7 reasons why customers leave your shop

A customer visits your e-commerce site, fills a shopping cart, and customers leave your shop without explanation. If things seemed to be going well, why give up and walk away like that?

It is common for a shop owner to feel perplexed and helpless when faced with this problem. But while over 75% of shopping carts are abandoned, a lot can be done to encourage shoppers to complete the checkout process.

This article will discuss seven principal reasons why customers leave online stores without making purchases. We will propose solutions to improve your customer experience and close more sales.

1. Shipping is not accessible or too slow

More than half of all shopping carts are abandoned because shipping is too expensive. For years, free shipping has been the gold standard for e-commerce  (9 out of 10 consumers say free shipping is their number one motivation when shopping online).

Be warned, though: free shipping, which takes 10-14 business days, is still not ideal. Customers now also consider shipping speed and want their orders to be shipped as quickly as possible. Some studies find that offering one-day or same-day delivery times can be an essential incentive for demanding customers, even if it costs more.

According to stellarspins, free shipping can increase your sales, but that doesn’t mean it will increase your profits. However, if you are puzzled by the cost of offering free shipping, consider setting a minimum order amount (for example, free shipping for orders over 50 EUR). This condition works very well on the psychological processes that trigger online shopping – we’re willing to spend a  lot more money than expected if we can get free shipping.

Here is more information on setting up shipping costs on your Jimdo site; you can also find setting a minimum order amount to get free shipping. And here’s a helpful guide on calculating your store’s free shipping threshold.

If you offer free shipping, you also need to make sure that this message is prominently displayed on your website, so you need to mention it on each shop page.

2. There are not enough product images in your shop

According to several studies, around two-thirds of shoppers abandon online store carts because they browse products. What could be the reason for this behavior? They probably don’t have enough information to convince them to buy what they see.

Remember that your potential online customers do not have the opportunity to pick up the item you are selling or take a look at your store, so you must try to exploit the potential of images to best describe your offer.

Insert images of each product of various sizes in the shop and taken from different angles. If a product is available in different colors and sizes, use photos representing each option.

Thanks to new technological advances in cameras and post-production software, you won’t need to pay handsomely for a professional photographer to get the result you need.

In the product description, write as many details as possible like cinemacasino casino online. It lists the measures, the materials, their resistance and origin, the colors, and the availability of accessories.

Please make what you sell even more exciting and attractive by telling the product’s story, the inspiration for the design, or the uniqueness of its quality.

Add other particular keywords that can improve the indexing of your pages. The ideal would be to provide a specific page for each product to insert photos, descriptions, history, and strategic keywords for SEO.

3. Your shop does not inspire trust

Digital shoppers are becoming increasingly aware of the crucial security and risk involved in sharing their sensitive data over the Internet. This is certainly a positive aspect, but it also means that they may be wary of buying in an online store that does not appear reliable enough.

Fortunately, all Jimdo sites are protected by  HTTPS encryption which guarantees the protection of your customers’ data. Other features of the site could help potential customers feel more comfortable. For example:

• reviews and testimonials from genuine buyers. In our blog’s English article, we point out some useful widgets.
• A clear description of your sales policy, including the conditions for returning and refunding products, shipping, and any points that generally create misunderstanding and confusion (a list of FAQs would be ideal).
• A simple, familiar, and intuitive design with many gimmicks.

You can read this other article on our blog for more tips on creating a site that inspires instant confidence in your visitors. If you have customers located in the EU, make sure that your pages comply with the provisions of the new  Regulation for the protection of personal data.

4. Buying is complicated

Almost 30% of online shoppers stated that the main reason for abandoning the cart is a too long and complicated purchase procedure, so it would be good to check the site’s usability from time to time.

Ask a friend or potential customer to try to buy a product through your site and observe their behavior as they complete the transaction. You might be surprised by the steps he takes and struggles with or the missing details.

We give you some tips to better organize the navigation of your shop:

• tries to reduce the number of pages the user has to view to complete the purchase
• to speed up the process, ask the buyer for only essential information for processing the order and indicate all the other fields of the purchase form as optional
• make sure the refund policy, product exchange, your contact details, and other essential aspects are readily available.

All e-commerce made with Jimdo contains the cart icon in the top right corner of all pages, and the purchase procedure allows you to delete products or change the quantity with a simple click. These tools make it extremely easy for visitors to purchase on your site.

5. Customer support is insufficient

A customer in a boutique can always ask for help from the clerk on duty for reassurance or advice during moments of panic inside a dressing room or even simply to learn more about the material of a garment, the availability in various colors, or the possible discounts.

All this is not possible in the world of virtual trading, and this can generate frustration in the visitors of your e-commerce. The trick is to offer potential buyers, through alternative methods, a level of assistance similar to what they would receive in real life.

Your contact details must always be visible: the good idea is to insert them in the site’s footer, which contains the repeated indications on each page. The presence of a  FAQ section also plays a strategic role: you can answer the most frequently asked questions about shipping costs, conditions of sale, and return policy.

6. Product returns or exchanges are not free

Retail studies have shown that free product returns and exchanges encourage e-commerce users to buy just as much as free shipping or fast delivery.

Letting your potential customers know that you offer free returns and exchanges will drastically decrease your cart abandonment rate. If you think that such a strategy will cause you more headaches than benefits, take a look at some research: a study from the University of Texas-Dallas found that the forecast of a free return no longer resulted in returns or exchanges of products. But it has favored an increase in sales.

If you do not want to offer this possibility-free of charge, establish a product exchange and return procedure for customers that is as simple as possible: send the product in packages on which the valuable return address is already indicated and provide for a significant period within which the return can take place, this also encourages the buyer to keep what was purchased.

7. The store does not prompt the buyer to return

It is of the utmost importance to always consider and not lose sight of the visitors who abandon the cart.

Authentic, they didn’t buy anything, but you must never forget that they still showed some interest in your products.

According to research by SeeWhy, three-quarters of people who change their mind about a purchase are willing to return to the same online store to complete their order, so it’s a great idea to take any means to keep your brand memory alive of your project.

Starting from this new perspective, many entrepreneurs working in the e-commerce sector are beginning to consider cart abandonments as failures or lost opportunities, but rather as a clear signal of curiosity on the part of the consumer. Hence the drive to use emails and messages on the site to convince them to come back to complete the purchase.

Schedule a regular newsletter, providing discounts for special periods or overviews with photos and product descriptions.

Indeed, it is impossible to transform every visitor who visits your site into a reliable and loyal buyer. However, you can do a lot to push a potential customer who is still unsure to make the right decision!