Using Surveys to Reduce Your Online Abandonment Rates

Online shopping cart abandonment rates remain high even as consumer confidence in security and privacy measures has risen over the last decade. This seems to offer conflicting signals; you would expect the former to plummet as the latter rises. In reality, consumers abandon website sales mechanisms up to 50% of the time. Website owners who can identify the reasons behind their respective audiences' high abandonment rates, and address problems to their market's satisfaction, will enjoy much higher conversion rates. And that leads to higher profitability.

Below, we'll explore how you can use surveys to uncover the reasons your audience is abandoning your shopping cart. It's worth noting that these reasons are also relevant to their decision to abandon your registration pages. We'll explain how to time your approach with your questionnaires to have the best chance of attracting useful data. We'll also take a look at reviewing your visitors' responses and making the necessary changes.

Common Reasons People Leave Without Buying Or Registering

Recent research from Paypal and comScore has exposed several factors that discourage consumers from completing online purchases. Among them, delivery charges were the most common. Other popular reasons include a desire to compare prices with other merchants, budget constraints, and a lack of payment flexibility. Nearly one of four survey respondents also noted inventory issues and security concerns.

It's important to underscore that each of these problems can be easily resolved. For example, merchants can raise prices and offer free shipping to eliminate shopping cart abandonment due to excessive delivery charges. Unfortunately, most merchants do not survey their website visitors in order to identify perceived problems. Because the problems are not identified, they cannot be addressed. As a result, the merchant's abandonment rate remains high.

Timing Your Approach

To attract the most useful information from would-be buyers, it's important to approach them immediately after they abandon your shopping cart (or your registration page). For example, suppose a website visitor has arrived at the last stage of your checkout process. Instead of clicking the "Submit Order" button, she abandon your shopping cart. You can display a popup survey that encourages her to share the reason behind her abandonment. Because you may not have her contact information within a database, this moment may be the only opportunity you'll have to solicit her thoughts.

Identifying The Root Cause

So, what questions should you ask in order to identify the reason for your customer's abandonment? First, keep it brief. Your survey should include fewer than five questions. The customer has already shown a willingness to abandon your site; brevity will increase the likelihood that she'll respond.

Second, begin your survey by asking her to identify her reasons for leaving from a list of choices. Those choices should encompass expense (both product price and delivery), intent to buy, privacy concerns, and her overall experience.

Third, craft your follow-up questions based on her response to your first question. You can accomplish this easily with branch and pipe technology (most online survey providers offer both). For example, if the customer thought the product was too expensive, a follow-up question might ask her whether free shipping would change her mind.

Reviewing Responses And Making Changes

The goal of popping up shopping cart abandonment surveys is to identify trends rather than catering to a single individual's preferences. By examining your data, you'll eventually discover that one or more reasons are glaringly obvious. Your next step is to begin implementing changes that address your would-be customers' most common concerns. That might include changing your inventory, adding more descriptive copy, modifying prices, and integrating order tracking.

Over time, you'll find your abandonment surveys provide valuable data that has a direct impact on your company's bottom line. The key is to solicit the information and take action upon it as trends become clear.