The E-Commerce Blog

The average conversion rate for e-commerce websites is 2%, which means that the vast majority of customers don’t make a purchase.As many as 10-20% of your unique visitors will place an item in their shopping cart, but leave before closing the deal.

Below are the main reasons people abandon shopping carts:

• Unexpected or high shipping costs
• Total cost of purchase more than expected
• Comparison shopping
• Product was out of stock or didn’t want to wait
• Checkout process was too complicated

You can take steps to improve your checkout process and convert many more of these visitors. By simplifying checkout and shipping options, you could see your conversion rate increase by 50% or more.

Below are a few quick tips to reduce your shopping cart abandonment rates:

• Offer free or flat-rate shipping
• Post your guarantee or return policy clearly on your website
• Post your toll-free phone number on your website and shopping cart pages
• Consolidate the checkout process to as few screens as possible
• Use real-time inventory and show quantity on hand on product information pages

It’s also a good idea to do usability testing on your website. There are a lot of inexpensive tools available that will record users’ responses and even where they looked on your pages. They can provide a lot of insight into why visitors are leaving.

Today is Election Day in the United States. This is probably the biggest election of all time, and voter turnout is amazing. With all the people at the polls, who has time to shop online? A lot of people, apparently.

By 8 o’clock this morning I had already received 3 emails from online merchants. I don’t just subscribe for research, we buy almost everything online so I love a sale like anybody else.

I never would have thought an “Election Day Sale” would be a great idea, but after receiving several newsletters this morning, we hussled together one of our own and got it out the door around 8:30 AM.

The response has been amazing. Sales have skyrocketed and all from a simple text-only email newsletter. The email we sent is below:

It may just be the most important election in our country’s
history. If you haven’t already voted early, please find your
polling place and go vote today.

To say thanks for voting, TAKE 15% OFF ANY ONE PRODUCT

Use coupon code ELECTION2008 at checkout.

http://www.2bigfeet.com

If you’re not up to speed on the issues, checkout Glass Booth:
http://www.glassbooth.org

It’s a very good tool to determine where you truly stand on the
issues. You don’t have to vote like us, but be an informed
citizen and vote based on what you believe not what you see in
the media.

Also, please encourage your family and friends to do the same.

Sincerely,

Your friends at 2BigFeet.com

It’s probably too late to get an email out for Election Day, but take a look at the calendar and see how many holidays and national events occur throughout the year. These events are excellent chances to connect with your customers. Even if they don’t buy anything, it shows you’re human and care about what’s happening in the world.