After college, throughout my first year as a digital marketing professional, like many who enter the profession immediately after studying marketing in school, I often struggled with separating lessons that I learned from textbooks and countless class lectures—with various on the job tasks that I was presented with on a day-to-day basis.
A particular calamitous mistake I made during that first year, involved my approach towards navigating consumers through the digital sales funnel.
Seamlessly guiding leads through the first 3 stages of the sales funnel came quite naturally to me. However, when it came to converting leads into customers through the 4th stage of the process (getting them to take a desired action), I would rely totally on the lessons I was taught in school; as opposed to utilizing psychological principles.
Which resulted in me making some mistakes that your startup may also be making at the moment.
1. Your website impedes ease
Much like my first year as a digital marketer, if you’re reading this, it’s probably safe to assume that your startup also excels at guiding consumers through the first three stages of the ecommerce sales funnel. Consisting of:
Awareness: Informing consumers that your product exists.
Interest: Creating consumer intrigue.
Decision: Convincing consumers to strongly consider making a purchase.
In spite of this, you’ve noticed that a high rate of potential customers who visit your website often put items in their cart—yet fail to go all the way through with completing their purchase. Don’t fret, the vast majority of ecommerce businesses also encounter this problem.
In fact, a study by Baymard Institute revealed that the average shopping cart abandonment rate for ecommerce websites is a staggering 69.57%. With the primary reason for that being lack of ease.
Things like: Pop-ups, technical issues, no guest checkout feature, and limited payment options on your website—all make it unnecessarily challenging for potential customers to complete their purchase. The way to avoid making the same mistakes that I made during my first year as a digital marketing professional is by keeping in mind that simplicity sells and complication causes consumers to reconsider.
Therefore, it is essential that your website allows its visitors to navigate, select items, and make their purchase as easily as possible.
2. Unexpected shipping costs
It’s happened to all of us before. You walk into a store to buy a particular item with a limited amount of cash on you, only to realize that due to sales tax—the total cost of the item was more than you expected—after already having it rang up at checkout!
Well, shoppers experience that same feeling of frustration and disappointment as soon as they realize that the items they put in their cart on your website and intended to purchase have shipping costs that are higher than what they expected.
To circumvent putting shoppers through that agonizing experience, clearly display any shipping costs on your site’s product pages prior to the checkout process.
3. They found a cheaper option elsewhere
According to a study conducted by US youth cultural agency Archrival, and published by Vogue, 48% of Gen Zers compare the price of an item to its price on Amazon prior to making a purchase.
And with nearly 50% of the demographic searching for more affordable options before finalizing a purchase—unless your brand name is so strong that it makes all alternatives appear inferior to shoppers—there’s a good chance that if potential customers aren’t completing their purchase on your website—it’s because they found a cheaper option elsewhere.
4. They’re not being prompted to make a purchase
If left totally unprovoked, most hesitant shoppers would prefer keeping their cash in their bank account by not making a purchase from your website—rather than decreasing their account by making one. This is why as a marketing professional—psychology is often much more effective than any traditional marketing tactics learned in college.
To persuade hesitant shoppers to complete their purchase after placing items in their cart on your website, use prompts that’ll help them overcome their inclination of loss aversion; by causing just enough tension to make the shopper feel as though they’ll have more to lose by not immediately completing their purchase—than they would otherwise.
For example, studies show that most people are influenced more by the fear of losing something, than by actually obtaining something. As author and sales expert, the late Zig Ziglar stated in his book, Secrets of Closing the Sale, “The fear of loss is greater than the desire for gain.”
A few effective ways to cause enough tension necessary to get shoppers to complete their purchase is by:
Displaying the limited quantity of products on your website.
Clearly expressing discounts are for a limited time only on your website.
Placing timers in clear sight on your checkout page for expiring deals.
As marketers, it is our job to create concepts that'll persuade potential customers to cross the chasm of indecision and take actions that they stand to benefit from—like purchasing your products.
5. They came across a bad review
It’s important to keep in mind that regardless of how much disposable income your target customers may have—most people still have an inclination to look for reasons not to spend their money. And they definitely have an inclination to avoid experiencing buyer’s remorse.
Which would explain why according to a study conducted by Trustpilot, 89% of global consumers check online reviews prior to finalizing a purchase online.
So, be sure to check review sites and social media platforms for negative reviews pertaining to your brand’s products or services and try to rectify any issues with the users who posted them. Those negative reviews could very well be the reason why shoppers aren’t completing their purchases on your startup’s website.
It’s time to increase your startup’s conversion rate
If you found this information valuable and would like further help converting your website’s visitors into ecstatic customers, contact us today to schedule a complimentary client call and explore how Decryption could create a custom marketing strategy for your company that’ll help your startup advance!
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