What can we do about customers abandoning their shopping baskets?

By: Andrew Stockwell | June 8th, 2010

As promised here is the follow up to my December blog about why customers abandon their shopping baskets.

Below I’ve given some tactical ideas on how to target and engage with these distinct segments.

Wish List’ers

They spend hours online. They look at every option and test the varieties. They may never buy from a company but they sure will fill their shopping basket up with things they wish they could buy. Offline they are called window shoppers. They are often the young, energetic and underfunded.

For these guys you need to create a sense of real urgency. Make them realise NOW is the time to buy. Limited stock…end of sale…4 hour offers…All help speed these orders through the checkout. Use emails leading with the most appropriate offer to catch the attention of these wish list shoppers who have not yet decided to buy, but want to. They just need the right excuse.

Cash Conscious

They will trawl the internet looking for the best deal. They sign up for offer voucher sites and have an iphone app to scan barcodes to compare grocery costs. These guys helped build the aggregator model and are always looking for ‘the’ bargain.

Make them feel like they are getting an absolute bargain (without it being that major to protect the bottom line) i.e. ‘FREE Delivery’, yes, free delivery that little value exchange which pushes them over the line. Fill your emails with messages about how you are competitive on cost. If you can ‘never be beaten on price’ tell them in your basket abandonment email. And of course always point out the cost benefits of buying online.

Brand Lovers

They love your brand. They would like to work for your company. They respect what you do and how you do it. When on their lunch hour they look at the BBC news and then browse your site for ideas.

No need to mention price. No need to provide any offers. No need to push them. Just tell them how much you appreciate their time and of course their business. Messages should be filled with positive reinforcement about why your company is right for them.

Worriers

They love the idea of buying they just don’t like the responsibility. Every purchase must be considered and justified (potentially to friends and family). And if they do buy they will have a high chance of regretting it soon after.

These orders are hanging on a knife-edge and really all they need is more confidence. Use your abandoned basket emails to reassure them about the quality of your brand. Have a community of experts comment on products and draw attention to company recommendations and reviews. Most importantly let these worriers know they are not being trapped by buying online. Enable them easy access to talk with customer services (for clarification and a quick up sell) by providing well placed phone numbers or on-site support should they have any queries.

The online tool kit we now have to target consumers with is growing all the time, but it is vital that online retailers should be looking more and more at the psychology of shoppers. This should take the form of user experience testing, user needs research, online surveys, ethnographic research and of course behavioural web analytics.

While abandoned baskets will remain a thorn in the side of many online retailers, it’s now more important than ever that we focus on human psychology along with web analytics if we are to increase the share of our customer’s wallet.

Basket abandonment should not be seen as a negative, with the right people and right tools it’s more an opportunity…