Top 11 Reasons behind Failures in Customer Retention and Their Fixes

Posted On: Sep 4, 2018

Categories: Marketing

The number of visitors on a site is irrelevant if you fail to sell your product. Many companies are often taken by shock when they realize their analytics are golden but product is still failing to sell. Improper handling of website results in product failure which leads to catastrophic results for businesses and lost revenue.

There are some key problems that lead to such scenarios when talking about such situations. These problems can often be found in modern online stores and lead to inconsistencies combined with lower ratings and performance issues other than failing to sell product on website.

Not only will we list the top 11 problems that modern online websites face that scare away customers, but we will also present solutions given by experts to fix them. For example, PrestaShop One Page checkout, displaying sufficient product information, and more.

Top 11 Reasons behind Failures in Losing Customers on Your Website and Their Fixes

1. Using Default Checkout Design

One of the most important reasons in losing customers is to use a default checkout page. It works for many, but not for all, and especially when you have a big shop. Its all about the journey that you subject your customer to go through and purchase your product. If that experience is smooth, efficient and hassle-free, there is no doubt your product will be a huge hit and website will sell product well.

The problem is many websites nowadays completely lack a well-structured checkout page which converts customer into client and leave them with a satisfied participation.

Solution:

  • Use PrestaShop One Page Checkout Module that is fast and simplifies the order process with its conversion optimized design.
  • Avoid Account registration process on checkout page (See details below).
  • Auto-fill form fields with the previously captured data (if any).
  • Enable Guest Checkout

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2. Shoddy Shopping Cart and Button

When a customer is ready to purchase product, Shopping Cart displays content of total purchases and its Button is available to be clicked on to finalize purchase. The problem for customer is to keep track of what items have been purchased. Some customers tend to forget about their purchase that they did 15 to 20 minutes ago.

This necessitates that there be ways in which customers can easily access their cart contents. However, most sites nowadays fail to supply a proper optimized solution to this problem which is a leading factor for under performance.

Solution:

  • Website must incorporate a shopping cart which continually shows what the customer has added. It must have a feature which reminds customer what they have added.
  • The shopping cart must have a feature such as pop up every time customer makes a new addition to cart.
  • Moreover, the shopping cart button should be interactive.
  • Most shopping carts rely on multiple phase checkouts. These can be easily eliminated by asking all the required information from customer in quick checkout form and sparing them the hassle of going through the steps.

3. Complex user interface

The user interface of a website is its backbone, the crux of how it will be perceived. Therefore having an interactive website with Graphics in effect and a well-organized structure is the key to success.

Many online websites are hasty in their production and want to set up a functional website which can run their operations. They completely ignore the point that a site is useless if it cannot attract customers and retain them if they visit. This is the reason for many of their failures.

Solution:

  • Resort to simple yet interactive interfaces which are very straightforward and at the same time incorporate graphics, quality content combined with pictures, pop ups, videos, label and stickers to serve as a lively website construct. This ensures customers will stay to purchase product and remember the site, which increases chances of multiple purchases.
  • Make your Product images more attractive using labels and stickers in order to attain user's attraction towards your products. You can add stickers and labels using PrestaShop Stickers Labels module. This will attract the viewers towards your products and they definitely will not go anywhere else.

4. The registration dilemma

Online websites offer speedy services from the comfort of your own location. No excessive information should be required and orders should be placed with ease and swiftness.

Online registration before product purchase is among the top most hated of customer complains. It completely defeats the purpose of efficiency and confidentiality. 35 percent of customers declared that they were completely put off when a site demanded registration for purchase and all of them agreed they were never visiting that site again.

Solution:

  • Try and avoid account creation for minimal purchases.
  • If the customer is placing a large order, then ask them to register.
  • Try and use credit card information and other personal data as markers.
  • If account creation is necessary for site, then offer sales and other updates to keep customer attracted.

5. Addition of shipping charges

Customers are already prickly about additional charges and are 50 percent more unlikely to drop a product and look for competitor offers if there are additional shipping charges.

Solution:

  • The solution is relatively easy; keep a standard amount of shipping charges that will be added to each product.
  • Moreover, if the order goes over a specific amount, deem the shipping charges dropped. This also promotes customers to make a minimum of that amount of order. 

6. Insecurity of online transactions           

In this digitalized age, sensitive data is being sent over the internet and this poses a major risk for organizations that deal in online transactions. Websites are often targeted by cyber criminals and hackers looking to steal and misuse valuable data such as credit card numbers and social security information.

Websites nowadays are equipped with basic defences but even they fail against a slightly higher level of attack. Since customers are very sensitive about the data they give online, they are almost unlikely to ever return to a site which has either misused their data or failed to keep it safe.

Solution:

  • Deploy professional levels of cyber protection levels.
  • Make sure data is encrypted and servers can handle threats such as Direct Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and brute force attacks. 

7. Unrefined shopping cart experience

Its all about the journey that you subject your customer to go through and purchase your product. If that Shopping Cart experience is smooth, efficient and hassle-free, there is no doubt your product will be a huge hit and online website will sell product well.

The problem is many websites nowadays completely lack a well-structured Shopping Cart experience which is bound to convert customer into client and leave them with a satisfied participation.

Solution:

  • The front end of website should be created in such a way that customers can navigate easily.
  • 92 percent visitors declared having an interactive website with videos and photos plus graphics was a big reason why they chose to shop at that site.
  • Visitor should be able to access site in an orderly fashion and should be spared the stress of forced registrations and multiple checkouts.
  • The Shopping Cart experience should be streamlined like the One Step Checkout where are necessary information is gathered in one step. 

8. Excessive loading time

Having a slow website and servers is the number one cause for loss of potential buyers on your website. When checking in or out of the shopping cart, delays greatly hinder customer shopping experience which leads to cart abandonment issues. Even if you are using PrestaShop one step checkout and other optimization strategies, a slow load time will never help. Speed is main element to facilitate customers to continue in their shopping procedure.

Loading time between pages and new processes more than 3 seconds is the reason that 57% of potential customers lose interest and simply exit the site. From this percentage, 80% will not even bother to return.

Looking at these statistics, it is evident that a large loading time is the downfall of a website. How to fix this?

Solution:

  • Optimize website so that there is as little delay as possible.
  • Look towards better scripts and supported formats when creating site. For example, use quick checkout, which is more simple, smooth and everything is on a single page.
  • Always make sure your servers can handle load and are responsive.
  • Any part of the site should not be broken because these sectors cause maximum delays.
  • Use Prestashop URL Cleaner Module to make your urls free of numbers and load faster. 

9. Uncategorized catalogue display

A site may have great deals and product availability, but all this counts for nothing if they have chaos within their catalogue. Disordered presentation of product catalogue ultimately puts off the customer because it is too much hassle to go through all the content to search for what they are looking for.

Solution:

  • Optimize site catalogue in an orderly fashion.
  • Divide all products into categories which can be easily accessed. Give videos about customer feedback and product advertisement.
  • Customers are 58 more likely to purchase product if given videos and multiple leads from which to browse. Among them, 31 percent are heavily influenced from videos and are more likely to purchase product after watching it.

10. Lack of product information 

Any website that sells a product should have and display complete knowledge of what they are selling. Since most fail to adhere to this principle, customers often switch from their site to competitors with little regard. Lack of information regarding product is the reason why most sites lose potential leads.

Any product on display will be subject to a total of 90 seconds on average. During this timespan, customer will make a rough decision whether they should continue with the purchase or continue browsing. This lays great emphasis on content and how the product is marketed.

Solution:

  • The product should be advertised well with great marketing pitch and superb content.
  • All necessary information should be given in a concise yet detailed form, most preferably in short bullets and sentences.
  • Many sites fail to add and supervise these simple points in their creation which leads to damaging results. By simply checking that they are in place, both revenue and reputation can be boosted to ensure a prosperous business and reputable organization.