Factors That Influence Conversion at the Shopping Cart Stage in Magento

If you can get the traffic to your site then you should be able to get the corresponding conversions right? Sadly this isn’t always the case…in fact so many half-completed experiences are racked up daily that it’s a good idea to take a long, hard look at the way you’ve arranged things for conversion at the shopping cart stage in Magento website so that you don’t become a victim of cart abandonment too often.

What is a conversion?
A conversion is the act of carrying out an action to completion such as signing up to a newsletter or in this case, checking out! It’s all very well having visitors fill their carts with goods but if they’re not completing the purchase then something is wrong.

What is going wrong?
The causes are many; sometimes it simply “doesn’t feel right” and this can be due to layout of pages…but most often it’s down to frustration at customers having to sign up or sign in.

It’s one of the prime contenders for factors most guilty of causing cart abandonment has to be a prolonged checkout process. No matter how well designed your shopping experience is up to that point none of it will matter if there’s a break in the smooth functioning of the customer experience.

People forget passwords, they can’t remember which email address they used when they last shopped with you and quite simply they just don’t want the hassle.

Many shoppers feel that as they’re coming to you with their business, the process should be a simple one and they don’t want barriers placed in front of them at every turn.

The best way around this is to offer returning customers a simpler way of dealing with the details. A returning customer log in button is great and so is the option to sign in with social media accounts; you get the extra marketing and they get a simplified process.

Another issue for many people is not knowing how long things are going to take…this is why it’s a good idea to offer a progress bar. Progress bars inform customers where they are in the transaction and they are then able to feel more in control of the situation rather than just being made to blindly hit “next” buttons.

Maintain style
A common mistake in Ecommerce is a design based one; when your site is well balanced and shoppers enjoy a smooth experience as they browse, it can be a shock and a turn-off when they arrive at checkout only to find a big change in style and even font.

Keep things smooth by ensuring that your checkout is similar in style to the rest of your storefront. People don’t like it when things suddenly alter; it arouses their suspicions and many will simply abandon cart.

Getting people onto your site is one hurdle but keeping them there long enough to checkout is another. The art of maintaining interest and making conversions is one which requires constant management; things change, they morph and your customer base doesn’t stay the same.

Using analytics to keep an eye on things and noticing where the problems are occurring will help you to keep making those all-important conversions happen.