large businesses. It offers training and technical support, as well as personal service to every customer from an in-house X-Cart team that includes a developer, project manager, UI designer and QA specialist. This platform comes with all of the Platinum package features in addition to hosting, store customization, an enhanced Facebook integration, as-you-type search suggestions and more.

Existing X-Cart merchants can learn about upgrading their current packages here. It is also important to note that many of the features built into X-Cart’s new packages can be purchased individually as X-Cart Modules or X-Cart Extra extensions.

“X-Cart is the choice of professional merchants who need a powerful and flexible e-commerce platform,” said Maxim Vydrin, CEO of X-Cart. “We’ve spent much time listening to our customers and refining our offerings so they suit the needs of any sized company, and provide the customized features and support that will grow along with their business.”

Gain More Insights into Customer Behavior

Linc Wonham — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Listrak has announced a new release to its Web-based email marketing platform that includes advanced features for the application, administration and reporting to give retailers more flexibility and insight into customer-purchase behavior.

A few of the highlights of Listrak Release Version 4.11 include a new shopping cart abandonment dashboard with added metrics such as total number of carts abandoned and recovered, identified and guest abandoners, reachable abandoners, plus revenue breakdown details on abandoned and recovered products.

The new Customer Purchase Metrics sync provides behavioral and purchase insights enabling better segmentation and targeting to create more relevant and timely messaging. Specifically, this feature analyzes customer purchase metrics, including lifetime spend broken out by 1, 2 and 3 years; total number of orders; first and last order date; average time between orders, recently purchased products and projected next order date.

Version 4.11 also includes additions to the admin including a message approval system that is custom defined per user; advanced suppression capabilities on profile attributes and multiple list sends, and updates to its triggered messaging so that messages can be tailored based on profile attributes of a single customer.

This new feature also includes a conditional action step that allows retailers to automatically route customers through various conversations based on particular profile attributes. Visit Listrak to learn more about the company’s email platform and ecommerce solutions.

E-Commerce Abandonment on the Rise

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 01:32:00 GMT

Shopping cart abandonment has risen to 71%, as reported by Forrester, translating into an $18 billion issue for online retailers. With 7 out of 10 carts being abandoned, it becomes imperative for online retailers to put a strategy in place to recoup that lost revenue. The channel and strategy is increasingly found in email.

Ecommerce software solution Volusion has partnered with email marketing service provider Listrak to provide merchants with an automated shopping cart abandonment solution. The solution incorporates dynamic merchandising to remind abandoners of the items left in the cart and prompts them to complete the purchase. Listrak’s solution also provides the opportunity for retailers to do a series of messages, test offers, and incorporate product reviews to recover those lost sales.

“We’re always looking for industry-leading partners who can support our merchants’ online selling experiences. Partnering with Listrak enables us to offer our clients additional solutions to add to their revenue generating arsenal,” said Neil Patel, Director of Business Development. “And due to issues like shopping cart abandonment, this solution is very valuable for our merchants.”

Listrak Adds Another E-Commerce Partner

Linc Wonham — Thu, 26 May 2011 14:30:00 GMT

For the fourth time in the past two months, e-mail marketing firm Listrak is announcing a new partnership with a leading e-commerce solutions provider.

Shopping cart software company X-Cart is the latest to adopt Listrak’s automated shopping cart abandonment solution, joining Magento, Miva Merchants and 3DCart. A fifth partnership with an undisclosed e-commerce solutions provider is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Listrak’s partnership with X-Cart provides a shopping cart abandonment solution that recaptures abandoners with automated remarketing campaigns. The solution incorporates dynamic merchandising to remind abandoners of the items left in the cart and prompts them to complete the purchase.

Listrak’s solution also provides the opportunity for retailers to do a series of messages, test offers and incorporate product reviews to recover that lost revenue.

“In our world of high competition and limitless interruptions, online shoppers abandon carts at increasing rates,” says Alex Mulin, X-Cart VP of Sales. “Partnering with Listrak allows us to provide our retailers with an integrated solution to combat this issue. In fact, one of our retailers is already recovering 20 percent of its abandoned carts from this automated solution.”

Miva Merchant Enlists Listrak to Reduce Abandonment

Linc Wonham — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 14:10:00 GMT

E-commerce software and services provider Miva Merchant is teaming up with Listrak, a leading email marketing solutions firm, to provide merchants with Listrak’s automated shopping cart abandonment solution.

Shopping cart abandonment has risen to 71percent, as reported by Forrester, translating into an $18 billion issue for online retailers. With 7 out of 10 carts being abandoned, it becomes imperative for online retailers to put a strategy in place to recoup that lost revenue. For an increasing number of today's merchants, that strategy involves email remarketing campaigns using solutions from one of several vendors in the space.

Listrak’s partnership with Miva Merchant recaptures abandoners with such a solution. The automated email marketing campaigns incorporate dynamic merchandising to remind abandoners of the items left in their carts and prompts them to complete their purchases. Listrak’s solution also provides the opportunity for retailers to do a series of messages, test offers and incorporate product reviews to recover lost revenue.

“Shopping cart recovery is one of the most important tools available to our merchants today and is often the most meaningful to their bottom line” says Miva Merchant COO Rick Wilson. “We’re excited that our merchants now have another tool in their chest thanks to our new partnership with a leader in this space.”

More than 50,000 online retailers use Miva Merchant’s customizable and scalable ecommerce software and solutions.

Retailers Lack Cart Abandonment Strategies

Linc Wonham — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 12:34:00 GMT

It’s not surprising that shopping cart abandonment rates continue to rise as today’s online shoppers have more resources than ever to compare prices and scour the best available deals. The latest figures show that 7 out of every 10 potential customers place items into carts they later abandon, costing the e-commerce industry a staggering $18 billion annually in lost sales.

What is surprising, however, is the number of retailers that are willing to accept those lost sales without implementing a shopping cart abandonment strategy. Email marketing firm Listrak has been studying the problem for the past two years, and the overwhelming majority of merchants are missing opportunities to convert on 20 to 35 percent of their abandoned sales through remarketing.

Only 13 percent of the top 500 online retailers currently utilize a remarketing campaign to address shopping cart abandonment. Many of the companies that do employ such a strategy are falling behind in their campaign tactics – such as sending personalized emails to customers (down 2 percent since 2009) and offering incentives to help complete the purchase (down 9 percent since 2009).

Of those retailers offering incentives, only 5 percent have been offering free shipping – despite the fact that shipping charges have been cited as the cause for nearly half of all abandoned carts. Only 14 percent of the merchants that use a remarketing strategy said that it includes more than one attempt to reach the customer and convert the sale.

The top 500 retailers did fare much better, however, in at least one of the best practices for reducing shopping cart abandonment. The vast majority (95 percent) now ask shoppers to enter their email addresses in the first step of the checkout process, up significantly from 2009.

But the results of the study seem to indicate that only a fraction of those merchants are actively using customer email addresses to recover their abandoned sales. Listrak provides more information in its free whitepaper on automated cart abandonment strategies, and here are five additional suggestions for reducing cart abandonment rates.

Lower Your Shopping Cart Abandonment Rates

Linc Wonham — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 17:41:00 GMT

While many merchants are looking ahead to the official mid-November start of the holiday season, the decisions you make in the next 30 days may prove more valuable to the 2010 success of your e-commerce business.

In 2009, the stretch between Labor Day and November 15 was notoriously bleak as consumers curtailed their shopping until the earliest Thanksgiving promotions rolled out. Sales fell by 56 percent during that period while shopping cart abandonment climbed to a striking 83 percent, according to data from e-commerce solutions provider SeeWhy, which tracks conversions and abandonment rates.

All indications are that the trend is continuing this year, meaning that merchants must be more proactive as they head into the start of the holidays. The best way to do that is by examining the top reasons for cart abandonment and addressing them now before the season is upon us.

Below are the top five reasons why consumers abandon shopping carts during the online shopping experience, based on responses to a Forrester Research study released in May 2010:

1. Shipping and handling costs (44%)
2. Not ready to purchase the product (41%)
3. Wanted to compare prices on other sites (27%)
4. Item was priced too high (25%)
5. Wanted to save products in my cart for later consideration (24%)

Notice that none of the top five reasons have anything to do with site design or checkout functionality, and that several or all of these issues can be dealt with relatively simply. If you are not able to address them all before this holiday season, tackle the ones you can and make sure to consider the rest for 2011.

Here are some ways to address these issues:

• Offer free (or reduced) shipping. Simple, right? Only you know your company’s bottom line, but the numbers don’t lie – shipping fees are extremely important to consumers. “People are generally suspicious of high shipping costs, and merchants should really try to do everything they can to get those costs down as low as they can,” says Charles Nicholls, founder and CSO of SeeWhy.

If free shipping across the board is impossible, one strategy that works well is to offer conditional deals for lower shipping costs. Offer free or reduced shipping on purchases over a certain dollar amount, and let shoppers know when they are nearing that threshold to give them more incentive to make that final purchase.

• “Email me that”. The Forrester study tells us that four out of ten shoppers abandon their carts because they are simply not ready to make the purchase. So, help them get ready for the next time. Give them the option to get more information about a product sent to their email addresses or through other channels. While you’re at it, allow them to sign them up for your newsletter or qualify for a special promotion. Abandoned shopping carts do not have to result in lost customers if you can identify those shoppers and continue to market your products to them – especially when they are products in which they have already shown an interest.

• Use the data. More than half of the Forrester respondents are abandoning their carts either to check prices from other merchants or because they have already determined your price is too high. Analyze this information and try to do something with it. Like the previous suggestion, this will involve retargeting visitors that have left your site. Try to find out what kept them from completing their purchase, and take advantage of that information. Conversely, when customers tell you what products in your inventory are the hottest by buying them off the virtual shelves, the information you can learn from abandoned shopping carts can be every bit as valuable down the road if you collect it and use it creatively.

• Offer guest checkout. It did not make the Forrester top five (it was actually No. 7 with a 14% response), but many carts are abandoned because shoppers are often unwilling to register on a new site – even if they have found a product they want. Guest checkouts make creating accounts an optional part of the process and can significantly reduce shopping cart abandonment.

• Persistent Shopping Carts. These are carts that save a shopper’s inventory until they come back to visit your site, so they may browse your site without making a purchase but still have the items loaded in their cart when they return. If this is not a functionality that you have in your e-commerce store, it may be something to look into for 2011 because it has been proven to save abandoned sales. If you have this functionality and want to lower your abandonment rates before the holidays, look into the timing of your cart’s “persistence”. Particularly for holiday shoppers, you may want to ensure that someone browsing for items in the next 30 days can still find those items in their cart when they come back to your site on Dec. 21, meaning that you may have to increase the timing mechanism on this functionality for the next couple of months.

Like last year, 2010 holiday consumers are going to be more careful and cautious than in some years, so any reassurance you can provide along the way will result in a lower shopping cart abandonment rate.

Listrak Campaign Erases Merchant's Cart Abandonment Woes

Linc Wonham — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 22:00:00 GMT

While analysts estimate that shopping cart abandonment costs e-commerce merchants $18 billion in lost revenues each year, a recent survey revealed that fewer than 15 percent of online retailers have a plan in place to combat the issue — and that less than half of them are even monitoring the problem.

E-mail marketing firm Listrak has helped many of its clients reverse the shopping cart abandonment trend through specialized programs. One such client is Movies Unlimited, a leading online video provider that suffered from a 75-percent abandonment rate resulting in nearly 28,000 lost orders each month. Movies Unlimited enlisted Listrak’s help to implement a retargeted e-mail marketing campaign that reached back out to those lost customers. Listrak was very specific with its client about the tone of the e-mails and the information that should be included, and the program has garnered a 500-percent ROI for the online movie retailer.

Listrak’s cart abandonment campaign generates 10 percent of Movies Unlimited’s e-mail marketing revenue while accounting for merely .2 percent of the company’s e-mail volume. The campaign also has an average 43.4-percent read rate, a 25.2-percent click-through rate and a 13-percent conversion rate — all much higher than the industry norms. While significantly increasing the number of transactions and revenue, the orders from Movies Unlimited’s shopping cart abandonment program have a 27.7-percent higher average order value than other promotional campaigns.

Real Time Remarketing Goes Pro at SeeWhy

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:46:00 GMT

SeeWhy announced the availability of Abandonment Tracker Pro this week, a web analytics service which provides real-time “remarketing” for website abandoners.

The solution could prove valuable to online merchants and Web publishers plagued by abandonment as it automates the sending of follow-up emails (or remarketing) to website abandoners in real time. For example, should a user abandon their shopping cart, an initial e-mail can be delivered in real-time and then followed by a second follow-up e-mail 24 hours later. For those businesses that want to increase conversion rates, continuous real-time analysis of website visitors will help keep multi-stage marketing campaigns in step with the actions of abandoners who return to the site.

“Independent studies consistently show that remarketing best practice is an immediate follow up to an abandonment,” said Charles Nicholls, founder and chief strategy officer of SeeWhy. “When it’s done right, immediate e-mail follow up can convert up to 50 percent of website abandoners to customers. Timing and tone are everything. If you delay in following up, you risk your e-mail becoming irrelevant or annoying to the abandoner. And the e-mail must convey a desire to serve, not sell."

Additional reasons to try out SeeWhy includes its ability to integrate with existing CRM applications and ESPs (e-mail service providers) and the built-in presence of behavioral targeting. Using self-learning behavioral analytics, Abandonment Tracker Pro monitors users’ onsite behavior in real time to determine whether an offer is required to maximize conversion.

Previous Coverage of SeeWhy:
- Reduce Abandonment with SeeWhy