Breaking Down the Barriers of eCommerce Shopping

Improve Your Customer Experience to Increase Sales

E-commerce is one of the gifts technology has offered to date. People love it. In fact, approximately 8 out of 10 Americans shop online consistently.

And you aren’t surprised — you always knew you weren’t the only one passing time on your commute by surfing Amazon or finding a new pair of shoes at 2:30am while you wait for your kid to fall back asleep. The ability to avoid crowds, commutes, and an extra errand? It’s priceless.

Of course, as an eCommerce business, you love digital shopping for an entirely different reason. It’s your income.

But as amazing as digital shopping may be, there are still some big barriers that deter shoppers and make the checkout process too complicated. Many eCommerce businesses unconsciously allow these shopping barriers to cut into sales and hinder growth.

Thanks to some in-depth studies on eCommerce shopping patterns, we know exactly what these common barriers are — and our team of Shopify Plus pros have some tips on how to overcome them.

We won’t cover the need for mobile optimization. This is such a well-known requirement that we couldn’t possibly say anything that you haven’t heard a thousand times before.

Barrier 1. Shipping Cost

People don’t want to pay extra. So much so, that a whopping 58% of consumers list shipping costs as their primary deterrent from ordering online. People always gravitate to products without shipping fees — even if the end cost on a competitors site works out to be the same as if they’d purchased yours and paid for shipping.

It’s strange psychology. People love free shipping. It’s the secret sauce of Amazon Prime.

How to Overcome It

• Offer free shipping. Keep in mind; you may have to bump up your prices to keep your profit margin. Or, have a minimum order amount before free shipping kicks in.
• Be clear on shipping costs. If you can’t offer free shipping, make sure that you’re clear what the shipping costs will be. Never surprise them last minute with an extra $10 fee as they’re about to push ‘Confirm Order’.

This article from Shopify goes into great detail on how to tailor the shipping cost and experience to keep both your customers and your profit margins happy.

Barrier 2: Inability to experience a product before buying it.

This is a very real issue for shoppers, with a solid 49% of online shoppers citing this as a primary reason they’ll forego the online purchase. Without being able to touch, use, try on or feel a product before the purchase, consumers have a harder time assessing its quality.

How to Overcome It

• Offer plenty of media. Invest in professional product photography and videography. Show your products from a variety of angles, in a variety of settings.
• Be as detailed as possible in your product description. You need to make up for the fact that they can only experience your product visually, so offer thorough descriptions of everything else — feel, smell, taste, etc.
• Social proof. If they see other people are happy with the purchase, they’ll be more confident in their purchase.
• Send them free samples. Prove that what you sell is what they want by allowing them to physically engage with something from your brand.
• Build a relationship. Brand loyalty is not dead. If customers are happy with other products they’ve purchased, they’ll keep coming back for more — and they’ll bring their friends.

Barrier 3: Difficult to Return

This barrier is closely related to Barrier 2 — an inability to interact with the product before purchasing it. Too many businesses have complicated return processes that deter people from taking the risk of a first-time purchase. If they buy the product and they don’t like it, how difficult is it going to be to return the item? Will it be such a hassle they’ll just never get around to it?

Some businesses depend on a complicated return policy to reduce the number of returns they receive — and it works. But it also will reduce the number of your satisfied, return customers.

Difficult return processes increase the risk of the purchase, and this bumps a few more shoppers out of the sales funnel. Knowing returns will be easy will prompt cautious shoppers to take the plunge.

How to Overcome It

• Make it easy. Include return instructions on the receipt or on a package insert. Keep everything simple for them.
• Make it free. ‘Free returns’ is music to any shopper’s ear. If you have to, slightly increase your prices to make it possible.
• Minimize the possibility of returns. Offer as much information in the product description as possible, with plenty of product photography and videos. If they know exactly what they’re buying, they’re less likely to discover it wasn’t what they wanted after all.
• Advertise your return policy. Advertise free returns in a prominent area of your site. This reassures shoppers you stand behind your products and encourages them to take a chance on you.

Shopify has more returns tips here.

Barrier 4: Privacy Concerns

Concern over privacy and data security has been in the news a lot lately, thanks to the Facebook data fiasco and the European Union implementing the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). The concern is hardly new, though. Last year, a study showed that 78% of Americans felt their online privacy and security was a big concern.

How to Overcome It

• Let them know you are compliant with GDPR. You can read about the requirements in more detail here.
• Transparent policies. Make your Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions Policy easy to find and even easier to read.
• Be transparent. Let shoppers know how and why you use cookies and give them a clear opt-in for marketing activities.
• Invest in a professional digital appearance. Nothing says “SCAM” like a poorly built website. Broken links, content errors, shoddy user interface — like the abandoned house on a dead end street, these things are guaranteed to scream, “Run away!” to your prospects.

If you need help redesigning your eCommerce site, we can help you with that.

Barrier 5: Complicated Purchase Process

The eCommerce purchase experience is often way too complicated. People are busy. Lengthy check-out processes are a frustrating waste of time for your customer.

A lack of time is a common thread among most Americans, but this is especially true of parents. And, parents actually make up a sizeable portion of direct-to-consumer purchasers. Eleven percent of US parents shop online daily, and 33% weekly — which is the most reported by any shoppers.

But a busy life and lack of time aren’t traits exclusive to parents, by any means. Twenty percent of all online shoppers admit to shopping while in the bathroom, another 20% shop during their daily commute, and 23% admit to squeezing in shopping time while on the clock.

Time is an issue for everyone, and a complicated purchase process wastes time.

How to Overcome It

• Make the purchase process streamlined. This should be simple and quick. Don’t force new users to create a whole account — just get the basic info you need to complete the purchase. You can collect more data on them later after you’ve wooed them with your fabulous products.
• Save their payment information. An eCommerce store should never make a customer re-enter their information for each transaction especially since so many people shop from their phones. Entering credit card information on a phone is a nightmare. So, better yet….
• Enable Digital Wallet. All it takes is one click, one fingerprint. There are dozens of Digital Wallet options out there, from ApplePay, AndroidPay, and PayPal to bank-specific payment methods, such as WellsFargo and BECU. If you’ve built on Shopify Plus, anyone who has checked out on ANY Shopify site has the option to use their saved payment information for any other Shopify site they purchase from.

Barrier 6: Lengthy Delivery Time

Thanks to Amazon Prime, our expectations for shipping times have been radically cut back. If our purchase is not discovered on our doorsteps within 2–3 days of purchase, we’re nonplussed.

How to Overcome It

• Implement integrations that speed up your shipping processes. The less time it takes from a customer pushing ‘Buy Now’ to the moment that product is shipped out, the better. Integrating your systems will help get products out the door more quickly.
• Utilize order fulfillment services. Like this one, or this one.
• Choose faster delivery options. Large eCommerce businesses can negotiate with shipping companies, like FedEx, for discounted rates on expedited shipping.
• Multiple warehouse locations. Fulfilling orders from multiple locations can reduce your shipping time. Consider partnering with a fulfillment center.

The Bottom Line? Removing These Barriers Will Bag You More Customers.

Whether you’ve got one of these barriers to work through, or all five, we’re here to help you if you need it. Our team at Mammoth Factory specializes in branding and web design and development for eCommerce businesses. Ensuring your customers don’t run into these barriers is part of our expertise.

Get in touch. We’d love to help your eCommerce business Get Big.

Love,

Mammoth Factory