Top Reasons for Cart Abandonment #4: Unpredictable Shipping Costs
For online retailers, shipping costs are one of the biggest pain points, often determining your competitiveness in and of itself. For online shoppers, shipping costs are often the most significant comparison point when deciding from whom and where to purchase a particular item. 
Let’s talk about socks. If you are anything like me, purchasing socks is a rare occasion, but when it does comes time to bite the bullet, I want the process handled quickly and easily. ‘A friend’ recently took a trip over to Walmart.com (first mistake) and couldn’t wait to get her Hanes on. She added a six-pack to her cart and finalized the order. That’s when she noticed the shipping price almost doubled the cost of the order, not to mention the estimated time of arrival was two to three weeks. Exit scene.
Tips when setting up shipping costs:
- Keep them as low as you possibly can because many of your shoppers are perusing and purchasing in lieu of going to the store. They want to avoid the trip out as well as the shipping costs (even if that means you raise your product price a hair).
- If you cannot offer entirely free shipping, be honest and transparent about your shipping prices up front. Last second shipping surprises are a huge deterrent.
- Give options. When I’m shopping, I love having the choice to pay more for faster delivery, or less if I don’t need my items right away.
- Speed up the estimated time it takes to get your product to their doorstep. It’s hard to imagine it will actually take Walmart three weeks to deliver six pairs of socks, that’s a heck of a long time to wait for socks.
Key takeaways:
- Keep the shipping price low.
- Keep the shipping price up front.
- Keep the shipping times low.