Nearly 70% of online shoppers don’t complete their purchases — and that’s an average. Some studies put abandonment higher at more than 80%. Others lower at around 55%1. But even at the lower end of things, these are big numbers with big revenue impacts.
Just imagine the equivalent in a brick-and-mortar environment.
How concerned would you be if between one-in-every-two and four-in-every-five customers came in-store, browsed, filled up their baskets and then left empty-handed? And yet this happens to e-commerce retailers every day.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We work with all types of businesses from retailers and hoteliers to gaming merchants in various countries to improve online conversion. Those who make small tweaks can realise potentially big gains, particularly around checkout UX, fraud screening and payment acceptance.
Reducing checkout friction comes at a trade-off. If the checkout is too long and onerous, you may put customers off. But if it’s too short and you don’t ask for enough information, you may get more fraud.
The good news is that when it comes to the length of a checkout page, there’s no one-size-fits-all. Different departments are likely to have different opinions. That’s fine. Try to come to a consensus and design the right UX for your business. This isn’t a one-and-done activity so check back regularly as there’s always room for improvement.
Here are some practical checkout tips: allow for guest checkout, offer one-click ordering for returning customers, replicate the billing address as the shipping address by default, offer to remember the customer’s card details, prompt automatically if a card has expired, make as many fields optional as you can and include a progress bar.
Fraud is part and parcel of being in business, unfortunately. Scammers, chancers and straight-up criminals will always exist. That being said, consider your false positive rate. Lost revenue as a result of turning down genuine customers may be avoidable and something you can influence directly.
Again, there’s no one-size-fits-all. This applies to devising fraud screening parameters, too. The upside is that you have the flexibility to tailor something that meets the needs of your business. So, consider your risk appetite, the products you sell, your customers and the markets in which you operate.
You don’t want to lose customers for the simple reason that they can’t pay you. So, provide multiple payment options. We offer our customers integrations to major international card brands, local schemes, bank transfers, e-wallets and instalment options. That’s in addition to sector-specific payment methods for the gaming and other industries.
Also, consider pricing in local currencies. If you sell globally, then pricing locally removes payment friction. Which helps maximise conversion and minimise cart abandonment. Our multi-currency management solution supports any currency, so you can make customers feel at home whenever and wherever they shop online with you. We’ll take care of the rest.
To request a free 30-minute consultation on improving conversion in your business, email sales@pxpfinancial.com or complete your details on the contact form below.
1 41 cart abandonment rate statistics’ Baymard Institute, https://baymard.com/lists/cart-abandonment-rate