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Carly Lutz

4 Ways to Increase Cart Conversion with Stronger Logistics

by Carly Lutz
computer checkout screen

Calling all ecommerce Co's...

As the holidays approach, consumers are looking to buy, buy, buy!  However, consumers will not buy, buy, buy from your online store if your shopping cart experience is sub-par.  The fiercely competitive nature of the ecommerce marketplace requires businesses to provide a pleasant, efficient, and streamlined buying process in order to keep online shoppers' attention.  In preparation for the holiday buying frenzy, retailers must ask, how do we prevent consumers from leaving our site to price compare? What can we do to capture their attention at the right moment to reduce cart abandonment?

In short, providing the right shipping options at the right time is essential to driving cart conversions and higher revenue. Why? Because customers value good shipping:

  • 93% of consumers say shipping options are an important factor in their online shopping experience
  • 80% of teens prioritize free shipping and delivery when online shopping
  • 58% of digital shoppers buying from international retailers view high shipping costs as the primary inhibitor to purchase
  • 46% of shoppers abandoned a shopping cart due to what they felt were excessive shipping times

The good news is that there are several ways to improve your shipping process before holiday crunch time.  To ensure that you entice rather than deter online shoppers at the point of checkout, consider taking the following steps:

1. Optimize Shipping Rates:

High shipping costs are a huge deterrent to customers when deciding whether or not to move forward in the checkout process. It is essential to provide dynamic shipping options and ensure that you are passing the best rates and savings on to customers in real-time while they are in the shopping cart.  Whether you are fulfilling in-house or through a 3PL, assure you are optimizing rates and transit times by leveraging an extensive carrier network.  If you are relying on one or only a few carriers, you and your customers are likely paying more for shipping than you need to be.  EasyPost's rate shopping technology programmatically rate shops across carriers in real-time so that your online store and checkout process can determine the best shipping option based on the customer's preferred service level and location. This way, rather than seeing an obscene shipping cost estimation and a far-away estimated delivery date when viewing their shopping cart, online shoppers get a sneak peek of how cheaply and quickly they could receive your product if they just clicked "place order"!

2. Auto-Correct Addresses:

Address entry for billing or shipping information can be tedious for online shoppers.   A frictionless checkout experience becomes even more important in the mobile world, where complex text entry can be another barrier for customer conversion.  EasyPost's address verification technology enables customers to auto-complete, auto-correct or suggest changes for maximum deliverability against our world class database of domestic and international addresses. This results in less stress for the customer, creating a frictionless purchase experience so that they are more likely to complete the checkout process. Address verification technology that is accurate to the unit level depending on country helps you reduce the number of failed deliveries, fostering a more positive experience, especially around the holiday season!

3. Personalize Your Check-out Page:

Personalization is key. Online shoppers need to have a buying experience that is personalized and unique to your website.  Unfortunately, many enterprise technologies, such as ecommerce platforms and mobile apps, are disparate and lack close integrations. For instance, third party payment sites often pull your customer away from your website. EasyPost will aggregate carrier rates, verify addresses, and provide tracking updates that live within your website.  This way, customers receive complete visibility and accuracy along every part of the buying process without being steered away from your website to enter their address or plug in their card information on a different pop-up page.

4. Speed Up Estimated Delivery Dates:

While it is tempting to offer two-day and expedited shipping, many ecommerce companies pay a pretty penny for these faster delivery options.  Fortunately, there are other options to reduce time in transit and make fast delivery a reality without destroying your bottom line. One strategy is to work with a tech-centric fulfillment center that uses sophisticated rating logic.  Working with a fulfillment center that aggregates data from a multitude of carriers ensures that you are optimizing carrier rates, time in transit, and delivery routes. This ultimately empowers your company with the ability to provide customers with the most efficient shipping option and the most accurate delivery estimates in real-time while still in the shopping cart.

Allow shipping to work for your ecommerce business, not against it.  While it may seem strong logistics and supply chain operations only play into your business as a "post-purchase" concern, it is crucial to note the importance of providing competitive shipping options to customers prior to purchase. By building more stable, adaptable integrations and having a tech-centric, reliable logistics solution, you will not only reduce internal shipping costs and error rates, but entice customers with low shipping rates, personalized check-out pages, and faster more accurate delivery estimations.