Conversion Tip: Understand Why Visitors Abandon Purchases

We continue our series of conversion tips from Charles Nicholls, founder and CEO of SeeWhy, a conversion and cart-abandonment-recovery firm. For this tip, Nicholls addresses the two main causes of abandoned purchases and what they mean to ecommerce merchants.

Charles Nicholls

Charles Nicholls: “A new Forrester study reveals that the top reason why customers abandon shopping carts is the cost of shipping and handling. This is not a surprise. It has been the top reason for years, and it is unlikely
to change unless free shipping becomes widespread. When you consider the
top five reasons why visitors abandon shopping carts together, two
common causes emerge: (1) price (shipping and handling, looking for a
better deal) or (2) because the visitor is not yet ready to buy.

“Understanding this is important when you look at your conversion
numbers. Offering promotions to customers is effective in both
converting price sensitive customers and encouraging those not
quite ready to buy. But because promotions are effective, they can have
a big impact on conversion numbers, and you need to be very aware of
this when looking at any volatility in your website conversion rate.”