so... first day open, well really first weekend and I've got some questions.
Is it normal to have people just leave after they have filled out the shipping info and shipping and discounts info? I'm wondering if I have something set wrong or maybe the security is too high.
Full Version: How Do I Fix A Checkout Problem
Yes, it is normal to have abandoned carts.
Just keep an eye on how many abandoned carts you have. For some sites it's higher than 50%. It sometimes depends on your products as some are more prone to "window shopping" than others.
Have you tried going through the checkout process yourself on different computers and different browsers to see if there are problems? Try IE, FireFox, Netscape, etc., to see if your site has problems with those browsers. For several months our site didn't appear well in FireFox, and I wasn't aware of the problem. (It looked really bad in FireFox.)
Just keep an eye on how many abandoned carts you have. For some sites it's higher than 50%. It sometimes depends on your products as some are more prone to "window shopping" than others.
Have you tried going through the checkout process yourself on different computers and different browsers to see if there are problems? Try IE, FireFox, Netscape, etc., to see if your site has problems with those browsers. For several months our site didn't appear well in FireFox, and I wasn't aware of the problem. (It looked really bad in FireFox.)
QUOTE(bookmark @ Jan 23 2005, 12:48 PM)
Yes, it is normal to have abandoned carts.
Just keep an eye on how many abandoned carts you have. For some sites it's higher than 50%. It sometimes depends on your products as some are more prone to "window shopping" than others.
Have you tried going through the checkout process yourself on different computers and different browsers to see if there are problems? Try IE, FireFox, Netscape, etc., to see if your site has problems with those browsers. For several months our site didn't appear well in FireFox, and I wasn't aware of the problem. (It looked really bad in FireFox.)
[right][snapback]64868[/snapback][/right]
Just keep an eye on how many abandoned carts you have. For some sites it's higher than 50%. It sometimes depends on your products as some are more prone to "window shopping" than others.
Have you tried going through the checkout process yourself on different computers and different browsers to see if there are problems? Try IE, FireFox, Netscape, etc., to see if your site has problems with those browsers. For several months our site didn't appear well in FireFox, and I wasn't aware of the problem. (It looked really bad in FireFox.)
[right][snapback]64868[/snapback][/right]
Well I tried to check out and got the foot, Verisign said my zip is a High Risk zip. Odd for somebody who lives in normal town NJ. I guess I should call them. Just funny getting 100% abandoned carts.
Okay - so it's probably a Verisign problem then.
I went through checkout all the way up to the payment page and then stopped. I didn't actually enter credit card info. Everything was fine.
100% abandoned carts is not good at all.
When we first opened our
store, we decided to accept credit cards online. At our previous host we just collected the information and processed manually. Well, our orders dropped waaaaaay down. Then we discovered that there were gateway problems, and most customers were unable to checkout.
We ended up going back to manual processing - and sales went back up again.
I went through checkout all the way up to the payment page and then stopped. I didn't actually enter credit card info. Everything was fine.
100% abandoned carts is not good at all.
When we first opened our
store, we decided to accept credit cards online. At our previous host we just collected the information and processed manually. Well, our orders dropped waaaaaay down. Then we discovered that there were gateway problems, and most customers were unable to checkout.We ended up going back to manual processing - and sales went back up again.
QUOTE(bookmark @ Jan 23 2005, 01:15 PM)
Okay - so it's probably a Verisign problem then.
I went through checkout all the way up to the payment page and then stopped. I didn't actually enter credit card info. Everything was fine.
100% abandoned carts is not good at all.
When we first opened our store, we decided to accept credit cards online. At our previous host we just collected the information and processed manually. Well, our orders dropped waaaaaay down. Then we discovered that there were gateway problems, and most customers were unable to checkout.
We ended up going back to manual processing - and sales went back up again.
[right][snapback]64875[/snapback][/right]
I went through checkout all the way up to the payment page and then stopped. I didn't actually enter credit card info. Everything was fine.
100% abandoned carts is not good at all.
When we first opened our
store, we decided to accept credit cards online. At our previous host we just collected the information and processed manually. Well, our orders dropped waaaaaay down. Then we discovered that there were gateway problems, and most customers were unable to checkout.We ended up going back to manual processing - and sales went back up again.
[right][snapback]64875[/snapback][/right]
How do you handle processing manually? Do you have customers enter their information and then send them an automatic confirmation, and then contact them later if there's a problem with processing?
I have a huge amount of abandoned carts too, it's REALLY close to 100%
Congrats on the store opening.
The checkout worked fine for me. You might want to check the order on your end. I picked up the new Flight anthology. We met the creators at the Image booth last year at SDCC. I didn't even know it was coming out.
BTW, anything in Previews or buzz on the street about Image bringing out Avigon - Gods and Demons (Gilson and Robinson). It's just 5 years late but I can hope
The checkout worked fine for me. You might want to check the order on your end. I picked up the new Flight anthology. We met the creators at the Image booth last year at SDCC. I didn't even know it was coming out.
BTW, anything in Previews or buzz on the street about Image bringing out Avigon - Gods and Demons (Gilson and Robinson). It's just 5 years late but I can hope
QUOTE
How do you handle processing manually? Do you have customers enter their information and then send them an automatic confirmation, and then contact them later if there's a problem with processing?
I have a huge amount of abandoned carts too, it's REALLY close to 100%
I have a huge amount of abandoned carts too, it's REALLY close to 100%
We also have a bricks and mortar store, so we used to just run the credit cards through the store machine. It does have a separate option for phone/mail orders. Then Visa/MasterCard had a fit over that and made us get another, separate machine to use solely for web orders. Now we have two separate machines with two separate accounts. What a pain.
Anyway, the customers still receive their order confirmation email, and then we contact them if there is a problem. We get a few problems each day, and it's a bit of a pain, but it sure beats not getting any orders!
QUOTE(bookmark @ Jan 23 2005, 03:35 PM)
QUOTE
How do you handle processing manually? Do you have customers enter their information and then send them an automatic confirmation, and then contact them later if there's a problem with processing?
I have a huge amount of abandoned carts too, it's REALLY close to 100%
I have a huge amount of abandoned carts too, it's REALLY close to 100%
We also have a bricks and mortar store, so we used to just run the credit cards through the store machine. It does have a separate option for phone/mail orders. Then Visa/MasterCard had a fit over that and made us get another, separate machine to use solely for web orders. Now we have two separate machines with two separate accounts. What a pain.
Anyway, the customers still receive their order confirmation email, and then we contact them if there is a problem. We get a few problems each day, and it's a bit of a pain, but it sure beats not getting any orders!
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I can process transactions manually through my web admin, So I would set my options to a delayed capture?
and would that mean that my order confirmation would be sent out to the customer as usual?
then I could go back in at the end of the day and process everything by hand?
is that basically it?
Actually, no.
We have custom payment options set up on the site. The sales don't go through the gateway at all.
The customer gets the order confirmation email regardless of payment.
We then process the cards manually and then ship the order if the cards go through okay. If there's a problem, we call the customer. Sometimes they enter their card numbers wrong, or give an expired card number, or the cards are simply declined.
There is no processing online and we don't use a gateway at all.
We have custom payment options set up on the site. The sales don't go through the gateway at all.
The customer gets the order confirmation email regardless of payment.
We then process the cards manually and then ship the order if the cards go through okay. If there's a problem, we call the customer. Sometimes they enter their card numbers wrong, or give an expired card number, or the cards are simply declined.
There is no processing online and we don't use a gateway at all.
QUOTE(bookmark @ Jan 23 2005, 05:15 PM)
Actually, no.
We have custom payment options set up on the site. The sales don't go through the gateway at all.
The customer gets the order confirmation email regardless of payment.
We then process the cards manually and then ship the order if the cards go through okay. If there's a problem, we call the customer. Sometimes they enter their card numbers wrong, or give an expired card number, or the cards are simply declined.
There is no processing online and we don't use a gateway at all.
[right][snapback]64921[/snapback][/right]
We have custom payment options set up on the site. The sales don't go through the gateway at all.
The customer gets the order confirmation email regardless of payment.
We then process the cards manually and then ship the order if the cards go through okay. If there's a problem, we call the customer. Sometimes they enter their card numbers wrong, or give an expired card number, or the cards are simply declined.
There is no processing online and we don't use a gateway at all.
[right][snapback]64921[/snapback][/right]
hmm, i think i'm going to give that a try.....
About the abandoned cart situation:
We used to experiance TONS of dropped carts - of course our product is a high dollar investment($500-$3000), and traditionally a Brick&Mortar only product - so its a shoppers market, but even still we were able to reduce our dropped carts and increase our conversions significantly.
Our (ongoing) efforts to reduce dropped carts include:
1) Informational pages
- how the process works
- shipping info, payment info etc
(this also gives us a URL location to direct email inquiries for 'more info'.)
2)Contact forms
- lets the potential customer obtain information at their convenience and lets you answer at YOUR conveniance
- if you get the same question all the time - then chances are it isn't obvious enough on your site - time to add it to your info pages - more prominantly.
3)Second chance sales/information mining
- I try to follow up on dropped carts as often as possible, many turn in to legitimate sales - again for us spending 15 mins securing a $500-$3000 sale - its worth it
- At the very least I will fire of a form email to that dropped cart customer to help us determine waht the problem was - price, questions, just shopping etc - this helps us know what to do better as a business.
About the credit card thing
We use the information collection/manual input exclusively. The gateway situation is just TOO messy/unstable.
This way we have a record of our customers cc info to make core deposit refunds, warranty or parts upgrades and so oneasier for us AND the customer.
We used to experiance TONS of dropped carts - of course our product is a high dollar investment($500-$3000), and traditionally a Brick&Mortar only product - so its a shoppers market, but even still we were able to reduce our dropped carts and increase our conversions significantly.
Our (ongoing) efforts to reduce dropped carts include:
1) Informational pages
- how the process works
- shipping info, payment info etc
(this also gives us a URL location to direct email inquiries for 'more info'.)
2)Contact forms
- lets the potential customer obtain information at their convenience and lets you answer at YOUR conveniance
- if you get the same question all the time - then chances are it isn't obvious enough on your site - time to add it to your info pages - more prominantly.
3)Second chance sales/information mining
- I try to follow up on dropped carts as often as possible, many turn in to legitimate sales - again for us spending 15 mins securing a $500-$3000 sale - its worth it
- At the very least I will fire of a form email to that dropped cart customer to help us determine waht the problem was - price, questions, just shopping etc - this helps us know what to do better as a business.
About the credit card thing
We use the information collection/manual input exclusively. The gateway situation is just TOO messy/unstable.
This way we have a record of our customers cc info to make core deposit refunds, warranty or parts upgrades and so oneasier for us AND the customer.
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