Do people have to start the checkout on your website to find out what the shipping cost is going to be?
That’s the question I often ask brand owners when we get to review their Shopify cart page.
Lack of shipping cost on the cart page is one of the things that’s guaranteed to have people start checkout, without the intention of completing it.
If they start at all.
Most people, if tired and frustrated enough from the shopping process so far, just won’t move beyond the cart.
They’ve had enough.
They give up on the information “treasure hunt” and get back to their life.
Well, turns out most brand founders haven’t thought about this, until I show them their cart drop off rate…
So what can you do to prevent that?
Remember the relief you feel when you’ve done an order online?
You are happy that the checkout is over and more importantly, you know everything there is to know about the process — what questions you’ll be asked, how many steps there are in the checkout, how much the product + shipping actually costs…
Well, your goal is to help your visitors get in that satisfied, happy, “thank you page” state on the cart. That’s how you narrow the gap between a “visitor with cart items” and “a customer”.
Provide shipping information on the cart and you will:
- reduce your visitors’ uncertainty — any uncertainty is increasing the mental effort required to jump over the obstacle, in your case tap/click on the “checkout” button
- save them the disappointment — “I’ve spent all that effort to shop and enter my details and now they try to rob me with the shipping!” Surprizes when they see shipping costs bigger than they expected in the middle of the checkout are sure to make them think again if they want to continue checking out. You don’t want that!
- give them time to make up their mind — even if they don’t like the shipping cost, as you are giving them the info earlier, you saved their effort from having to fill-in the checkout fields. This way you’ve saved them valuable energy, that they would have otherwise wasted. With some energy in their “shopping tank” left, they have the resources to pause and justifying in their mind paying for the shipping, instead of “rage quiting” later in the checkout. This means you’ll be saving them effort, which they’ll be thankful of, as most of the sites are still not doing this. Even if you haven’t won them as a customer yet, you haven’t negatively impacted your brand with a poor experience.
If you’ve read this far, you’ll like my guide to discovering missed revenue opportunities on your Shopify store!
I assume you are convinced that providing a delightful, compassionate experience that’s suited to the needs of your visitors is important for (the revenue of) your brand.
Don’t miss out my next customer experience insight post!