[ASFDesign.com]

The problem of shopping cart abandoning is endemic in xcart, but it doesn’t have to be that way. All you have to do is make it as easy as possible for customers to buy from you.

The techniques bellow might not represent huge changes individually, but when taken together they can double or even triple the total sales volume of an online business. Each improvement represents a slight incremental increase in sales transaction completion. As each technique saves another sale from abandonment, the effect on the business bottom line becomes very noticeable.

Perhaps it’s time to take the lowly shopping cart a bit more seriously after all.

Many xcarts out of the box are not very easy to use. Completing a buying transaction is often a slow, complicated, and illogical process. Only the most determined customers stay with the process to the very end. Unfortunately, the determined ones are in the minority. Those potential buyers who got lost, or simply gave up, represent revenue that just clicked away to someone else’s site.

One of the most obvious shopping cart improvements is to let the customers know, every step of the way, how far along they are in the buying process. Include a progress indicator to prominently display how far along the customer has advanced in the checkout process.

Each step of the way to completion should be clearly numbered. For example, if a customer understands they have reached step three in a five step process, she will be less likely to click away from the purchase. The problem of time concerns and of process length uncertainty are solved, as the buyer knows that only two more steps are required. If a customer knows where they are at all times, the probability of completion improves.

Use Fast Land Checkout or third party modules to indicate the workflow of checkout process.

It’s important for the user to know when and where to click and advance to the next step in the process. Be sure to include a “Next Step” button, or a “Continue With Checkout” button on each page, where they can easily be seen. Be very careful to widely separate the “Remove From Cart” button from the “Continue” button to prevent clicking the wrong one, causing a full or partial emptying of the cart. Such problems of use will almost certainly cause immediate cart abandonment from frustration.

Rename standard xcart buttons. Use different colors for buttons.

Adding to, changing, or removing articles from the shopping cart should be made as easy as possible. For articles available in different colors, sizes, or with any other options, the ability to make changes is especially important.

Be sure to include a link back to the product being purchased. Many customers are uncertain if the often complicated product number is the correct one. Linking the catalogue number back to the product page reassures the buyer that the entered product code matched the desired purchase. Simply knowing that the right item was entered into the order form will reassure the customer.

Adding a thumbnail image of the product to the shopping basket will also improve the rate of completion. While in the middle of the buying process, the potential purchaser has another opportunity to see the product and visualize ownership. The availability of product photos is a powerful completion tool for all shopping carts.

All too often, products are not easy to buy. At first glance, the process would be a simple one, but there are many types of customers, often with widely different needs and requirements. Helping the user to make the right choices often involves listening to their personal preferences.

Provide more than one payment option. Not every customer has credit cards, and many people are very reluctant to provide their credit card information over the Internet.

In my experience, this more depends on the kind of products you sell. If most of your orders are under $100 - online payment methods will suffice. For more expensive products, have phone order as well.

New visitors and first time buyers require special care and ease of purchase. Don’t create difficult registration and log-in requirements. Those procedures will only serve to drive customers away. Do not make registration mandatory, or mask it...
X-Cart makes it look that it it mandatory to have an account...
Instead of having x-cart options "Repeat customer login" and "New customer registration" rename the last one to "New customers"

If you use discount and coupon codes, make sure that a clearly marked box is available, or a specially noted line on the order form is easy to use.

Move discount coupon box to the top of the 1st step of shopping cart page.

Don’t forget to cross sell and offer more available options and choices to purchasers. Such offers are not usually viewed as intrusive, but are often seen as adding convenience. Think of the shoe store offering shoe polish or extra shoelaces to purchasers. Offering additional options works well, as many purchasers neglect to add them all into their order form.
There are plenty of x-cart modules that will make it easy to enable your xcart to cross sell.

As an online business, lacking the face to face advantages offered to brick and mortar companies, it’s essential for the e-commerce business to develop trust in the retailer and customer relationship.

Always make certain that company contact information is readily available, by phone, fax, e-mail, and the postal service. Strong customer service and quick response to questions and concerns will help to ensure current and future sales. Contact information should be clearly marked on every checkout page.

A good idea is to not hide unpleasantries. Be upfront about any additional shipping and handling charges very early in the buying experience. Customers want to know the total purchase price in advance, and will not appreciate an unpleasant surprise near the end of the process. Few things contribute as much to high abandonment rates as failure to inform the customer of additional charges.

Provide a reasonable time for the customer to expect delivery, and beat that date by as much time as possible. The customer will appreciate the unexpected early delivery. The methods of shipment should be clearly marked, along with the charges, right on the order form. Offer more than one means of shipment, as many people have distinct preferences.

If billing and shipping addresses are the same, provide a check box to save the customer from providing the same information twice. The gesture will be appreciated. If any information is missing, provide a useful and easy to follow return page that asks for a specific piece of information. Don’t make the buyer fill out an entire form all over again. Luckily this was fixed in latest x-cart releases. Earlier x-carts have to be modified manually.

Offer a guarantee. If a customer is not satisfied, offer to accept a return of the merchandise and provide a full refund. Offering a “lowest price guarantee” is another option. While a few people will attempt to cheat your system, the vastly increased number of sales, directly resulting from the guarantee, will more than offset that small loss.

I recently wrote an updated article on shopping cart abandonment here.