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Wow, I am not a target customer for modern e-commerce. I would never return to a store that had behaviors like this: > e) Implement a Cart Abandon strategy - e

by akldfgj 14y ago

Wow, I am not a target customer for modern e-commerce. I would never return to a store that had behaviors like this: > e) Implement a Cart Abandon strategy - either sending "instant discounts" via email good for 24hrs to complete order, Training users to haggle at checkout and not trust the list prices > calling dropped carts. harassing people offline after they leave your store? > or hitting a pop-up of live help Does anyone believe in live help? All I ever see it do it block content I am trying to read, providing the equivalent of menu-driven CLI (the scripts agents follow) when I already have a powerful GUI in front of me.

ovi256 14y ago
patio11 and other wise people have said this much better than me, but here goes: you are not like most people. You are likely to be a hacker, engineer or at least a computer power user. Most people are not. These techniques will work and print money with these other people which are not like you, and they are the majority.
- nitrogen 14y ago
  patio11 and other wise people have said this much better than me, but here goes: you are not like most people. After realizing this, one must then get over the idea that accepting money from such people is unethical.
  - rahoulb 14y ago
    Why is it unethical? Many people are nervous - even scared - when purchasing online, because of the numerous stories of "having stuff hacked". Live help lets them know there's a human being at the end of the line. Abandoned carts are often a manifestation of that fear - so again, contacting them afterwards lets them know that there's a real person there. And many people like the idea of something but when it comes to the actual commitment get cold feet - discounts can help in that case.
    - nitrogen 14y ago
      I didn't say it is unethical, just implied that it's possible to have the idea that it's unethical. Maybe accepting money from less technologically capable people feels like unfair manipulation to some. Maybe the idea was planted as unwitting sabotage by intimidated, less technologically capable people trying to counteract a feeling of inferiority.
shinratdr 14y ago
> Training users to haggle at checkout and not trust the list prices Definitely, this is quite a risky one. Just speaking for myself if I notice a Cart Abandon strategy, I will always abandon my cart in the future to keep getting the dicsount.
- pbreit 14y ago
  Firstly, the merchant still gets the sale and is happy (it's like boasting about getting 20% off at Bed Bath and Beyond). All the merchant has to do is skip an email here and there (if they want). This is to say: you have not found a loophole; you are not a concern to the merchant; no one should be frightened by this tactic because of your story.
  - shinratdr 14y ago
    > Firstly, the merchant still gets the sale and is happy (it's like boasting about getting 20% off at Bed Bath and Beyond). True, but they would have gotten more money had they held their ground. I was still going to buy the item, sometimes I abandon the cart accidentally because I got distracted. However if you shove a discount in my face assuming I'm about to walk, I'm going to use it even if I was just about to pay full price without hesitation. > This is to say: you have not found a loophole; you are not a concern to the merchant; no one should be frightened by this tactic because of your story. Assuming the 15%-20% is all extra markup, this is true. Also it's not "my story" for the record. Sites like retailmenot index cart abandon strategies. Way more people are going to use that discount than just those you intend. If that's an acceptable loss, then great. It's still not necessarily a great idea depending on your business.
    - samspot 14y ago
      > True, but they would have gotten more money had they held their ground. I was still going to buy the item, sometimes I abandon the cart accidentally because I got distracted. This is one of the very things they are trying to fight.
    - mithras 14y ago
sachingulaya 14y ago
Live help drives conversions on our ecommerce site. Our customers ask questions more often than I would expect. Cart abandonment coupons haven't worked for us at all. My thinking is that our 10% discount isn't steep enough but I have no data. Since I don't have any insight in to what people do after they abandon the cart I'm not sure throwing discounts at them is an effective strategy. Calling dropped carts? That's not something we have the bandwidth to do.
- babuskov 14y ago
  Through a lot of experimentation. I've found out that you need to offer at least 40% to get any significant conversion of the cart dropouts. At least for the shareware desktop software I sell.
thenomad 14y ago
Just a bit of anecdata: I believe in Live Help. (And Harvey Dent, but that's not important right now.) I can think of at least two occasions where having a Live Help function available on a site made the difference between me buying something and not buying it. One of those things (a sit-stand desk) was quite expensive.

by akldfgj 14y ago

ovi256 14y ago

patio11 and other wise people have said this much better than me, but here goes: you are not like most people. You are likely to be a hacker, engineer or at least a computer power user. Most people are not. These techniques will work and print money with these other people which are not like you, and they are the majority.

nitrogen 14y ago
patio11 and other wise people have said this much better than me, but here goes: you are not like most people. After realizing this, one must then get over the idea that accepting money from such people is unethical.
- rahoulb 14y ago
  Why is it unethical? Many people are nervous - even scared - when purchasing online, because of the numerous stories of "having stuff hacked". Live help lets them know there's a human being at the end of the line. Abandoned carts are often a manifestation of that fear - so again, contacting them afterwards lets them know that there's a real person there. And many people like the idea of something but when it comes to the actual commitment get cold feet - discounts can help in that case.
  - nitrogen 14y ago
    I didn't say it is unethical, just implied that it's possible to have the idea that it's unethical. Maybe accepting money from less technologically capable people feels like unfair manipulation to some. Maybe the idea was planted as unwitting sabotage by intimidated, less technologically capable people trying to counteract a feeling of inferiority.

shinratdr 14y ago

> Training users to haggle at checkout and not trust the list prices Definitely, this is quite a risky one. Just speaking for myself if I notice a Cart Abandon strategy, I will always abandon my cart in the future to keep getting the dicsount.

pbreit 14y ago
Firstly, the merchant still gets the sale and is happy (it's like boasting about getting 20% off at Bed Bath and Beyond). All the merchant has to do is skip an email here and there (if they want). This is to say: you have not found a loophole; you are not a concern to the merchant; no one should be frightened by this tactic because of your story.
- shinratdr 14y ago
  > Firstly, the merchant still gets the sale and is happy (it's like boasting about getting 20% off at Bed Bath and Beyond). True, but they would have gotten more money had they held their ground. I was still going to buy the item, sometimes I abandon the cart accidentally because I got distracted. However if you shove a discount in my face assuming I'm about to walk, I'm going to use it even if I was just about to pay full price without hesitation. > This is to say: you have not found a loophole; you are not a concern to the merchant; no one should be frightened by this tactic because of your story. Assuming the 15%-20% is all extra markup, this is true. Also it's not "my story" for the record. Sites like retailmenot index cart abandon strategies. Way more people are going to use that discount than just those you intend. If that's an acceptable loss, then great. It's still not necessarily a great idea depending on your business.
  - samspot 14y ago
    > True, but they would have gotten more money had they held their ground. I was still going to buy the item, sometimes I abandon the cart accidentally because I got distracted. This is one of the very things they are trying to fight.
  - mithras 14y ago

sachingulaya 14y ago

Live help drives conversions on our ecommerce site. Our customers ask questions more often than I would expect. Cart abandonment coupons haven't worked for us at all. My thinking is that our 10% discount isn't steep enough but I have no data. Since I don't have any insight in to what people do after they abandon the cart I'm not sure throwing discounts at them is an effective strategy. Calling dropped carts? That's not something we have the bandwidth to do.

babuskov 14y ago
Through a lot of experimentation. I've found out that you need to offer at least 40% to get any significant conversion of the cart dropouts. At least for the shareware desktop software I sell.

thenomad 14y ago

Just a bit of anecdata: I believe in Live Help. (And Harvey Dent, but that's not important right now.) I can think of at least two occasions where having a Live Help function available on a site made the difference between me buying something and not buying it. One of those things (a sit-stand desk) was quite expensive.