A few shopping cart and offer adjustments
Happy Monday!
After taking a look at our data we realized we had a couple of opportunities to improve the conversion rate of the shopping cart funnel. Why am I calling the shopping cart pages a 'funnel?' It's a pretty standard way to describe a site's shopping cart - lots of stuffs goes in at the top and only so many make it through to the end. Naturally we want as many people as possible to reach the final page so we can get you more sales. So we decided to take a look at three key pages to see if we could improve the buyer success rate in reaching the next page. The more people that reach the next page (whatever that page might be) the more people have a chance to make it to the end and purchase.
The first page we looked at is our zip code and sign in page that many buyers see just before the cart. Now a lot of you experienced sellers probably don't see this page because you have accounts and are logged in, but most of our buyers (arriving from Google) do not. After examining this page we realized it wasn't clear why we were asking for a zip code and country (or log in) in the first place. So we made some subtle design changes to make the purpose more clear. We hope these changes result in greater understanding and more people reaching the next page. Sadly, our screenshots on the blog are still pretty small, but if you log out and add an item to your cart you can see for yourself.
The second page we looked at was the cart itself. There are a couple of minor issues we wanted to address here. First, there is no picture of the item the buyer is actually purchasing. There is now. Second, this page is perhaps the final hurdle in a purchase decision. After some consideration we decided to revise the copy on the 'why this is safe' messaging and add in some of our other site credentials that we think helped lift conversion rates on the detail page (check out the last post for more on that).
Lastly, we wanted to improve on a usability issue in the offer process. Mark told us that many buyers were confused when making an offer as their cart looked empty after submitting their offer. It was clear to us that many buyers didn’t understand the offer process; they didn’t know an offer had to be reviewed by a seller. In an effort to make this clearer we dialed up the messaging and included a status bar of sorts to drive home the notion.
We'll monitor these pages over time and see if the changes resulted in improvements. Again, this is was just a quick strike on some small issues. I know there are lots more changes on your minds!
- Alex
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24 responses to A few shopping cart and offer adjustments
New fresh look is great.
I do love the new look as well…anxious to see how it improves follow through to complete transactions~
Is it possible to make a tutorial video that buyers can view here to see how the Best Offer process works?
I think that would offer a level of comfort to buyers if they are unsure of the process of Best Offer.
I would love to see video tutorials on site for how to buy, add to cart and the best offer with tabs at the top for ez clicking as other sites have them.
JMHO
I do not use Best Offer, Ever…. Can a buyer still just run through the check out process, on their own? >>> Without my intervention?? I do not need to approve an invoice or an order … ? right?
looks good alex. i do hope you fix it so we can get the anon buyer’s email addys, as i have lost numerous sales. they will b’mail me a question, i answer, but it seems they don’t come back to see their mail. i realize the emails go to their spam folders, but sure would be nice if there was another way to contact them.
thanks for all you do!!
Sounds like some good improvements.
Lost a sale, when I needed to adjust the shipping cost for a multi-purchase, a while back, because the customer was afraid to make the offer that would allow me to change the postage. He thought that if he made the offer he was committed.
Great change…it will boost a buyers confidence !
Looks good..but if you calculate the shipping on this http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/Sofy_sSeasonal/items/Santa_with_List_Lighted_Christmas_Blow_Mold_Union_1992 from 48026 to 90210 for example.. the listing shows shipping to be 68.55. If you check the post office calculator it is actually 107.16….30.00 dollar difference
I like the clarity improvements in the processes, thank you.
Although, I would truly like a Make An Offer button. My sales depend heavily on this option and is the main reason I am here at Bonanzle and not at other venues.
Also, I would very much like to see the frown taken off the shopping cart. It turns me off bigtime and I have been a big shopper on Bonanzle. I will not put anything in a cart that frowns.
Alex I do appreciate all you are doing to get buyers to Bonanzle and make it easier for them to purchase A++++++ for that!
But The Shipping calculator does need to be fixed Please!
Looks like you are hard at work to help sellers.
Thanks Alex!
Alex, Noticed changes before reading this, as I was checking status on best offer option, and clarity and clean lines caught my eye immediately. GREAT
I think you did good!!!!
Got an offer now that doesn’t allow a counter offer. Is this issue covered in the change?
Would be nice if there was some way to know if the buyer accepted the invoice after it was sent. Most of my buyers email back but this one didn’t and the email I sent doesn’t show read since you don’t have to go into to your account to read them. So now I have the book tied up and it may be a false purchase. Just something to think about. What ever you are doing – it must be good. My sales have really picked up in the last week. So a big Thank-you.
Since joining Bonanzle in October of 2008, there have been many on-going changes, including this latest one.
I applaud the effort!!! Seems as if our “home office team” continues to have our best interest in their sights………
What is the deal with the “Only 1 Left” after the Price. Please remove this.
I agree with the (1 left) to be removed. When selling one of a kind,antique,rare or vintage items,this may make buyers think our items are not ture rather a retro copy.
@Bighorse… I noticed this too. Sounds like we are dealing in commodities. Our items are unique, not to the fact that there “were more of them”… Just a simple “Quantity 1” is all the urgency we need. Our motto of “Everything but the ordinary” is polluted by the “Only one left” statement.
I agree with Bighorsecoins, please change it back to a simple quantity statement.
I think everything else looks pretty good, as long as a straight “Buy It Now” goes right through, like it did before, and I don’t need to do any follow up, to slow down the order process.
Thanks!!
I agree with the last few posts here. For a boutique or shop that sells multiples of the same item the “Only 1 Left†is fine. However, for someone who deals in one of a kind or vintage items this makes it appear that perhaps the item is new, not vintage as listed. I’m liking everything but the “Only 1 Leftâ€.
Kuddos to Alex! Love the changes that I have seen!!! Going to have to give that Make an Offer a try!!! Woo Hoo!!! Thank you for all you are doing to help!!!
I made a multi-item purchase yesterday with best offer for the group of items. It was a breeze! Easiest online purchase I’ve made online in a long time. Especially like the pics showing up before making the offer.
Thanks for changing the quantity back to “1 in stock” MUCH Better!!
Is there a dedicated System Status page for known bugs or similar reports (cart issues, Google listings and traffic, so on)? Without making any format changes to our booth we have seen a precipitous drop off in sales since 7-15-10, compared to June and early July. We also got an Offer yesterday where a customer entered (apparently) exactly the same item 3 times in a row, within a few seconds. We have disabled the Offer option for unranked buyers, pending some news on that. We’ll check the other Bonanzle technical boards for updates. I think what we’d like to see more of is the cart abandonment stats found in similar marketplaces, that drill down to any number of points for our consideration and possible suggestions to Bonanzle for general improvements. FYI.
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