Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment with Themed Navigation
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According to the MarketLive Performance Index 2007(www.marketlive.com)
approximately 96% of visitors to an e-commerce website will not make a purchase
and nearly 58% of shoppers will abandon their cart before completing their
order.
To put this into perspective, imagine a brick and mortar store had the same
statistics: only 4% of the people who visited the store made a purchase and 58%
of the people who did put items in their shopping cart simply walked out of the
store, abandoning their cart without making a purchase. How long do you think
this store would stay in business?
Avoiding Shopping Cart Abandonment
This is a serious problem facing online business owners. Having a website
that sells products may seem like an easy way to make a living, but it is
actually quite the opposite. An e-commerce site is a tricky proposition, because
so many factors are involved in making a sale online. When evaluating the
effectiveness of the site you are looking at the psychological reasoning of what
makes a person buy, as well is how effectively the website interacts with the
consumer, so that a sale can take place. Both components of the equation have to
be there to create the right balance of confidence for the consumer to make a
purchase.
Product Page
Let's start by looking at the product page of a website. If people are taking
the time to visit the product page and not opening up a shopping cart, the three
areas you need to look at
are: content, photography, and navigation.
Product Page Content
The content on a product page is critical to making the sale.
The information needs to be scannable and detailed. Look at it from the
consumer's viewpoint. What information do they need to make a decision? Think
about the questions they might ask and include those answers in the description.
Along with the description of the product, be sure to include the benefits to
purchasing the product. Remember, people buy for emotional reasons. Create
enticing copy that appeals to your audience and makes them reach for their
credit cards.
Also include information on the product page that helps build consumer
confidence in making their purchase. Include shipping information, in-stock
status, policies on returning merchandise, and guarantees.
Photography
The photography of a product is crucial to meeting a shopper's expectations.
Consider having multiple angles of the product and enlarged views that open to a
new window.
Even if you are a small home-based business, use professional photography of
your products. A poorly lighted or fuzzy product picture could cause shoppers to
lose confidence in your site.
They might think you are untrustworthy and worry about their order ever being
received.
Product Page Navigation
Poor navigation of the products page is probably the biggest reason for
shoppers not opening a cart. According to Forrester Research, shoppers said they
didn't open a cart because it was simply too difficult.
Make it easy for consumers to buy from your site by making simple changes to
the "add-to-cart" button: *Place the button above the fold. *Give the button a
color that stands out on the page. *Make sure the button is visible when new
windows open on the page.
Themed Navigation
Consider using navigation on the homepage that takes visitors to more than
just product categories. Use multiple navigation paths to make it easier for
shoppers to find your products.
One highly effective technique is "themed" navigation.
According to the MarketLive Performance Index 2007, sites using themed
navigation earned 40% more revenue per visit.
Rather than selling a product by category, you create themes
like: daily specials, holiday sales, seasonal specials, or appeal to a specific
group like new moms. It works the same way as if you were shopping in a store
for a pair of pants. When you find the pants, they are displayed with a matching
shirt and jacket that look fantastic together. So in addition to buying the
pants you end up buying a shirt and jacket.
Conclusion
If you haven't considered using themed navigation, take a look at your
website and see how you could logically group some of your products together and
create a bundle that is irresistible to a shopper. Use themed navigation, along
with improved content and photography to reduce shopping cart abandonment.
© 2007 Michelle Howe
About the Author
Michelle Howe, MBA, president of Internet Word Magic, specializes in writing
irresistible copy for websites. Transform the way you do business. Visit her
website at
http://www.InternetWordMagic.com for a FR^EE chapter download of her new
book "Turn Browsers into Buyers".
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Article Published/Sorted/Amended on Scopulus 2008-01-02 14:31:48 in Computer Articles
