It's the bane of every retailer with an online store—somewhere between adding products to shopping carts and finalizing their purchases, some customers vanish into thin air. According to Brendan Regan at the FutureNow blog, they abandon their carts for various reasons. Here are a few:

• They thought the shipping charges were high. Many people will decide against a purchase if your quote for shipping seems expensive. Regan recommends testing various offers, such as one that alerts shoppers to free delivery if their order reaches a certain dollar value.
• They wanted to comparison shop. "A recent study sponsored by McAfee showed that the average time span between visiting a site and checking out was 34 hours," notes Regan, who suggests giving customers the space they need to make their decision. "If you're sending 'cart recovery' emails inside of 24 hours, you may be really annoying your prospective customers!"
• They couldn’t find their preferred payment option. You might accept every conceivable form of payment, but that won't do you any good if customers don't know it. "When the prospect is in your cart, and wondering about their payment options," he asks, "are you reassuring them at the point of action that you offer BillMeLater, PayPal, etc.?"

The Po!nt: You can't keep every customer from abandoning her cart—but you can reduce the number who do so for preventable reasons.

Source: FutureNow. Click here for the full post.

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