Conquering the Abandoned Cart

As a successful online retailer it’s second nature to see sales roll through your store, but the frustration of even a single abandoned cart never really goes away. That is unless you understand why it happens and employ tactics to convert them to sales.

 

Close to 67% percent of shopping carts are abandoned and this percentage has been going up every year since online shopping was possible. The reasons why abandoned carts happen have not changed much but the ability to address the problems head-on has.

 

Problem #1: Unclear or High Shipping Costs

 

Every single person out there is looking to try and save money on shipping. No one wants to show off their new item only to find out they paid twice the shipping cost – it’s like walking into a store and asking for a mark UP at the register.

 

Solution: Tell them early, often and be transparent.

 

  1. Australia Post – If you want to do shipping cost by the book then link your cart directly to real time AusPOST shipping costs. No games or great mysteries here because they can price check it directly on the AusPOST website – everyone wins.

  2. Flat rate shipping – You should have your shipping costs and margins down to a science by now but maybe you need flexibility AUSPost does not offer. Switching to a clear, concise rate structure by # of items or weight will allow you to incentivise a higher spend for better shipping rates.

  3. Free shipping – a massive winner so if it’s practical then do it. You can make everything free by adding a standard shipping cost into the price or set simple conditions to qualify and then make sure to remind them of those conditions on every page of your website, by using the word FREE.

 

Problem #2: Not Having the Right Payment Options

 

Having built hundreds of shopping carts ourselves we understand that the payment methods that work for your organisation may not be the ones that customers prefer. But the good news is we’ve come a long way since Paypal as a single option and new options spring up every month, you need to start nimble.

 

Solution: Provide 2-3 options, track what’s most popular on your site and re-evaluate every 12 months.

 

  1. Stripe – Imagine setting up an account in 10 minutes or less that allows you to process credit card payments right on your checkout page (SSL required). This is what you get with Stripe, in addition to removing sales friction from page-directs or extra account setups just to make a payment. It’s easy, seamless and it just works.

  2. Paypal – Still the golden, international standard for online payment processing and we still recommend it as a solid choice for accepting credit card payments. If your clients are also regular eBay shoppers will give them the comfort they need to convert the sale.

  3. Bank Merchant Account – With Stripe and Paypal you still don’t get direct access to your cash until it’s in your bank account. Setting up a merchant account with your bank and processing payments directly into your bank account makes money management easier. Most of the big banks offer this facility, it’s up to you to negotiate the fees associated with your merchant account.

  4. Layby – In the last 12 months multiple online layby options have sprung forth. End customers are really loving this, the immediacy of getting something now and paying for it over time. Zippay and Afterpay are the most popular choices but you need to check the fine print and make sure your preferred layby option will talk to your eCommerce system.

 

Problem #3: They Aren’t Ready to Buy Yet

 

Almost no one goes to a website once, adds a product to cart and checkouts straight away. They compare prices, look at other comparable products and check customer reviews on your products and business. You know this already, so accept it and start building a more memorable customer experience.

 

Solution: Make customers feel respected and supported.

 

  1. Wish Lists – They know you value their money, but have you shown them you value their time? Let customers continue the shopping journey instead of restarting with a Wish List. In return you get an email address and the chance to follow them up and sweeten the deal with marketing automation. If they are serious shoppers they will remember you for saving them time.

  2. Customer Support – All shopping carts being equal, this is where you can really set your experience apart. If your products have some complexity, can they live chat with someone about their questions? Better yet are you using intelligence automation to engage customers and provide answers and reassurance 24/7?

 

It’s easy to get caught up in the moment when shopping carts get dumped, spending too much time on the problem and not the solution.

If you are addressing these top 3 concerns thoughtfully, effectively and with regularity then you’re turning frustration into knowledge and tactics that will help you conquer the challenge of the abandoned cart.

Why You Shouldn’t Rule Out eCommerce for Your Business

Ecommerce is an invaluable tool for any business. Not only does it reduce, or completely eliminate, overheads associated with a physical storefront, it also creates an entirely new customer base through national and international shipping. With an online store at your fingertips, customers from all over the world can purchase your products at the click of a button. The possibilities are endless, and open to every type of business imaginable.

All you need is a website, a product, and the right mindset to present it to the world. It’s time to embrace thinking outside the box and start putting round pegs into square holes. Think differently is what we’re are saying!

 

BUT MY PRODUCTS ARE TOO BULKY TO SHIP!

 

If you sell bulky products such as fridges, furniture or exercise equipment you may be tempted to forgo ecommerce due to the various challenges associated with shipping them. Due to their size, such items cannot be posted by regular means and must generally either be hand delivered by your business, or sent via courier. Both options are entirely feasible and utilised by countless online businesses to great effect.

 

Websites such as Appliances Online offer free delivery of fridges and other large appliances to their customers by dispatching their own trucks from their warehouse. Obviously this isn’t an option for everyone so websites like Gym and Fitness ship fitness equipment to customers and charge for delivery based on the postcode of the buyer.

 

If you’re worried about charging for delivery, don’t be. Customers who purchase products online are generally prepared to pay for reasonable shipping – it’s all part of the experience, and the trade-off for being able to shop from the comfort of your couch.

Of course, there are always more creative methods such as factoring the cost of shipping into the total cost of the product itself.

 

MY PRODUCTS ARE TOO UNIQUE / CUSTOMISABLE TO SELL ONLINE

 

The uniqueness or customisability of your product should never be a barrier to utilising the advantages of ecommerce. While it can present a problem for instant purchasing, there are many ways this can be positively presented through an online business. For example, take a look at RedBubble, a website that prides itself on selling unique, customisable products. From T-shirts to posters and home décor the options are endless, and most allow the customer to customise the item to their preferred taste. Posters, for example, have multiple prints, sizes and materials to choose from. Other examples include Spread Shirt, which allows the customer to create custom clothing and Pimp My Fridge for customisable fridges.

 

Alternatively, if your product has too many options to realistically list, you can provide a price range and then offer the customer direct communication through an email form or phone number, to enquire further. Using an ecommerce store front as a lead generation tool is a clever way to upsell your products too.

 

WHAT IF I DON’T SELL A PHYSICAL PRODUCT?

 

This is no obstacle. When it comes to online shopping, services are products – it’s just a matter of how you package them. Services can be displayed and purchased like any physical product; the only difference is what the customer receives. In fact, services have multiple advantages over physical products. They have no manufacturing costs, they don’t need to be stockpiled or ordered and they don’t require shipping. You have complete control. You can offer as much, or as little, in each package as you like.

 

Websites that utilise this to great effect sell services such as content for everyday things like LinkedIn bios, legal services, and streamed movies and TV shows.

 

Whether you sell bulky objects, unique and customisable products, or intangible services, ecommerce can help you do it. The options are infinite and the only limitations are the ones you impose on yourself.

In Passionate Defense of Point of Sale

WK Digital is passionate about point of sale – kinda weird huh? Well not really when you consider its the thing that keeps all your customer purchases, staff and profit in check every damn day.

#onlinePOS

We build online point of sale software, what does that even mean? Well principally its your own customised website that processes online orders as efficiently as if your customer was in store.

#hardwarevendors

Sometimes our software is used in replacement of hardware based point of sale, for some it makes sense. But we’re not hardware vendors, our partners are.

#beautifulcatherding

9 times out of 10 what business owners are looking for is a great point of sale system that does in store what can be described as the most beautifully choreographed cat herding exercise every damn day.

#ohyeahnailedit

Minus pepperoni on the meatlovers half of your extra large pizza? Chicken schnitzel in the front kitchen made first before the lamb wrap in the deli for the same order? Need a shirt send from another store? In store POS systems have you covered.

#takeyourmumtothedoctor

Even better, these systems give you a real time view of profits based on orders less staff and other operational costs, to your phone while you’re taking your mum to the doctor.

#nowhingies

POS systems = control and the ability to make fast decisions. Slow day on a public holiday, losing money? Shut the shop early based on the information, not a whingy staff member.

#nottooexpensive

The feedback we get, is that in store POS systems are too expensive. And maybe some of them are, but speaking to most of our industry brethren they’ve adjusted pricing to give you options – so hear them out.

#dumbfridges

And we know your other equipment costs money, but your fridge can’t tell you (yet) whether you’re making money. So invest in something that does.

#antihassle

We have our favourite POS vendors sure, but only based on a mutual desire to see clients get the very best service for the very best price and the least amount of hassle.

#webposhandsbloodyfree

The best part is, if you’ve invested in a good system then getting a website to boost your profits is easy with WebPOS. We set it up and then we send the orders to your POS, just like now. You update product information on your POS, the site is updated at the same time, no extra work. Hands bloody free.

#everydamnday

So in 2016 technology and information has made it easier to own and build businesses, but without a software system that controls your operation you’ll just keep wishing you had one, every damn day.

FROLO Explained

There has been significant upheaval in the restaurant online ordering space in the last 12 months, companies have merged, companies have been bought out for hundreds of millions of dollars and some have gone out of business.

We can’t predict exactly what will happen to aggregated online ordering sites but we can explain a new phrase, FROLO, that has popped up.

FROLO stands for free restaurant online ordering and that in itself sounds pretty good, who doesn’t love free?

Please read the fine print though because what FROLO vendors offer is not free. You pay to build your own online ordering website and you have a flat monthly support cost to host the website.

This is the nature of all websites, pay for the expertise to have your site built and then while you are happy with the service continue to pay for your website to be hosted, supported and secured.

The “free” part of FROLO is that no commission is charged for each order, and that is a great idea. In fact its such a great idea we thought of it back in 2008 and have been building and hosting restaurant online ordering sites since then, NEVER charging a commission on sales.

The online ordering industry is ripe for a shakeup and we think this will be good for restaurant owners across Australia. We will continue building custom, feature-packed online ordering websites that never tax your profits – how good is that?’,

3 Keys to Successful Software Integration

We get a kick out of making our customers lives easier through websites and software that just works. Ultimately the biggest bang for buck for our customers is in software integration…but what does that mean?

In a nutshell its taking one piece of software and getting it to talk successfully to another piece of software to save manually transferring information that businesses need for daily operation.

Think automatic transfer and syncing of your online sales to your accounting software or your newsletter subscribers to your email marketing program, these are good examples of time savers for busy people and the list of integrations is endless.

Your website provider should be talking to you about how you can save time and money through integration, but before you get their help here are three important keys to successful software integration.

1. It should be cost-effective – get ready to think about the time cost of manual data entry versus the effort to integrate. No one has an unlimited budget so have an approximate idea of the time you are spending on that manual task to start with.

2. It should clearly replace a time-consuming process – don’t settle for a partial integration when the full process is what gets the win. Make sure your provider clearly identifies what you are getting and the benefits

3. A willingness to work with others to get the job done – we find that the key factor in successful integration projects is a willingness to work with other software providers. It is so rare for companies have one supplier for everything, so being able to talk to the people who already support your business is absolutely critical

Did we already mention we love software integration? And once you’ve taken the step to connect dots in your business that you did not know were possible we think you will too!

Paypal – Friend or Foe?

We get this question all the time, should I use Paypal to process credit cards for my online sales? And the short and easy answer used to be yes, because it was the most widely recognised credit card processing engine that integrates quickly and easily into your website.

But with time come different options and in a lot of cases less frustration for you and your end customer. Some of our customers use their bank gateway because they have access to the funds within 24 hours. Some processors like Stripe are a seamless way to get payments, keeping users onsite with a minimum of fuss.

And with the US government weighing into how they think Paypal should operate when it comes to shadowy entities making online purchases the game changes yet again.

WebPOS eCommerce solutions still strongly supports Paypal as a preferred way for our customers to process credit card transactions online but our software has evolved to support many different processors. Get in touch with us for more details at 1300 796 771.

Online Ordering & Online Shopping – is that what eCommerce is?

We get that question a lot, and for techies yes seems like an easy & obvious answer. But for our customers, who just want their customers to buy online, eCommerce sounds complicated. It sounds silly to get stuck on a word but the idea that tech jargon makes people decide against it before they even know what it is, its why we got into online solutions for business in the first place.

This amazing thing called the Internet should be (and for the most part is) a great leveller. You don’t need lots of money to extend your bricks and mortar store into online to build your profits and keep your customers loyal. But in our experience, you need some expertise to get out there.

We talk a lot about what to expect when you build a new online ordering website, but if you strip away the word “web” than what you want is something that is an extension of your business in a space that is open 24/7. Firstly and lastly, it should be easy to use and be pretty obvious in its intent as soon as the homepage displays.

We’ve spent a lot of time helping our customers build their online ordering & online shopping sites since 2008. Things have changed a lot in that time, it was time we made good on our own site’s ease of use and intent. We are days away from re-launching our new WebPOS Online Ordering software website and we are excited to share it as a view into how your online space can look, feel and function.

Stay tuned for more details on how we can help serve you in your goal to get online and grow with WebPOS.