More retailers are trying to lure back cart abandoners via email, and it benefits them to know what’s causing these consumers to abandon their online purchases in the first case. According to survey results [download page] from LivePerson, the top reason why online shoppers abandon a purchase is due to encountering unexpected delivery costs, cited by 70% of respondents across the 5 major Western markets studied (including 71% in the US).
The survey of almost 6,000 respondents across the UK, US, Australia, Germany, France, and Italy also found 56% to abandon an online purchase due to lack of information about the product and 50% due to security concerns.
A less common reason – though still cited by 30% of respondents – for abandoning a purchase is difficulty getting any help or customer service on the website. The LivePerson study looks at customer service issues in further detail, finding that 71% of respondents expect to be able to access help online within 5 minutes. Getting the issue resolved quickly is the key element of a great customer experience for 82% of shoppers surveyed. Interestingly, while slightly more shoppers would like to see a telephone number (61%) or email (60%) listed as a help source than live chat (57%), user satisfaction is higher with the latter (73%) than with either of the former sources (each at 61%).
Online retailers still have some ways to go to close the gap in customer experience with brick-and-mortars, though. 77% of respondents said they were generally satisfied with in-store customer service, compared with 67% who shared that sentiment regarding online service. That mirrors the attitudes of mobile-toting shoppers surveyed by Wanderful Media, who recently indicated that in-store shopping beats e-commerce across various customer service and relationship measures.
About the Data: The LivePerson survey was conducted by Loudhouse at the end of 2012. The countries surveyed were USA (n=2,012), UK (n=1,126), France (n=538), Germany (n=502), Italy (n=530), and Australia (n=1,002).
