Reconnect with abandoned shopping carts
Summary
Topics
Commentary - For online merchants now is the time to pull out the stops to attract as many holiday shoppers as possible.Recent research from the National Federation of Retailers indicates that 44 percent of consumers age18 and older will shop online for holiday items this year. That’s up from 42.4 percent last year. In factresearching and shopping starts early. In November 73 percent of consumers had started researching theirholiday purchases while 89 percent of those consumers had started their shopping online.(Source: Google/OTXStudy)
Such growth is positive news for online retailers in need of more site visitors. It’s stunning to think thatthe majority of visitors will leave without ever buying anything. We’ve all been there, about to pressthe “purchase” button when something stops us.
According to recent Forrester research, last year 154 million people in the U.S. transacted $155.2 billionin sales online. That comes to just about $1000 each. However many more people abandoned shoppingcarts than completed their purchases.
Another recent study by Forrester indicates that despite improvements in site design and increasedconsumer comfort with online purchasing, 88 percent of Web buyers note that they have abandoned an onlineshopping cart without completing a transaction. This percentage is unchanged compared to five years ago.This suggests that retailers have not yet addressed the primary factors of cart abandonment: frustrationwith the amount of shipping costs, unpreparedness to make a purchase, and a desire to comparison-shopfor a lower price; all natural occurrences within the buying cycle.
Enter Remarketing. Website visitors who have just abandoned a shopping cart are your very bestprospects. After all, they almost purchased – just not quite. With highly targeted advertisements, retailerscan in fact reengage with visitors who leave their site because they aren't ready to purchase. These adscan be specific to the product that they were originally debating, or just a friendly call to action like “FreeShipping” or “10% off.”
Remarketing reaches out to previous visitors of retailers’ sites as they surf elsewhere on the web andprovides incentives for them to return and purchase. In the experience of some of our advertisers,remarketing campaigns can bring phenomenal lift in ad response, up to 400 percent. At the same time it’scurious that a survey we conducted earlier found that Remarketing is considered the most under-utilizedonline marketing technology.
This holiday season let’s hope that retailers recognize this disconnect. Implementing a Remarketingcampaign can be the best way to combat shopping cart abandonment rates this holiday season byconverting those shoppers who remain on the fence.
biography
Daniel Yomtobian is the CEO of Advertise.com, a premier platform for search and displaymarketing that enables advertisers to reach a wider audience through an exclusive network of searchengines and publisher properties.
Talkback Most Recent of 8 Talkback(s)
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RE: Reconnect with abandoned shopping carts
I wonder what percent of those that don't pull the trigger were only curious to see what the "add to cart to see price" price was.
eshelman9th Dec 2010 -
RE: Reconnect with abandoned shopping carts
@eshelman
That is what I was wondering as well. That annoys me when they have those add to cart to see the price deals. I think it was newegg that had a button that said only wanted to see the price and when you click it, it takes it out of the cart.
Loverock Davidson9th Dec 2010 -
RE: Reconnect with abandoned shopping carts
Adding to a shopping cart means nothing. It just means they added to the shopping cart. I do it all the time even though I had no intention on buying the item from that particular retailer.
Fact it, people are thinking too hard about something that doesn't matter whatsoever.
Droid1019th Dec 2010 -
Yea i agree. I would also add that some times you are comparision shopping
@Droid101
By comparision shopping, i mean i have two websites open and i know there are different prices on the same items between the two sites. I want to pack it all in the carts and see what the totals are with shipping.
Sites that have wishlists have got around the whole abandon cart thing by allowing you to save it for later. Marketing to people who have wish lists might be more productive. Just have to walk the line with the emails.
I have a feeling i am going to see a lot more "why are leaving" pop-ups.
Been_Done_Before9th Dec 2010 -
RE: Reconnect with abandoned shopping carts
"This suggests that retailers have not yet addressed the primary factors of cart abandonment: frustration with the amount of shipping costs, unpreparedness to make a purchase, and a desire to comparison-shop for a lower price; all natural occurrences within the buying cycle."
And, frankly, they shouldn't. In the end, it is the consumer's own choice.
"With highly targeted advertisements, "
Eh, no. Show me the shipping price on the front page, list similar products in a non-ad-like way, - but do NOT add to the adfest.
No, the solution is not more ads.
CobraA19th Dec 2010 -
RE: Reconnect with abandoned shopping carts
Any item you click on at Crutchfield, will get you a targeted email of that item, along with a 10% off code.
brianlp10th Dec 2010 -
It's not about advertising
It's not so much about advertising, but providing service to your customers. If they abandoned for another reason besides cost, you're cutting into your margins by sending them an offer. Think about that when building your shopping cart abandonment program.
mghartman10th Dec 2010 -
Customer Service Remarketing Approach
Hi Daniel. Really enjoyed your article.
mghartman, I agree with your point completely.
"It's not so much about advertising, but providing service to your customers. If they abandoned for another reason besides cost, you're cutting into your margins by sending them an offer."
At Leadcall we think we have come up with a solution which relates to this using remarketing through telecommunication. Instead of remarketing to customers through email offers or web advertisements, we transfer the customers enquiry information to a company's call centre, at the time the customer abandons. At the call centre, we provide a clear screen view for the agent to review the customers query in order to prepare themselves to speak to the customer, and when the agent is ready, we connect the agent to the customer via phone at the click of a button.
So as you say. It isn't so much about advertising, but providing superior service to your customers. This approach has proven to work tremendously for clients, particularly in Travel and Insurance, where online transactions can be more tricky. Customers really appreciate a friendly, helpful, non-pushy call from an agent to help them with their online concerns. And the cost of a short phone call is a lot less than the cost of an email remarketing offer incentive e.g We have saved the contents of your shopping cart for a week, buy within that time and get 10% off.
With typical online conversions between 25-40%, you can imagine the sizeable boosts in revenue to be had, plus an added bonus of exceptional customer service.
The majority of our shopping cart abandonment solutions are provided to clients who deal with more complex transactions, that involve a comprehensive process, are expensive etc. But it has the potential to expand across a whole variety of industries, for all kinds of online purchases.
Are you aware of any similar solutions? What are your thoughts on this?
kimshadbolt21st Jan 2011
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