Shopping Cart Abandonment

Is the page within the secure zone (https)?

Many customers will abandon the site if any kind of credit card information, even credit card ddress details, is asked for before being in a secure area.

Sorry, I think my last message was slightly unclear. I was explaining that if it wasn't in https then it would discourage people. Can you post a link or screenshot of the page?

David - take a look at www.reidfurniture.com/store/uk let me know what you think.

A few web analytics systems allow you to see at what point in a form visitors are dropping off. It might be worth seeing if your provider does that.

Aside from that, here are a few off-the-top-of-the-head suggestions:

1. Telling customers to abandon

Perhaps some of the drop-offs are due to the 'Measuring Guide' link? If I reach that point & realise that I haven't measured up, I'll need to either come back to the site another time, or at least pause while I go and measure up. It's difficult to do that as, though you show the measuring guide, I have to use the back button or click elsewhere on the site to find the measurements of the item I'm buying.

Try moving the 'measuring guide' note earlier in the checkout process to see whether that is causing drop off.

2. The checkout process is quite long (or seems quite long)

You could try separating things out into a couple of pages (eg. separate delivery & handling / terms & conditions onto a separate form? don't include 'delivery and handling' as a 'please select...' option, when I can't change it). You could also switch to taking just the postcode & do an address lookup if you have that capability. (actually, thinking about it, you take the postcode twice)

You could also Try using an amazon-style 'step 1. order  step 2. billing address  step 3. shipping   step 4. order complete' header at the top, with the current step emboldened. This gives the customer a quick reference of where they are in the process, how much is left, etc.

4. Untrusting buyers

Actually I don't know if this is a problem (with your target market it may be), but it's always worth making sure. Including a couple of 'verisign' type logos & mentioning that you have a secure checkout system cannot hurt. Adding a phone number prominently on the checkout pages (if you have anyone to answer it) could also help (& would quickly identify any problems).

5. General design/wording

You could move the labels closer to the input boxes. I have to look over to the left then over to the right just to fill each one in. I'm not sure that anyone would abandon based on that, but if they put the wrong things in the wrong boxes a couple of times it can be frustrating.

Can I use a debit card? The page says 'credit card address'. Perhaps you're losing buyers there? Why not put the symbols of the cards you accept to reassure people at this stage?

6. Technology.

Fix your checkout process so that using the (browser) back button works. If I use the back button at the moment (which the 'measurement guide' may compel me to do), it throws up a 'Warning: Page Expired' page & I have to click around a few times to get back into the process. Some customers may just abandon at this point, and the 'WARNING' error message may lead people to believe the process isn't secure.

7. Make it foolproof

Rather than telling people they've filled things in wrong after they hit 'next', tell them at the point they fill it in (eg with a tick/cross beside the input box, or just a dialog box onblur).

If there's anything at all potentially confusing, why not include a tooltip beside it with an explanation?

Hi Jim,

In addition to Daniels comprehensive list of suggestions, below are some of mine based upon 6 years e-comm design and usability experience at Littlewoods Shop Direct, with a particular focus on conversion rates and drop-out/abandonment rates when users are within the shopping basket and checkout process:

High ticket items
As your product range is primarilly high ticket items, drop-out and abandonment rates will be higher that a website giving a similarilly professional appearance but offering  products  much cheaper ie. a clothes outlet or small electrical goods. Therefore any issues or concerns that a visitor has such as how Daniel has explained will be more decisive in the users decision whether to abandon the order process - just something to be aware of

Red text
As this tends to be used when displaying error messages, by using red text when users 1st enter the credit card address page may immediately make them feel slightly un-easy or confused, perhaps thinking that there is already an error on the page.

Where am I in the checkout process
Give the user full confidence as to where they are in the checkout process and how many stages are remaining - even more critical if the checkout process is quite long. As with navigating a website, a user always feels more comfortable if it clear where they have come from, what specific area of a site they are in and what are their next steps in a particular process ie. browsing for product information within an e-comm website

What fields are required
Include this at the top of page rather than below the action buttons - even though the red text gives standout, if changed back to black text (see above) it is more user friendly to be clear about what fields are required.

Measuring guide link
This currently opens a new window at full-size, therefore hiding the main window where the user is in the checkout process - try resizing this pop-up window to ensure the user can still see the main site below - again this will make less web-savvy users feel in control and comfortable, knowing they haven't potentially lost their current information

Primary action buttons
As the primary button you want the user to notice and click on is 'next', both the cancel button ( I'm would recommend removing this link entirely) and the back button should be much less significant in the footer of the page. Also, the next button should ideally state what page the user will go to next, so along with adding the progress bar at the top of the page, the user will feel very comfortable in the process. Button text such as 'proceed to payment details' will be very user friendly

I hope these additional suggestions have been of some use, and I will interested to know what effects to your conversion rates the different suggestions have - stating the obvious here, but where your e-comm solution allows you will need to try 1 suggestion at a time to truly determine how effective they are...