I subscribe to a variety of email marketing lists purely for research purposes; some professional, some not so much. I’ve occasionally bought an item and this means I share the frustrations of the buying public when I come across poor designs and procedures. It makes me wonder how these companies continue in business. 

It is well known that the main reason for the abandonment of carts is the sudden appearance of an additional fee, one not made obvious in previous pages. I wonder if the premise is that some customers might well not notice or that they are in too much of a hurry to bother looking for a cheaper price. For email marketing, with the unsubscribe button beckoning, it is too great a risk. 

The next two causes for abandoning carts are connected: having to create an account and too long a checkout process. Added together they make a higher percentage than hidden charges. What is more, they are much more common.

For us, with customers being subscribers to an email marketing list, it is probable that the vast majority will already have some form of account. This means some boxes can be excluded but you should not fill the gap with other questions.

Is your process too long? A bare figure for abandoned carts is not necessarily indicative of there being something wrong. After all, there is little way of discovering a norm for your type of product. You don’t share your information so why should anyone else. The only way to find out is to test.

Look carefully at the purchasing process. One thing to try is to have a separate cart page for email marketing customers. That way you can automate as much as possible and cut the number entries that have to be made. 

Modify yes/no boxes for, for instance, delivery addresses. Just allow them to change it if required, although highlight the possibility. 

Try a time line. It can remove the doubt as to how much longer the process will take. 

One last point: a customer might have abandoned the cart for reasons other than not wanting to buy. Ensure that the details in the cart are available for a few days in case they return.