On the way to checkout

What we sell at e-commerce sites is only part of the story. How we present the products and information correlates with how many people make it through the purchasing steps to checkout.

Does your site get a lower-than-desired conversion rate? A lot of abandoned shopping carts? Let’s look at some ways to turn more of those visits into sales.

Price displays

Shoppers won’t buy if the prices are too high for them — or if they’re perceived as too high. How the prices are displayed as well as the prices themselves influences purchasing decisions.

Does it matter if the prices are shown as $20 or $19.95? For different reasons in different cultures, yes.

In the US and Canada, consumers are used to seeing prices such as $19.95 or $199.99 instead of $20 or $200. We’re aware of how this tactic is supposed to work, and we might think that such pricing is silly. But in our minds, the prices that are only a few cents lower register as significantly lower. And to some of us, round amounts such as $20 or $200 feel too artificial. How can a product cost exactly that much?

In Europe, on the other hand, round numbers are more common for prices. Prices ending in .99 or .95 might be seen as from a negative American influence. This may be changing, however.

In some Asian cultures, odd numbers are considered unlucky.

Showing how prices are discounted can work in a positive way. If the price started at $79.95 and we reduced it to $69.95, showing the original price crossed out instead of just the new price demonstrates how much shoppers can save. And we all like saving money.

Shipping cost displays

Should we indicate our shipping costs on the home page? Near the end of the checkout process? Somewhere else?

"Somewhere else" is more likely to get shoppers to the shopping cart and all the way through checkout. If people have to go through all the checkout steps before they can find out an item’s shipping cost, they can and often do give up. On the other hand, if the cost of shipping looks high even before they’ve considered the products, they may decide to look elsewhere.

Listing the shipping cost with the product prices or when products are added to the shopping cart provides the information when and where shoppers need it.

Of course if shipping is free, that fact should be displayed prominently on the home page and elsewhere.

Shopping cart abandonment

Depending on the survey you read, between 60 and 90 percent of shoppers abandon the shopping cart after selecting an item but before completing a purchase. A few surveys have a lower number, but it’s still too high. Let’s look at some reasons for shopping cart abandonment.

Lack of information

Shoppers initially choose a product, but then they decide that they want more information before completing the sale. Product descriptions may not have the details that shoppers are looking for. If there is an FAQ page, it might not have the answers they need. Not having a phone number or email address prominently displayed to use to ask for help adds to the difficulties.

Poor usability

Shoppers can’t find exactly what they’re looking for, or the steps are confusing, or the checkout process is too long. If shoppers have to register before purchasing or provide too much personal information, these steps can also be obstacles. So can discovering that the page to enter credit card details isn’t secure.

High shipping prices

Shoppers are used to having shipping included at some of the larger online stores. Also, shipping is a cost that can be avoided by shopping at bricks-and-mortar stores.

Planning to return

Sometimes, shoppers add items to shopping carts with the intention of returning later to purchase them.

Improving conversion rates

When working to improve conversion rates, taking one step at a time allows us to see the effect of each variable.

• Test different ways of displaying prices (while considering the target market), and observe which ways move products faster.
• Keep shipping costs as low as possible.
• Indicate shipping costs where shoppers need this information.
• Provide detailed information about the products.
• Improve site usability, including clear navigation and a good search feature.