What do customers want from your business? Choice? Value? Quality products? Honesty? Yes, but they will abandon all of that if their shopping experience isn’t easy, convenient, and fun.
Let’s start with online.
I came across a sobering statistic this week: the average online cart abandonment rate is 70.2%, according to the Baymard Institute who calculated this using 49 different studies on e-commerce and online cart abandonment rates. That’s 7/10 customers adding your products to their shopping basket, but clicking off before checking out, rendering all of your marketing, buying and merchandising efforts useless.
Now, there might be a myriad of reasons why the customers opts out at the final hurdle that have nothing to do with how your website and/or business is set up; perhaps they aren’t ready to buy yet and will come back later, or maybe they were just browsing.
However, in the same way that long queues in store put customers off, cumbersome checkout processes online also frustrate buyers who are looking for ease and convenience wherever they shop.
So, what can you do to ensure more customers hit that “buy” button?
In a nutshell, you should be creating a seamless, end-to-end checkout experience that doesn’t give the customer pause for thought. Here are some ways you can do that:
- Have a clear, fair and easy-to-understand returns policy
- Offer multiple delivery options, with clear pricing
- Offer multiple payment options, including PayPal, Apple Pay and Buy Now Pay Later
- A customer “chat” option for any last-minute queries
- A quick server that handles payments securely
- Have a promo/ discount code box clearly visible
- Do not force mandatory account creation; instead make it optional and highlight the perks after the transaction has been completed
Bricks and mortar also matters.
It isn’t just online that customers click off; I always notice the random products frustrated customers have abandoned on their way to the checkout.
From the moment a customer walks in to your store, you want them to feel welcome, relaxed and excited to buy.
Here are some other tips you can try to achieve just that:
- Keep your store clean, well merchandised, and free of clutter (it should be enjoyable to shop there!)
- Fitting rooms should have good lighting, be comfortable, and welcoming
- Staff should be well-trained, thoughtful and dynamic enough to convince customers to try different items and purchase according to their specific needs
- Stock levels should be good, and staff should know if an item is available online before asking a customer to check there
- Offers should be clearly marked
- There should be enough checkout areas to avoid long queues (and enough staff at the tills you have during busy periods)
I always tell clients who are looking to optimise their customer experience that “you have to do what Amazon can’t do”, whether that’s a product you sell, an extra perk, or your exceptional customer service. That’s what customers will remember; that’s why they will recommend you to others and come back as repeat customers themselves, whether it’s via your store or your website.