Shipping Options on a Separate Page Helps you Test
February 3rd 2009 03:41 pm
In a previous post (New Store on ZenCart) I mentioned that I had 33 people visit my site but not a single one of them bought anything.
I also noticed something else. A lot of people showed up in my ZenCart admin console as customers, but not as orders. So this means that they put one of my exercise wheels in their shopping cart, clicked Check Out, filled in the customer information, but then bailed when they got to the next page which is shipping methods.
Why did they bail? No idea. BUT I did have their email addresses. So I decided to ask them.
I sent each one who didn’t order a very low-key email which went like this:
90% of the answers I got told me that my shipping charges were too high. As I investigated other sites that sell the same item, I found that the problem was I was offering UPS and FedEx, but not USPS Priority Mail or Parcel Post.
This was intentional on my part because the Post Office has strict rules about box sizes. Since this was a new store for me, I didn’t want to buy a bunch of boxes in case my items didn’t sell. So everytime I got an order, I went across the street to Ace Hardware and bought one of their shipping boxes that was 12 x 12 x 18.
It used to be that USPS considered this a normal box, but pretty recently (2007) they said that anything bigger than 12 x 12 x 12 is considered a large box and extra charges apply.
But my potential customers were telling me they want the price of USPS.
So I went online and bought 25 shipping boxes that fit within the USPS definition of a normal box. Then I could offer Parcel Post and Priority Mail without getting hit with the large-box rate.
I learned some valuable information by asking my potential clients. Now I never could have done this if I had all of my checkout fields on one page because if they didn’t place the order, I wouldn’t have had any of their contact information.
It may be that once I get a very small bail-out percentage, I’ll switch over to a one-page checkout.
And yes, offering UPSP shipping did start getting me orders! Yippee!
I also noticed something else. A lot of people showed up in my ZenCart admin console as customers, but not as orders. So this means that they put one of my exercise wheels in their shopping cart, clicked Check Out, filled in the customer information, but then bailed when they got to the next page which is shipping methods.
Why did they bail? No idea. BUT I did have their email addresses. So I decided to ask them.
I sent each one who didn’t order a very low-key email which went like this:
Hi John,
I wonder if I could ask you a question.
I have a website that sells pet exercise wheels, mostly Wodent Wheels and Stealth Wheels. My site is called critterwheels.com.
I noticed that a couple of days ago, you came to the site looking for a pet exercise wheel, but then left after filling in some customer information.
I wonder if you might be able to tell me what caused you leave?
I want to make it clear that I’m not trying to sell you anything. I realize you probably bought it from somewhere else.
But my website is pretty new and I’m still tweaking it to give people a good customer experience. It would really be a big help to know the reason so I maybe I could change something for the next person.
I know you might not remember, but it’s worth asking. It would really help me improve my website.
Thanks,
Susie
Surprisingly most of the people answered me back, and the information I found out was extremely helpful.
I wonder if I could ask you a question.
I have a website that sells pet exercise wheels, mostly Wodent Wheels and Stealth Wheels. My site is called critterwheels.com.
I noticed that a couple of days ago, you came to the site looking for a pet exercise wheel, but then left after filling in some customer information.
I wonder if you might be able to tell me what caused you leave?
I want to make it clear that I’m not trying to sell you anything. I realize you probably bought it from somewhere else.
But my website is pretty new and I’m still tweaking it to give people a good customer experience. It would really be a big help to know the reason so I maybe I could change something for the next person.
I know you might not remember, but it’s worth asking. It would really help me improve my website.
Thanks,
Susie
90% of the answers I got told me that my shipping charges were too high. As I investigated other sites that sell the same item, I found that the problem was I was offering UPS and FedEx, but not USPS Priority Mail or Parcel Post.
This was intentional on my part because the Post Office has strict rules about box sizes. Since this was a new store for me, I didn’t want to buy a bunch of boxes in case my items didn’t sell. So everytime I got an order, I went across the street to Ace Hardware and bought one of their shipping boxes that was 12 x 12 x 18.
It used to be that USPS considered this a normal box, but pretty recently (2007) they said that anything bigger than 12 x 12 x 12 is considered a large box and extra charges apply.
But my potential customers were telling me they want the price of USPS.
So I went online and bought 25 shipping boxes that fit within the USPS definition of a normal box. Then I could offer Parcel Post and Priority Mail without getting hit with the large-box rate.
I learned some valuable information by asking my potential clients. Now I never could have done this if I had all of my checkout fields on one page because if they didn’t place the order, I wouldn’t have had any of their contact information.
It may be that once I get a very small bail-out percentage, I’ll switch over to a one-page checkout.
And yes, offering UPSP shipping did start getting me orders! Yippee!
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