With the startling statistic that the average checkout abandonment rate is currently 67.4%, it is clear the vast majority on e-commerce businesses are getting it wrong and losing vital business at the checkout stage.

While an online business may input a large amount of their business budget into building healthy traffic to their website and into the actual design of the website itself, in the fickle work of e-commerce that is not enough; every aspect of an online e-commerce site must be faultless from the landing on the homepage through to the payment process.

The e-commerce landscape is highly competitive, most businesses now have some sort of online presence and are vying for consumer’s attention. Competitors are a mere click away so it is vital if you have managed to successfully attract visitors to your website, that they stay, add products to their cart, and process to the payment stage.

While it is reported that 16% of online shoppers who add products to their cart are merely window shopping, the remaining % of consumers can be easily persuaded to progress to payment if the layout of the checkout is simple, quick, and efficient and if all the information is there, such as customer reviews, return information, accurate product descriptions and product videos.

Vouchercloud.net have collated the latest industry statistics to provide an insight into consumer behaviour and their interaction with e-commerce checkouts. The statistics indicate just how important each aspect of the checkout is and how it can affect consumer drop off rates.

Ecommerce Consumer Checkouts & Payment Gateways Reducing Shopping Cart Abandonment

Consumer Psychology

THE E-Commerce Checkout
The statistics and habits behind shoppers clicks.

SITE SPEED
After waiting 3 seconds…

• 57% of online consumers will abandon a site.
• 80% of these consumers will never return

E-COMMERCE DESIGN
General design: Products are assessed within 90 seconds and a quick initial judgment is made whether to make a purchase or not.

• 92.6% of peopte said that the visuals are the top influential factor affecting a purchase decision.

Product Imagery and Videos: Offering multiple product views and other alternative images Lead to 58% more web sales.

Reason for Return:

• 25% cited It’s important to have accurate product images.

• 31% bought the product after being influenced by the video.
• 1 in 2 customers have more confidence in a product after watching an online video.

Attitudes toward online product videos according to US internet users 2011 & 2012

More confident when I watch a product video in advance of making a purchase online and therefore less likely to return that product
• 2011 52%
• 2012 57%

Willing to stay on a website longer because the retailer or brand manufacturer makes product videos available to me
• 2011 45%
• 2012 52%

More Rely to return to a retailer who integrates video into their website experience.
• 2011 41%
• 2012 45%

Purchase more products on websites that allow me to learn about products via video.
• 2011 37%
• 2012 44%

Product Reviews
• 85% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses before making a purchase. Of those 79% trust the reviews as much as a personal recommendation.
• 67% of consumer read 6 reviews or less before they feel they can trust a business enough to make a purchase.

Checkout abandonment statistics
• 67.4% Average checkout abandonment rate is average rate of checkout abandonment from 22 different studies.

Why did they abandon?
A research study conducted polled over 1,200 online users, asking why they would abandon an order when shopping online.

• 41% Hidden charges at the checkout
• 29% Having to register before buying
• 11% Unclear delivery details
• 10% Lengthy Checkout Process
• 8% Phone number not provided en website
• 1% Other

Why the lengthy checkout process?

1. 5.08 steps is the average length of a checkout process among the top 100 grossing e-commerce sites.
• E-commerce checkouts should have no more than 5 steps maximum.
2. 50% of E-commerce websites will ask for the same information twice.

Registration

• 24% require account registration.

+ AS0S halved checkout abandonment rate by adding a guest checkout option (2011).

Categorization of those who abandon their cart:

• 42% of customers are ‘vague’ consumers – those that need more Information (from customer reviews etc).
• 42% are ‘cost conscious’ who want to shop around for better prices
• 16% are window shoppers’ who have no intention of making a purchase and are just looking.

Men are more likely to abandon their cart.
Ages 25-44 are the worst offenders, when it comes to giving up on a purchase.

Newsletters: 81% of online retailers assume their newsletter is a must have (box pre-checked).

• 40% of consumers do not want to recieve newsletters which is why many hate signing up for an account.
• 32% of online retailers will not inform their consumers they are being automatically added to the newsletter subscription.

Tips:

• Clear call to action buttons – help guide consumers through the process making the next/continue/proceed buttons a clear size and color.
• Show checkout progress bar so consumers know how far into the order process they are.
• Simplicity – keep the checkout design clear and concise so consumers don’t become distracted. K.I.S.S.
• Allow customers tosses back button to make amendments to their order

COUPONS AND DEALS
US adult digital coupon users:
• Adult Internet users
• Adult digital coupon users

This year, more than half of US adult internet users will redeem a digital coupon via any device for either online or offline shopping.

Note: Ages 18+, internet users who redeemed a digital coupon/code via any device for online or offline shopping at least once during the calendar year: includes group buying coupons.

DISCOUNT CODE

57% who used a coupon code said that if they had not received the discount, they would not have bought the item(s).

4% Coupons can increase customer satisfaction (4% rise in satisfaction rate)

SHIPPING
59% consumers say they consider shipping costs when making online purchase decisions

Cost of shipping:

44% abandon cart due to high shipping costs
53% that say low-cost shipping is a reason to switch online retailers

Same day delivery:

24% Important
76% Not important

PAYMENT AND SECURITY

MasterCard
DISCOVER
AMERICAN EXPRESS
VISA
Cirrus
PayPal

More than 80% of consumers feel safer seeing trustworthy card logos prominently displayed within an online store.

Payment options:
40% of respondents would have more confidence in an online shop that had more than one payment method.
59% will abandon a transaction if their preferred payment method is not in place.

Most popular payment gateways:
1. PayPal processes 60% of total web transactions making it the most popular payment gateway.
2. Authorize.net
3. USA ePay