Did you know that your eCommerce store is leaking money? Even if your store seems to be going pretty well, there’s always small leaks somewhere. Red Stag Fulfillment have come up with a handy, informative infographic for you to go through to understand exactly how you’re losing money, the impact it has and how you can improve your store to close the gaps. Cheers, Red Stag Fulfillment.
The eCommerce Infographic in Summary
How Are eCommerce Sites Losing Money?
Poor conversion rates are a massive culprit of lost revenue in eCommerce, and they have a significant impact:
- – 84% of online shoppers review at least one social media site before making a purchase
- – Using product videos can increase the product purchases by 144%
- – Inaccessible websites cause a loss of 2.5 million ticket sales annually the UK music industry
Cart Abandonment
Even the most successful online stores experience cart abandonment but there are ways you can avoid it. The impact of cart abandonment is incredibly high. It accounts for the loss of $18 billion in sales each year and according to a 2016 study by the Baymard Institute, 68.63% of customers abandon their online shopping carts. But why?
- High shipping costs
- Poor layout
- Long delivery times
- Distracting visual elements
- No option for a guest checkout
- Complicated checkout process
- Lack of security features
- Hidden fees
Tips On Improving Your UX
Do the following to increase sales and your overall user experience:
- – Shorten forms
- – Look into less expensive or shipping options
- – Simpler checkout processes
- – Promote your site’s security features
- – Use website analytics to figure out at what point customers are leaving
How to Improve Your Conversion Rate
There’s a few helpful tips in the infographic to optimise your conversion rate:
- – Design your site for ease of use
- – Make your website accessible to consumers with certain disabilities
- – Honesty is key – for example if something is out of stock, just tell your customer and let them know you’ll have more soon!
Earn Your Customer’s Trust
Another one of the many ways to optimise conversion is to gain trust from your customer. Ways you can do this are:
- – Point them in the direction of social media recommendations and testimonials
- – Provide a phone number that connects them to a real person
- – Provide them with a privacy policy
- – Use security badges to show them you have a trusted checkout process.
- – Offer multiple payment methods
- – Keep your customers updated by notifying them when the package is shipped and send them a tracking number
Tools to Help Find Out Why Users are Leaving Your Site
Consider some of these options to give you more insight into your site abandonment:
- – Google Analytics
- – Crazyegg
- – Clicktale
- – olark
Handling Your Returns
A lack of return policy could be losing you money. One that benefits you and your customers can become costly. The impact of this is:
- – 30% of products are returned after purchase
- – Returns account for 8.1% of sales for the average retailer
- – 66% of consumers read your return policy before making a decision
- – 81% of them just want a simple and fast return process
How to Improve Your Return Policy
Allow More Time for Returns
By allowing customers more time to return the product, you’re building trust and making them feel more comfortable about their purchases. A lot of companies have made this change and seen increases in sales, including Zappos.com and Coastal.com. As well as the above, Red Stag Fulfillment suggests including a link to your policy at the top and bottom of your website so it’s easily accessed and visible.
Shipping
Customers may just leave your site if they aren’t happy with the delivery time or the cost. The impact of this is as follows: in fact 28% of online shoppers will abandon their cart if the shipping costs are too high.
How to Improve Shipping Costs
- Work With Your Vendors – The less you pay them for shipping the less you can charge your customers. They might offer a 2-5% for advance payment of shipping.
- Negotiate With Shipping Companies – If you’re shipping large amounts you can negotiate with different carriers. Consider using a fulfillment company that offers lower shipping costs, especially for companies with low-mediums shipping volume.
- Use Your Carrier’s Packaging Instead of Your Own – This can save you extra charges for awkward sized boxes.
- Pay for Your Shipping Online – You can save 16% on priority mail orders from USPS and 60% on express mail.
Credit Card Fees
It’s a requirement for online stores to accept credit card payments but they can become costly. the impact of the average credit card fee for an eCommerce store is between 2.3% and 2.5%.
How to Reduce the Costs
When you’re looking for a vendor, make sure you have a full understanding of all the types of fees you may incur when using them. These can include interchange fees and processing fees. The fees will vary depending on if your customers use debit or credit cards. Online stores are considered Card-Not-Present businesses and pay higher interchange fees as a result. Instead, consider using services like Paypal instead of the card processing services that have higher fees.
