We’ve all been there before: You fill a digital cart with items you need or want, carried along from one suggested offering to another, until you decide it’s time to make the purchase—only to stumble upon some element of the e-commerce customer journey that stops you in your tracks.
What factors lead shoppers to abandon their carts, or worse, to never consider browsing a brand’s website at all? If you’re wondering what it is about your customer experience that is derailing your company’s efforts to convert online shoppers, check out these insights from Forbes Agency Council members. Below, they share aspects of a brand’s online experience that can stop prospects from converting, along with tips for fixing the issues.
Forbes Agency Council members explore issues that stop online shoppers from converting and ways to fix them.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Stay Simple And Transparent
Make sure your online experience is easy to navigate and doesn’t seem shady. We’ve specifically noticed that employing deceitful tactics such as dark patterns (tricks to make users do things they didn’t intend to do) and adding last-minute fees are great ways to lose users’ trust and damage your brand’s reputation. – Lion Shirdan, UPRISE Management
2. Ensure Your Site Has All Of The Elements Consumers Expect
Is your website easy to navigate? Is your product described clearly? Can I buy your product in two easy steps? Can the user easily reach out with additional questions or for support? Do you accept all types of commonly expected payment methods? All of the above are common factors that influence sales in e-commerce. Besides that, keep your online reputation high, work on SEO and maximize engagement on social media. – Ally Spinu, USA Link System
3. Showcase Your Presence In The Local Market
For high-consideration products, customers often want to know where they can receive local service, maintenance or warranty work. A brand’s online experience should showcase local retailers to highlight their presence in that market. Brands should also provide consistent messaging throughout the funnel to seamlessly transition a customer from brand research to the final purchase stage. – Stephanie Shreve, PowerChord
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4. Provide Detailed Product Specifications
For technical companies, it is paramount to provide detailed product specifications to support the online buying experience. These may include product dimensions, performance metrics, compatibility details, CAD drawings and more. Research shows that buyers will choose another vendor rather than call for the missing information, so the risk of withholding this technical information is not worth it! – Wendy Covey, TREW Marketing
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5. Incorporate Case Studies Into Your Website Content
One effective and underutilized way to increase conversions is by incorporating case studies into your website content. You can claim your company is the best in your industry, but no claim is as convincing as proof. A case study provides consumers with a compelling piece of content that demonstrates the effectiveness of your product or service using real-life success stories as evidence. – Adam Binder, Creative Click Media
6. Make It Easy To Navigate Your Site And Make A Purchase
A difficult-to-navigate website not only frustrates visitors but can also cause cart abandonment. Broken links, not enough (or too many) product categories, slow loading times and poor site organization all get in the way of converting visits to sales. A comprehensive website audit will help you discover where problems lie. Bottom line: Make it easy for your visitors to purchase what they need. – Michelle Abdow, Market Mentors, LLC
7. Provide Clear Shipping Information
The key to converting users is to provide clear shipping information. When will it be delivered? How much will it cost? What about returns? It all needs to be clear. Don’t say “3 to 10 days to ship.” Don’t share the time it takes for handling and processing. Just state the date on which the item will be delivered. Be specific about shipping costs and who bears the return costs. Make it easy for shoppers. – Peter Boyd, PaperStreet Web Design
8. Always Keep The CTA Above The Fold
We often see brands that offer complex products or services, such as home improvement or insurance, placing the call to action below the fold. Brands place the CTA at the bottom to encourage audiences to read through all the important information on the page. Sadly, all this does is lower conversion rates. Keeping CTAs above the fold is critical for optimal conversion rates, even for complex offerings. – Donna Robinson, Collective Measures
9. Eliminate All Glitches And Bugs In Your Online Store
Online stores need to be working at optimal levels and free of any glitches. From start to finish, the shopper should have no trouble finding what they need and making their payment. Any issues in between can potentially cause them to give up, so the entire transaction needs to go smoothly. Optimize the online store by double-checking it for bugs before launch. – Hannah Trivette, NUVEW Web Solutions
10. Minimize The Number Of Clicks Required To Check Out
Conversions can decrease simply because your site requires far too many clicks before a customer finally presses the purchase button. It’s important to ensure that the number of clicks required to check out is minimized. This means keeping it as simple as possible for customers, requiring only essential information for checkout and carefully managing any upselling or other choices presented to the customer. – Fehzan Ali, Adscend Media
11. Ensure Your Site Loads Quickly On Mobile And Desktop
Having a slow website is one of the biggest factors that will cause you to have conversion issues. If you are running paid or organic traffic to a slow website, it will create friction in your customer journey. This can lead to artificially inflated ad costs due to a negative customer experience. Make sure to check the speed of your mobile and desktop load times when auditing your site. – Alex Quin, UADV MARKETING
12. Don’t Forget The Post-Sales Experience
Fulfillment and delivery are often overlooked in an e-commerce strategy, much to the detriment of the brand. This is particularly true for brands that have only recently developed an online shopping experience. If you are used to the experience stopping when the customer walks out the door, you have to remember that online, the sale isn’t over until your product is in your customer’s hands. – Mary Ann O’Brien, OBI Creative
13. Make Your Technology So Simple As To Seem Invisible
It’s the simple things that derail conversions, such as the “buy now” button not working or users not being able to easily take things in and out of a shopping cart. Simplicity should be the driver. A simple and elegant user experience produces client delight. In truth, the technology should be practically invisible. It should be so simple that a child can easily figure it out. – Randy Shattuck, The Shattuck Group
14. Present All Costs Up Front
Hidden fees can be a conversion killer. If a customer puts a $50 item in their cart and then sees a $65 total at checkout, this is enough to ruin the experience. One of the worst offenders is the “convenience fee,” which is 100% an oxymoron. If there are unavoidable costs such as shipping, be sure to present these early in the purchase process to reduce buyer friction early on. – Bernard May, National Positions
15. Respond Quickly To Automated Live Chats 24/7
One of the major problems is that brands miss out on clients due to live chats not being answered. Not only are opportunities to connect directly with potential customers completely lost, but this also paints a negative image of the company as being slow to respond. Being able to respond quickly by having automated chats manned by real people 24/7 is key. – Lisa Montenegro, Digital Marketing Experts – DMX
16. Don’t Overstimulate The Customer
Often, brands attempt to overstimulate the customer with unnecessary ads, pop-ups and notifications. Keeping messaging clear and direct and driving focus in one direction can lead to higher conversion rates. – Jordan Edelson, Appetizer Mobile LLC
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Author: Expert Panel®, Forbes Councils Member
