Understand how the shopping cart can hinder conversion

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The shopping cart is a common tool in most e-commerces. However, what few people know or have not really evaluated is its real effectiveness. But is the shopping cart really the best solution for your business?

In order to answer this question, we need to go back a little. To the purchasing process. When the customer accesses your store. There are many items to choose from. But what now? The wide variety of items and, especially, the generic information can make the search difficult and time-consuming. The customer may get tired of the descriptions and will still have to fill out several forms to complete the purchase and…. Sale not completed.

We know it sounds controversial, but what we have shown in this cyprus phone number database and this post is how much the shopping cart hinders conversion. And now we want to reinforce this!

So, if you were having trouble implementing a shopping cart for your online store or if you are looking for alternatives to sell online without using a shopping cart, your problems will come to an end!

Shopping cart abandonment
woman shopping online and shopping cart rejectedFirst of all, imagine the following situation: you want to buy a new pair of sneakers. You also exercise daily. Therefore, you need a new pair of sneakers urgently.

When browsing a store, you search through thousands of options and brands within your desired price range. You check consumer reviews and analyze the website’s reputation. Finally, you find the ideal model and click “add to shopping cart”.

Then, you see a bunch of other cool stuff. You waste some precious time and decide to make the purchase. At that moment, you realize that you will have to register on several pages. With a different password. You register. You go back to the cart. You check the information. You fill in the payment details. You review everything. Again. When one of these pages is loading... the dreaded “processing error” message appears.

Or, when you decide to make a purchase and calculate the shipping cost and delivery time, you realize that you have to pay a lot for the shipping cost. And then you have to wait a month to receive the order.

If you've ever been in a situation like this, you know it's frustrating, to say the least, don't you agree?

Now imagine this problem on a larger scale. Imagine your customers going through a similar situation. Your conversion rate would probably decrease, right?

Reasons for abandoning purchases
According to a survey conducted by Forrester Research, 50% of e-commerce sites worldwide have a cart abandonment rate of over 50%. In Brazil, a survey by Ve Interactive revealed an abandonment rate of over 80%, alarmingly reducing the conversion rate of online stores.

There are many factors that lead to shopping cart abandonment. Some of them include:

Shopping carts with pages that take a long time to load. A confusing and error-ridden sales closing process generates the majority of abandonments because it does not convey any credibility or security.
Shopping carts with non-responsive pages. In other words, they are not prepared to be accessed and viewed via mobile devices.
A shopping cart that requires registration before closing the sale. Even a small registration can become an obstacle for the customer to continue the purchase. Especially if it is difficult to fill out the form on smartphones and tablets.
Mandatory registration process. Long, bureaucratic and time-consuming. People don't have time to waste. If they find themselves needing to fill out huge forms, they'll stop where they are and look for another site that can serve them more quickly.
Demands for highly structured passwords. Many e-commerce sites require passwords with a minimum number of characters, including letters, numbers and special characters. In addition, they also suggest entering a system-generated password or choosing a correct image to “prove that you are not a robot”. Be patient!
Some obstacles to using the shopping cart
First of all, your website’s shopping cart needs to load quickly, with a minimum number of pages and registration data. Otherwise, the purchase process can be so slow and tedious that even the most anxious users will open several different navigation pages.

News. Social media. Videos. These distractions can lead to people completely forgetting about their shopping cart. When they return, the page may have expired. The customer would have to go through the search or registration process again, causing them to give up on the purchase.

Many shopping carts also tend to generate errors during the checkout process, thus creating conversion errors. Either due to security flaws or page loading errors. When the page returns to work, sometimes there is no record of the items in the cart. This means that the customer will have to search for items again – which they certainly won't do!

In some cases, payment methods can only be viewed at the end of the entire process. Depending on the customer's expectations, they may stop purchasing because they cannot pay in the way they imagined.

The same goes for shipping costs, which can only be calculated at the end and can be another reason for people to cancel their purchase. After all, it is extremely frustrating to want to buy a product, but be surprised by the high shipping cost. Delivery time is another item that may only appear at the end of the shopping cart process. And if the delivery time is longer than expected, it can also cause people to cancel their purchase.

Time to rethink? Not anymore!
Another important aspect of the shopping cart is its closing. The customer has placed a series of products in the cart but decides to make a final reevaluation. With the items listed, the customer has another chance to reconsider the purchase and not make it or even reduce the number of items.

We know that the purchasing process is more of an emotional than a rational one. When we list items and show someone the calculations, we activate our rational side. Do we really need that product or is it just a superfluous item? This mental battle between reason and emotion can make the customer start to reflect on the real need for the products and the price they will pay.

And the worst shopping cart hurdle of all: when the customer goes through the entire long and tiring process and then receives a message saying that one of the items is out of stock and cannot be shipped. It is likely that if this situation happens more than once, your customer will give up on your brand and your products for good.

How to sell without a shopping cart
woman with bags shopping onlineIf you've read this far, you've already realized that the shopping cart can be an obstacle to sales conversion. So, how do you create an online store without a shopping cart?

One of the best options is to create direct sales pages for a single product or a product combo . A high-converting sales page must be written persuasively, meet the needs and provide solutions to the customer's problems. And often there is no exit option other than closing the browser or making the purchase.

Sales Page
On this sales page, the customer has access to as much information as possible about the product. Detailed information. Explanatory videos. Description of benefits. Competitor differences. Contact methods. Shipping calculation. Time for dispatch and delivery, price and payment methods are some examples.

Basically, the sales page generates more engagement and perceived value for the customer. The sale is the last step. Made with just one click, the page will take you directly to a link containing basic information and payment methods. Everything is easy. Fast. No bureaucracy. After all, third-party payment pages such as Hotmart, PagSeguro, PayPal, BCash, PicPay, for example, are secure and contain the information necessary to carry out the transaction.

If the person has read the entire sales page and decided to make the purchase, they will make the payment later and receive their product. No registration. No multiple clicks or multiple pages to load.

In addition, the sales page containing relevant information “filters” the curious on duty, keeping only those who are truly interested connected and willing to proceed with the purchase. There are no surprises regarding prices, shipping and payment methods, as everything is detailed on the sales page.

It is also possible to sell without having an online store. To do this, simply make the offer on your website, blog, WhatsApp group, advertisement or post, which will send the interested party directly to the sales page.

Importance of contact information
Your customers must feel safe when accessing your online store. Therefore, your contact information must always be accessible. It is also important to have a channel for asking questions or leaving comments. These channels will create a connection with your customers, providing security and eliminating objections, which makes it easier to close the sale for those who are undecided.

And if you need more customer data and information, just request it later. A good way to enrich your database is to use surveys and special offers for buyers, such as loyalty and discount cards, for example.

For loyal customers, offer the possibility of purchasing with just one click, with their bank or credit card details already registered on your payment platform.

Everything is designed to make the process easier and make purchasing quick, simple and natural. As we said before, an easy purchasing process can even become a differentiator between your business or product and your competitors. Think about it!

To conclude…
man closing purchase in online store using cell phoneIf you believed that you had to have an online store with a shopping cart and were racking your brains to optimize the closing process and reduce dropouts, you know that you can bet on another form of online sales to obtain much better results with much less effort.

In this sense, the consumer's experience during the decision-making process is what largely defines customer satisfaction and loyalty. The customer must be the center of your attention.

So, start building your responsive and persuasive sales pages now to attract and convince leads about everything your product can offer. In addition, you can also create and offer combos of more than one product for different prices.