By Andy Soloman
In today's ZMOT world, online shoppers are easily distracted and cart abandonment is common. People are often less brand loyal than ever before and will be spending time reading reviews, comparison shopping and listening to what others are saying via social media channels.
Online retailers know that shopping cart abandonment is a major problem, but there are significant steps that can be taken to help ease people through to checkout and out the other side.
There are numerous reasons why people abandon their shopping baskets, but with a careful real-time engagement strategy it is possible to nurture people through to completing their purchases. What's more, using live chat and skilled live chat operators it can be done in a gently engaging non-threatening way, that leaves the customer happy, satisfied and more likely to become a brand advocate (there's the ZMOT for the next customer!).
Using Live Chat to Reduce Cart Abandonment
So, looking at the reasons for abandonment in the fabulous "Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics" Invesp infographic below, live chat can help in numerous ways. Let's look at the top nine reasons why people abandon and how live chat can help.
- 44% High Shipping Costs -- Shipping too often comes as a nasty shock just as a person is about to complete a purchase. Careful live chat engagement can help keep people informed of shipping costs, while as a final resort live chat operators could offer a free shipping incentive to avoid shopping cart abandonment and losing a sale.
- 41% Not Ready to Purchase -- We've all done it. We put stuff in the shopping cart, move on and then completely forget it is there. Or maybe we are influenced by something else and change our minds altogether. It is distraction. With live chat, your operators can watch customer behaviour, and see when they start going off track. Then is the moment for a gentle invitation to chat to help them complete their purchase.
- 25% High Product Price -- Once again, skilled live chat operators can recognise when someone is about to abandon their cart. Maybe the offer of a discount code, a free gift, free delivery, discount on their next purchase may help them complete.
- 24% Wanted to Save Products for Later Consideration -- There it is again, the ZMOT moment, when someone is researching. Use live chat to step in to avoid the likelihood of shopping cart abandonment and help someone make a decision rather than browsing off to the next website.
- 22% Did Not Clearly Mention Shipping Costs -- Too many businesses do not make it clear how much shipping will cost and the question: "How much is shipping?" can be a killer. With live chat the customer can get an immediate answer to how much shipping will cost.
- 14% No Guest Checkout Option -- Too many companies try to get too much information out of people before they complete their purchase. As a rule, try not to put people off, but in those places where you need to get information live chat operators can be standing by to help people complete the forms.
- 12% Need Too Much Information -- Again the key here is to cut down on those "required" fields in your online forms, but where you do have forms, your live chat operators can help iron out the creases and ease people through pinch points.
- 11% Complex Checkout Process -- You may think your checkout is smooth, and all the steps are necessary, but do your customers agree? With live chat you will know for sure. Every conversation will be captured, and every chat transcript will be available. If there are user experience issues you can be sure your customers will let you know. Use this customer intelligence gathered from live chat to improve your checkout procedures.
- 11% Website Too Slow -- Live chat can help here by gathering leads from your visitors so they can be called back. But while live chat may help it is not the solution. The solution, simply put, is to fix your website. There are no excuses for poor website responsiveness.
So, without further ado, here's that fantastic infographic on shopping cart abandonment.
About the author: Andy Soloman is Yomdel’s CEO. Yomdel delivers operator-backed live chat services for ecommerce. Andy is passionate about delivering the best possible experience bringing together online businesses and their customers.
