Preventing Shopping Cart Abandonment

Distributor Web sites have advanced well beyond basic pages that contain contact information and company history. More often than not, customers can search the company’s complete product catalog and place orders online without ever having to pick up a phone.

While distributors are quick to remind you that their business is all about face time, there’s no denying the added convenience that online ordering brings to customers, particularly those that purchase the same products on a regular basis.

But even the most sophisticated ordering systems can fall short if customers are delayed by a slow or complicated checkout process. Experts estimate that anywhere from 50 percent to 70 percent of orders are abandoned due to ineffective or faulty shopping cart features.

Without the means to track usage, distributors won’t know for sure if they are losing business or at what point in the ordering process customers bail out.

Keeping Tabs
“A lot of merchants don’t know how to track [online ordering],” says Thomas Harpointer, CEO of Atlanta-based AIS Media Inc., a Web services company that caters to small and medium-size businesses. “You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” he says.

To determine the success of online ordering, Michael Bloch, founder of tamingthebeast.net, an IT marketing and consultancy services group in Adelaide, South Australia, suggests that distributors install a live tracking application. This software tracks a customer from page to page and reports the activity back to the merchant in real time via a special interface, he explains.

“Many live chat applications offer this feature, and they are usually quite economical, and simple to implement and use,” he explains. “A remotely hosted live chat service only requires the merchant to insert a few lines of code into each page.”

Once suitable live tracking is in place, distributors can look for common exit points before a transaction is completed. “That’s likely an area requiring special attention,” says Bloch. “If the exit points are random, then the entire cart process may need reworking.”

Distributors can also opt to track shopping cart abandonment the old-fashioned way: by communicating directly with customers via phone or e-mail.

“If they’ve left their contact information, call them and ask them why they didn’t complete an order,” suggests Ralph Wilson, director of Wilson Internet Services, Rocklin, Calif.

Pinpointing The Problem
While some shopping cart glitches may be easy to diagnose and fix, others may require more in-depth detective work. Fortunately there are several common causes of shopping cart abandonment that distributors can quickly identify and easily rectify:

The Web site is too slow. In Harpointer’s publication, “E-Commerce Tips for Merchants: How to Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment,” slow Web sites are number one on the list. “Nothing frustrates visitors as quickly as a slow Web site,” he says. “Online shopping often requires customers to click dozens of links during the purchase order. If the consequence of clicking a link is a painstaking 10- to 30-second wait, shoppers are likely to grow impatient, abandon their shopping carts, and shop elsewhere.”

A slow server or outdated Web design may be to blame. Elements such as large graphics as well as complex ordering procedures can slow ordering down. Distributors may need to redesign or update their Web sites, including their shopping carts.

“Just because you have the Web page and shopping cart doesn’t mean people are going to use this feature,” says Ed Hildreth, co-owner, Sound Janitorial Supply, Tumwater, Wash. “You have to design it so people can find it easily. Also, make sure the shopping cart is easy to use and lets people get to the product in just a couple of clicks.”

Information is lacking or hard to find. A poorly designed Web site can also frustrate customers looking for information needed to successfully complete a purchase order. Hildreth recommends including the company’s phone number on every page. “If someone calls in with a question, we can go online and see exactly where they are [in the ordering process],” he says.

Sometimes there just isn’t enough information about the product for the customer to make an informed buying decision. “Unanswered questions create doubt,” says Harpointer, “and doubts result in abandoned shopping carts.” He urges distributors to include as much detailed information about their products as possible, including multiple photos, feature specifications, product reviews, known issues, customer testimonials, etc.

Cary Duley, general manager of Morrisette Paper, Greensboro, N.C., hopes to boost his percentage of online orders by beefing up content.

“The biggest problem we have is with chemicals because people who aren’t necessarily jan/san don’t know exactly what the product is used for,” Duley says. “We’re looking at a catalog that would allow customers to click on an item and see a picture of it, get a full description of dilution rates, what it can be used for, and an MSDS.”

Security isn’t up to date. “A lot of shopping carts on jan/san sites aren’t using up-to-date encryption or credit card payments,” says Ryan Myers, vice president, Meyer’s Supply & Chemical, Little Rock, Ark. “They’re setting themselves up for disaster.”

In his publication, “The Shopping Cart Report: E-Commerce Software and Store-Building Programs,” Wilson writes about the four elements needed to prevent hackers from stealing credit card information:

• An SSL secure connection between the shopper and your Web site.
• A payment gateway to provide secure communications between your Web site and the credit card processor.
• The protection of credit card numbers stored on the Web site.
• Secure order-retrieval that allows merchants to get orders without exposing credit card information to hackers.

Distributors should also make sure that privacy policies are clearly visible. “Any Web site that doesn’t give the buyer peace of mind that their contact information is confidential could drive the customer away,” Harpointer notes.

Shipping charges are too high or appear too late. “The biggest cause of shopping cart abandonment is not knowing what the shipping charge is until late in the process,” says Wilson.

Free plug-ins from major shippers, such as UPS or FedEx, allow customers to estimate shipping costs based on the type of service they select, such as next day or second day. Distributors can also create their own searchable tables.

“Some people try to make shipping a profit center,” says Wilson. “You want to be careful about surprising people with high shipping costs.” Some distributors include charges in the order’s overall price.

“Most of our online orders are current customers within 300 miles of one of our facilities, so we deliver on regular scheduled routes,” says Myers. “The price includes delivery.”

While many customers still prefer to order in-person or over the phone, the ranks of online shoppers are slowly beginning to swell. David Renard, president of Renard Paper Co., Inc., St. Louis, expects to see his online orders increase from 5 percent to 40 percent and is making improvements to his shopping cart to accommodate that growth.

He recently signed on a new customer with 25 locations. “One of the big reasons the new customer signed on with us is because they found out we have online ordering capabilities.”

Kassandra Kania is a freelance writer based in Charlotte, N.C.

ON SITE

Security Concerns Are Sapping Sales
According to a recent report from Gartner Inc., a Stamford, Conn.-based IT consultancy, a lack in security while ordering online is causing consumer concern.

The report, available at www.gartner.com, surveyed 5,000 U.S. adults and determined that in 2006, nearly $2 billion was lost to concerns while a shopper was on a site, or to consumers who simply will not consider using online ordering.

CleanGredients Announces New Industry Sponsor
The CleanGredients™ database, a project of GreenBlue that was launched in October 2006, has obtained a new sponsor: EcoLogo, a green certification and marketing organization. The two original sponsors of CleanGredients are ISSA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The database, available at www.clean gredients.org, helps formulators select chemicals that are environmentally preferable for their products.

Think Your Site Is Award-Winning?
The International Janitorial Cleaning Services Association (IJCSA) has opened up the submission period for its second annual janitorial cleaning Web site awards.

Interested companies can submit their sites at www.ijcsa.com/janitorialwebsiteawards.html. The deadline for submissions is April 10. Winners will be announced May 1.

Web Site Keeps You Linked
Feel like you’re missing out on important industry news when the print edition of Sanitary Maintenance doesn’t include a “Faces of the Industry” section?

Keep up on industry news by logging onto www.cleanlink.com, and clicking on “People & Company Updates.”