How to Improve E-Commerce Shopping Cart Value?
Do you run an online store? If so, you certainly want customers to shop there as much as possible. Want to know what to do to increase your e-commerce shopping cart value? Keep reading!
For many e-commerce owners generating high-order revenues is probably one of the main business objectives. But what should one do to achieve it? How to improve e-commerce shopping cart value?
Table of Contents:
- How to Make Online Shopping Easier For Customers?
- Methods To Increase Shopping Cart Value
- Improve Your E-commerce Shopping Cart Value
How to Make Online Shopping Easier For Customers?
To make Internet users interested in your online store, you need to ensure its appropriate design. Customers don’t always choose websites that offer products at the lowest prices. The purchasing decision is affected by numerous factors and taking care of these issues and adjusting the store to the expectations of online shoppers guarantee that you’ll achieve satisfactory results.
You should develop an online store that corresponds to the needs of both teenagers and adults.
Check also: The Best E-commerce Platforms Guide created by Crazy Egg to see how your platform corresponds with users’ needs and determine your best options.
UX of an online store
Remember about user experience (UX) which means designing your website in a way that improves customer satisfaction. In real life, it’s about creating a website that meets users’ expectations and provides them with satisfactory solutions. What should you do to develop a page compliant with UX requirements? Focus on the following issues:
- Filtered results – your goal is to make it easy for customers to find the products they’re looking for. This can be achieved by simplifying the search process and introducing a possibility to filter results. Thanks to it, the interested party will be able to choose the minimal and maximal price, brand, product type, and many other options. Of course, filters should match a specific category.
- Appropriately designed menu – it should be divided into categories and subcategories which attract attention and make it easier to find specific products. As an example, the asos.com store has a noteworthy, expanded menu. When moving the cursor over a given keyword, you can see available categories.
- Positive first impression – it’s a factor determining whether the customer will stay on your website for longer and shop in your store. According to ConversionXL, you have only 0,017 of a second to convince an internet user that the design of your website is attractive. Choosing a very unique layout may not be the best idea as many users can perceive it negatively. Stores usually go for both attractive and simple graphic solutions (although in certain industries, such as the fashion one, recipients may expect something more extravagant).
- Shopping cart – it has to include more than just the information that’s inside. It’s crucial to mention current special offers such as free shipping. The store should offer various delivery and payment methods – all of them on one subpage. This is a perfect recipe for shortening the purchase path.
- Possibility to buy as a guest – offers users the possibility to finalize transactions without having to set up an account. On the other hand, account creation should be quick and easy. Encourage users to register by offering a discount for their first purchase but remember to make it possible for people to choose.
- Store footer – this website element should include links to social media or to subpages such as contact, about us, or payment methods.
The UX of a store is affected by numerous factors and you should pay attention to a variety of aspects such as layout or colors of page elements and many, many more. In fact, it’s crucial to constantly test various solutions to see which of them can help you achieve the most satisfactory results.
Methods to Increase Shopping Cart Value
What to do to increase your shopping cart value? You can achieve desired results with the help of various activities such as:
1. Free Shipping Over a Certain Amount
As evidenced by a Deloitte study, 40% of shoppers would order additional products if shipping was free. You can set a certain amount over which the shipping is free. This may encourage users to add the same or other products to their shopping carts in order not to pay for the shipping.
Obviously, the free shipping amount should be possibly reasonable. If it’s very high, it won’t bring you the intended results – a lot depends on the product prices. When reviewing the order, show customers how much more they need to spend to get free delivery. Consider displaying products that are thematically related to the ones in the shopping cart and that guarantee free shipping.
2. Cross-Selling
It’s about offering extra products or services to the customer. Display products ordered by other users who have also decided to buy the same specific items. Another way to achieve your goals is to offer complementary goods, i.e. items that complement each other and are usually bought together. For example, a person inserting pants in the shopping cart may need a belt to go with them. A person ordering a fishing rod may also want to buy a lure, and the one who decided to buy a bike may be looking for a pump.
3. Up-Selling
In this case, you should offer the customer a more expensive product than the one they are interested in. If you sell laptops, then offer an option with an increased amount of RAM. If the customer wants to order dog food, then suggest a bigger package that will cost less per kilogram. Another way is to point out a better multifunctional device for the office. It can be done by comparing products and showing the customer the benefit of choosing the more expensive equipment.
Check out: Cross-selling & up-selling: what to choose?
4. Social Proof
Make it possible for customers to check product reviews. If they’re positive, users may feel encouraged to buy them. Messages such as “this product have been selected by 8 buyers today”, “3 users booked a hotel room” or “someone from New Jersey has just bought this billiard table” may be really effective.
5. Offering the Next Product X% Cheaper
This is an advertising solution frequently advocated by electronics/appliance stores. Customers pay the basic price for the first product and then, the more they buy, the bigger the discount for the cheapest item. In the exemplary screenshot below you can see that the fifth device is offered for free. If the customer was going to buy devices on different sites, thanks to this special offer, they may decide to finalize the transaction at your store.
6. Extra financial solutions
The customer may initially assume that he or she can afford the product, but upon reflection, they may come to the conclusion that it would be better to postpone the purchase. However, if you offer a possibility to pay in installments, some users may decide to finalize transactions. Take a look at the example below – the store offers the option to arrange up to 36 installments with a 0 percent interest rate. Moreover, you don’t need to pay until May 2021. Such conditions may truly meet customers’ expectations.
7. Free gifts
If someone decides to buy a more expensive product from your range, you may add a free gift to the order. Sometimes, if customers notice that you provide free goods over a certain amount, they may consider such a solution to be more cost-effective.
8. Discounts Valid Only a Few Hours
This encourages customers to purchase items that they haven’t even been thinking about when they started browsing the store’s offer. A clock counting down to the end of the special offer, attractive price, and appealing descriptions can tempt website visitors to buy.
9. Social Shopping
Meaning a shared shopping cart. This impressive way involves inviting other people to do the shopping by sending them a link. Then all products chosen by the customers go to one shopping cart. But what are the benefits of such a solution? Let’s assume that a given store offers free shipping of over 100 USD. By shopping together, you can actually spend less and still avoid paying for the delivery.
Improve Your E-commerce Shopping Cart Value!
Before Internet users make up their minds and finalize transactions, they usually insert products into the shopping cart. It’s a highly convenient solution as it allows customers to continue browsing the offer and at the same time save all the products that are of interest to them in the shopping cart. In today’s entry, we’ve discussed the most interesting methods of increasing an average shopping cart value. Do you know any other activities that can bring spectacular results? Don’t forget to share them in the comments below!
It’s funny how from the user perspective those methods are basically all we’re looking for in an e-store to make a comfortable purchase 🙂 Just another proof to put yourself in a users’ shoes first when you want to improve business results!
Definitely! A few months ago I was shopping online and felt so irritated that I don’t have information about the available delivery options and then realized… my own online store doesn’t have it as well 😅 We added this option and I see a slight increase in the number of transactions! Not magic – just addressing user (& my own!) experience.