Here’s Why 69.2% of People are Leaving Their Purchases at Checkout
After all your online marketing efforts and new web design tweaks, don’t let your checkout process discourage people from completing their purchase from you.
Yes, that’s right. According to over 9 years of data from 4,263 respondents, the current cart abandonment rate average sits at 69.2%. (see full study here). This is resulting in a loss of over $260 billion in lost orders.
These are people who are deciding NOT to purchase the things they have already added to their online cart and made a prior commitment to buying… at the very end of their experience.
After all that thinking and searching, and shopping, why stop at the end? Why decide not to buy when you’ve already thought about and gone through the process of buying?
The crazy thing is that this massive amount of money is recoverable primarily by optimizing the experience and design of the checkout process with tweaks that are proven to increase conversion.
Think about what kind of person is deciding to leave their purchase at the (online) checkout counter.
Who is this 69.2% of people deciding to NOT buy the last minute? What steps have they already taken towards a commitment to purchasing from you?
Well, let's go over the journey of these “abandoners” (for lack of a better term right now).
They’ve found your website organically as a google search result or perhaps in a social media feed like Facebook or Instagram as a paid ad.
This one is important; for whatever reason (maybe it’s your genius copywriting, or the graphic design in your ad, or the position of your website on Google’s first page) they decided to click on you.
Now they’re on your website and after quickly glancing the homepage, they’ve decided they like what they see. You have created a product or service they are interested in and an effective first impression that has persuaded them to continue on your site.
The experience and speed of your website have allowed this person to begin shopping and start adding products to their cart. They have decided to trust you, give you a chance, and buy from you. Think about this one. They have already made the conscious decision to purchase something from you.
They are done adding items to their cart and click checkout (if you were to get them this far with a visible and obvious enough checkout button).
They leave.
Wait. Huh? What happened?
I’ll get right to the point. It’s what happens right after a person clicks checkout that ruins everything for your business and your customer.
Have you ever hired a salesperson and told them that a deal is already done, there’s no persuading to be made, they’ve already committed to buying, and all they need to do is stand there, be friendly, and not do anything to screw anything up? You couldn’t be there in person but you have someone stand in so there’ s a face when the transaction is fulfilled.
Then you call the salesperson to follow up, and they say the client didn’t buy.
What? Why?
They left.
What do you mean? They were super interested and already committed to buying in every way possible. You just need to be there, process the payment and complete the transaction.
They got confused, upset, frustrated, and just ended up walking away.
The salesperson in this well thought out hypothetical scenario is your checkout process.
But to answer the what and why of this situation check out the image below:
Obviously, by looking at the chart above, the biggest factor is cost. Are your shipping fees too high? Are you adding other weird “Uber-like” fees to your orders? Over half of respondents said this was why they left at checkout. This could be a given, and sometimes there isn’t much you can do to lower the costs of shipping your products.
I’m going to continue this post focusing on the other factors you can change relatively quickly and easily to decrease the number of people leaving your site at checkout.
Don’t Force Someone to Create an Account Before Buying
The second biggest factor that led to people abandoning their cart was the fact that they had to create an account first.
Nobody likes creating an account or entering more information. It’s a buzzkill, a momentum killer.
When purchasing, a person is motivated, excited, and on a bit of an impulse. The more obstacles, blockades, and hoops you make them jump through, the less excited and more paranoid they become of you and their decision to buy.
A customer wants instant gratification. The more you delay this gratification or the further you dangle it in front of your customers, the less they will want your product or service.
Let Them Continue with a Guest Account
Sometimes, the best feeling is when I see the “Continue as Guest” button. I just want to go in, buy, and get out. When I see the “Create an Account” or “Register” button, I feel like this purchase will never be finalized and the more I realize how much I DON’T need whatever it is I’m buying.
With over 30% of people leaving their carts when being forced to create an account, you can see how a simple tweak brought in over $300M extra in revenue for this one company.
If you can’t, or for some reason, don’t want to give the option of a guest account, you should at least do one of the following:
Ask them to create an account after their purchase
Change the “Create an Account” or “Register” button to say “Continue” instead. This at least makes it seems there is no disruption to their checkout experience. This simple text change has brought in millions of extra revenue for clients.
Is Your Checkout Too Long or Complicated?
Customers who end up on a different web page, domain, or in a new window get frustrated and confused causing much uncertainty in their purchase. They begin to lose trust in the product, the process, the domain, and the brand.
Keep your checkout process, simple, clear, and streamlined. If possible, try to have all the steps on a single page.
One company found a 40% year over year growth increase after streamlining and simplifying their checkout process.
For every step you ask of your customer (which should be no more than 4; but 3 is better), show the progress. Show them the path and how much closer they are to finally buying from you.
In a nutshell, it should be as easy as possible for your customers to buy something. It’s that simple. All the operational backend logistics and info you hope to attain for yourself and your company should be held second priority to the experience and the ability for people to become customers and give you their money.
So don’t let all your online marketing efforts, web and graphic design efforts, and of course, the building of your business and products go down the gutter just because of your checkout process.
If someone says they want to buy something and asks how they can do just that, your answer should be no longer than a short sentence.
FREE DOWNLOAD
Make every visit to your website count.
Optimize your website and content to convert more visits into more leads.
Get started with this free download that reveals 10 changes, you can make right now, proven to increase the number of leads your website generates.
