You’ve done a substantial amount of work, and presumably spent some money to get your prospective customer to your checkout page, and then, inexplicably, they go away without completing the transaction. Studies show that up to 67 percent of shopping carts are abandoned.

Sometimes the reasons are none of your doing: second thoughts, insufficient funds, kids spilling milk all over the rug. We get it. But quite often, it is likely something we’ve either done or not done that leads to shopping cart abandonment. Here are 7 ways to help keep you from creating issues for yourself, while improving your checkout page conversions many times over.

7 Ways to improve checkout page conversions

  1. Free shipping – If at all possible, you need to offer free shipping for any physical product you can. Needless to say if you’re selling tractors, we can fudge some here, but high shipping costs and the lack of perceived value in that are the #1 reason people abandon shopping carts.
  2. Words matter – The text you use on your calls to action and especially any buy buttons must be carefully thought out and tested. It can be the difference between a sale or an exit.
  3. Clutter free forms – Make certain you’re not asking for anything you don’t absolutely need in your shopping cart forms with respect to information. People are only going to give you what’s needed for the transaction, and if you press for more, they’re outa there.
  4. Reassurance works – Trust seals and especially guarantees near the credit card fields make a large difference.
  5. Easy contact information – Give prospective customers a way to contact you if they need more information. This can be an email, phone or webpage.
  6. Images sell – It’s good for a person to see what they’re buying before they pull the trigger. Including a small product image on the checkout page can do the trick.
  7. Live chat – If you find that your product offering is receiving a lot of questions, check your sales copy and consider offering a live chat solution to help. The mere act of connecting with another human may be all the push they need to complete the sale.