Q&A with Fred Lizza of Dydacomp

VSM: For those who may not be familiar with Dydacomp can you tell us more about the company?

FL: Dydacomp solves the business process automation and order management needs for small to medium-sized businesses in the areas of eCommerce, catalog, DRTV and traditional point-of-sale businesses worldwide. Since 1986, nearly 10,000 companies have relied on the Multichannel Order Manager (M.O.M.) solution to streamline processes, increase efficiencies and boost revenue in areas such as inventory control, order entry, customer maintenance, credit card processing, list fulfillment, shipping and more.

VSM: Why should eCommerce retailers be concerned about shopping cart abandonment?

FL: Let’s say that a customer stumbled across your website, browsed your merchandise and eagerly added their items to your site’s shopping cart. Another satisfied customer, right?  Not quite. Until a customer has entered their credit card information and confirmed their purchase, there are still several ways the sale, and possibly the customer, can slip away.

A 2010 report by Forrester Research that surveyed online customers found that 88 percent have abandoned their online shopping carts without completing a transaction. The reasons for abandonment were attributed to high shipping costs; total amount was more than expected; shopping cart was used for research; and the checkout process was too complicated.

This leads to significant lost revenue opportunities for online retailers.

VSM: What steps can retailers take to prevent shopping cart abandonment?

FL: There are a number of things retailers can do:

• Incorporate a third-party service to validate your online store and obtain a verified seal of approval.
• Make online coupon codes available on third-party websites that provide consumers with a discount on their whole purchase.
• Consider offering free shipping. If you can’t offer free shipping, make sure to link your order management and fulfillment systems directly to your carrier. This will allow you to provide your customers with the lowest shipping price when they checkout.
• Make your site less noisy. For example, change the color and size of the “Proceed to Checkout” button to make it bolder or remove the side navigation menu on the website. This way, consumers will focus on the products they want to buy, rather than giving them other options to move throughout the site.
• Capture and study shopping abandonment data regularly and test your site to increase conversion percentages from basket to paid order.
• Implement a persistent shopping cart model to allow returning consumers to view the items left in their cart and have the ability to complete the transaction.
• Use retargeting services to put products and offers in front of customers.

VSM: In the event that retailers take all these steps and a shopping cart is still abandoned, what is the next step?

FL: There is no way to completely avoid shopping cart abandonment, but sending emails to online customers that have abandoned their shopping carts can help retailers to minimize lost sales and increase conversion rates.

The most effective emails should be sent within 72 hours of the shopping cart being abandoned, should include a call to action, and a link to the abandoned cart and images of related products for cross-selling and up-selling.