BEST WAYS OF RECOVERING SHOPPING CARTS
Can you imagine the chaos if every second shopper at your local grocery store abandoned their full cart at the checkout counter. But that’s exactly what’s happening in the online retail environment.
Various studies have been done which show that the percentage of online shopping sessions that are abandoned is anything from twenty to seventy five per cent. The reasons for abandonment are many and varied, but unless online retailers address the issues, they will continue to lose out on a fortune of potential sales.
The solution is two-fold.Online retailers firstly need to ascertain the reasons for the high rate of abandonment and then plan a way forward to deal with the problems.Sounds simple, but it’s not.It’s a complex process with customer needs ever-changing and technology evolving rapidly.It’s important that your web design company keeps abreast of any changing e-commerce technology and processes.
Some of the main reasons for shopping cart abandonment are :
* Comparison shopping
* Indecision and confusion
• Insufficient funds
* HIgh shipping costs
* Products unavailable at checkout
• Lengthy and complicated checkout process
* Not keen to disclose any personal information
* Perception that customer support isn’t satisfactory
* Concerns about security
To increase the rate of conversion, the site should be looked at from the client’s side.what often happens is that e-commerce sites are designed the wrong way around – from the inside out, not outside in.The same rule that the customer is king applies in the real world and the virtual world.
Dale Carter, MD of Perth web design company, GTP iCommerce, has some guidelines for sealing the deal. “The ecommerce interface has to be consistent with the design of the homepage, otherwise it will undermine the site’s credibility.Streamline and simplify the whole process whilst also taking away the need for unnecessary collection of data.Buyer frustration is directly linked to the speed of the transaction, so it is vital to get that right.According to studies, around 41% of shoppers will abandon their cart because check-out is taking too long, and that an average shopper will only wait 10 seconds to download a site.It’s important not to have any hidden costs, and to be totally upfront with the cost of shipping etc. as well avoid banner ads or other distractions.
“Ensure you’ve got the basics of web design covered.The basic elements of design such as colour, layout, navigation and links are in fact, often undervalued.It’s important to have a site that can be navigated quickly and easily, with customer support that is easily accessible and visible security protection.Online retailers should consider inserting a currency converter too.”
Some of the problems and solutions can be worked on, is there a way to recover carts that have already been abandoned ?”No doubt,” says Carter.”Customer data such as email addresses and telephone numbers should be collected during the initial order stages.An immediate, automated response can then be sent to the shopper if they abandon their cart so as to enourage them to return.”
Professional web design combined with careful e-commerce processes will help close the deal and clear the mounting piles of abandoned shopping carts.
GET INTO THE DRIVING SEAT WITH SEO
What would we do without search engines.There is no denying that search engines are unbelievably powerful resources for everyone, from the man-in-the-street finding somewhere to have his camera repaired to a scientist searching for a cure for cancer.Search engines can also be used as a powerful marketing tool for an organisation’s website.
The most well-known search engine in the world, Google, started in 1997 as a search engine called ‘BackRub’ set up by two friends from Stanford Univesity, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.They took the name from the word ‘googol’ which is the mathematical term for the number 1 to the power of 100, because it was an apt descriptor of their system’s search capability. How right they were!
AOL research shows that a page1, position 1 ranking can deliver up to fourteen times more traffic than a position 10 ranking. Similarly, the iProspect Search Engine User Behaviour study (2006) showed that 62% of searchers will click on a first page link of search engine results. For any business, achieving a position one, page one ranking on search engines is the ultimate marketing prize. And that can be achieved through appropriate web design and search engine optimisation (SEO).
Search engine optimisation is the process through which high rankings in the free listing sections of search engines including Google, Yahoo and MSN are achieved.Essentially, SEO is driving website traffic to a particular website to achieve high rankings in search engines by building links to the website.The number of links is built up by establishing links internally within the website itself as well as external page links.
Appointing a well-established web design company is the first step to making the most of SEO opportunities.The environment is in a constant state of flux and extremely complex, so success is not instantaneous.The success of an SEO strategy lies in careful planning, implementation and evaluation.
GTP iCommerce has built a reputation as a leading Perth web design company which has proven success in SEO.Over the years, GTP has fine-tuned its SEO process that includes areas such as marketing objectives, market segmentation, keyword analysis and research, SEO copywriting, link building, traffic analysis and ongoing review.
MD of GTP iCommerce web design in Perth, Dale Carter, says identifying and targeting the best keywords and phrases used to search for a particular business is one of the most crucial aspects of an SEO programme. “It is surprising how many organizations don’t do this properly.Once the site has been designed and coded with the best keywords to make it search-engine friendly, it is important to then build links from other websites back to the original site. Websites gain traffic through these links, plus Google also recognizes these links in a positive way when it works out the rankings.It is important to build as many links as possible because Google uses a complex algorithm to rank sites,” he added.
A whole host of opportunities exist for building links from reciprocal links with other websites, links with web resources such as news feeds, newsletters, blogs, articles and downloads.
GTP iCommerce web design guarantees a page one search engine ranking for its clients’ websites using its proven search engine optimisation strategies. Now that’s better than a backrub!