I’d Buy More But I Can’t Find The *&^%$ Cart!
People routinely abandon web site shopping carts…often because: A. It’s difficult to find relevant info quickly; B. it’s impossible to quickly make changes; C. The site forces them to start all over if they change one element of the order…and those little cart icons can be flat hard to find. (Particularly for us aging Baby Boomers, who have the bulk of discretionary income in this country.)
Brick & Mortar Example: Lowe’s. They’re supposedly more helpful and “woman friendly” than Home Depot. And maybe they are, if you can manage to flag down an employee.
Earlier this week I went to buy a lot of dirt in BIG bags. But, first I had to find a flat-bed cart. I walked up, down, around, out, back in…no carts. And, no employees around to ask. Sooo, I unloaded a cart that was apparently being used for restocking, stuck way at the back…and proceeded to heft about 300 pounds of dirt on the cart. Employees (having magically appeared), intent on their tasks, zipped around me as I was grunting and groaning, And - yep - I would have bought more, but I couldn’t manage two flat-bed carts.
So - in both the real and virtual world:
1. Have carts ready and waiting, all over the place. Have a “buy now” button everywhere you have a product on the web site…don’t make me have to go somewhere else to buy it. The more I click the more likely I’ll abandon my shopping…as I almost did at Lowe’s, but I needed the damned dirt since I was in mid-project.
2. Make it easy to get/find help! If you’ve got an online chat feature, make sure it works and is staffed (At one site I was told everyone was on break and to send an email. Buy-bye!) In the real world, have signs, phones, buttons…and train employees that when they see a customer looking (or groaning) to stop and help. (Really, customers should be more important than sweeping the back room.)
Next trip I’m buying mulch….good thing I’ve got Ibuprofen! 
Tags: customer service, ecommerce, emarketing, Lowe’s, marketing troubleshooting
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May 8th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Hi Mary, I agree that online carts should be “everywhere,” etc. But the main reason *I* abandon them is that the only way I can often get price information is to add items to a cart. If pricing were more readily available, I wouldn’t start loading 80% of the carts I do…
May 8th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Rick,
Good point. Actually, so many ecommerce sites are so bad, I’m amazed they sell anything. I also hate the ones that “pre-populate” the order form for you.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:01 am
I’d be completely devoted to a website that asked me if I knew that the two items I’m buying are incompatible (ie. a phone and a headset that doesn’t work on that phone).
Probably too hard to program for that sort of thing, so quick access to advice would be a good substitute (unless it’s accompanied by a heavy duty sales pitch trying to upsell me).