Know Your Barriers To Conversion – Then Crush Them!

Good traffic but poor conversions? Abandoned shopping carts left, right, and centre? Frustrating isn’t it. Your SEO is turning up trumps and you’ve got your PPC ducks all in a row, but no matter how many people you get ‘walking’ through your doors, you’re just not getting the ROI you were hoping for. Don’t beat yourself up – it happens to everyone (seriously, check out these stats).

So, apart from those simply researching with no intent to purchase (which accounts for 16% of abandoned carts according to a recent survey by VWO), what stops your visitors reaching for their wallets?

If you’re stumped, then it’s your lucky day. We’ve put together a list of the top barriers to conversion so that you can give your store a quick MOT. We’ll even point you in the right direction towards fixing them, too. Because we’re nice like that.

Don’t think we’re going to let those pesky ‘researchers’ get away with it either – we want your products, services, stores in general to be so damn tempting that they just can’t resist them.

(Note to reader – any stats that appear to be pulled out of the air are from the aforementioned VWO survey.)

(Image: Ed Sweeney under CC BY 2.0)

Surprise Charges

So we’ll start with a biggie – 28% of shoppers said they abandoned a purchase because of unexpected shipping charges.

If you don’t want to cheese off your customers at the last minute, shipping costs should be declared up front, or as early as possible in the checkout process. Things like introducing a free shipping threshold can also work wonders, as surprise surprise, consumers would rather spend their money on more stuff than delivery charges.

We’ve got a few more tips on how to offset this problem coming your way very soon – so be sure to check back in with TheGenieLab blog in the near future!

Creating a Login

More big stats for you – 23% of visitors abandoned carts because they had to create a new user account. And here’s another one – back in 2011, ASOS reduced their checkout abandonment rate by 50% by removing any mention of registering or creating an account. Don’t get confused here, they still got their customers to do it, they just used ‘continue’ as a CTA instead of the rather more irksome ‘create login’. Microcopy at its best.

So how do you fix this issue? Try making your guest checkout option more prominent than ‘register new user’ – it’ll stop your customers feeling like you’re forcing them into giving you information.

If a guest login doesn’t do it for you, then at least make social logins possible to offset the problem (and they’re great for targeting, too).

Generic Product Descriptions and Policies

According to stats from CPC strategy – 3% of cart abandonment happens due to confusing product information, and poorly written policies are an extension of this.

Your copy should be written by a copywriter – not a legal department and not a supplier. You want it to convey how valuable your products are, how convenient buying them will be, and how trustworthy you are as a store. You need to inspire confidence from the moment that your prospective buyer hits your site – and copying and pasting generic descriptions does not say ‘I care’.

If you think your product descriptions could work a little harder (hell even if you don’t, there’s always room for improvement) take a look at our recent blog post for some killer tips. Oh, and we’re got a great piece on writing policies, too.

(Image: Shane K under CC BY 2.0)

Poor Site Speed

Statista have also got some interesting stats to offer regarding cart abandonment. According to them, 21% of online shoppers abandoned their cart because the whole process was just too slow. We know that online shoppers are an impatient bunch, so poor site speed is a pretty obvious put-off.

It’s 2015 and the average broadband speed in the UK is 18.7Mbps – your customers should not be waiting. If they are, the chances are it’s because of you, not them. So (and we can’t put this any more delicately) pull your finger out!

If your site is more Robin Reliant than Greased Lightning, check out our handy blog post or get in touch about building a new store with us.

Trust Signals

Security is a big deal for your potential customers, so much so that 13% abandon their carts due to these types of concerns.

It makes sense – they don’t want their financial information broadcast to all and sundry – so it’s for this reason that trust signals are more important than ever.

And guess what, we’ve written a particularly thorough piece on how to improve these, too, so take a look, make some changes, and let your customers know you’ll treat their details with the care they deserve.

TheGenieLab

By now you should have a pretty good idea of why your customers are cutting and running before paying up. Hopefully you’ll be able to go away and make some simple changes in order to see some big ones.

However, if this all seems a little too challenging for your tastes, why not get in touch with us and talk it through with an expert?