In a previous post, Common Reasons for eCommerce Shopping Cart Abandonment, we pointed out that shopping cart abandonment averages as high 78 percent. However, a recent study by McAfee has found that nearly two-thirds (65%) of online shoppers who abandon their carts come back within a day or more to complete the purchase.

McAfee’s study of more than 150 million online transactions indentified the following reasons why online shoppers often delay purchases after placing items in their shopping carts:

• Brand Recognition: Well-known brands experience shorter purchase delays than lesser-known brands since shoppers will often research lesser-known brands before making a purchase.
• Competition: If items being sold are in a highly competitive market, it will take more time for shoppers to come back and complete the purchase since they want to shop around before finalizing their order. On the other hand, items that are unique or harder to find will experience quicker order completions.
• Information Gathering: Online shoppers often add items to the shopping cart so they can easily purchase them later if they want and also to find out what’s required from them in the checkout process.
• Price: Higher priced items will usually take longer to lead to a completed order since shoppers will often want to think more before committing to making an expensive online purchase.

Although the information found by McAfee is highly insightful, online retailers should study their own abandonment and conversion numbers very closely – and not simply hope shoppers that abandon their carts will come back. In other words, you should always be looking for improvements to your site’s content and offerings to reduce your cart abandonment rate.

When was the last time you analyzed your site’s cart abandonment and conversion rates? With the holiday shopping season literally around the corner, this is information you should be looking at and taking action on immediately.

Email marketing is one of the best ways to promote an eCommerce website. Since fans of a site and its product offerings are likely to want to receive promotional offers and news. Think about it, do you receive email marketing from companies you’ve done business with that you like to receive, such as those from your favorite specialty store or big box retailer? For most people, the answer is an overwhelming yes!

Is your company actively using email marketing to grow your brand and increase sales? If not, consider the following numbers recently published by eMarketer.

• 94% of marketing emails were delivered in Q1 2009
• 22% of these emails were opened
• 6% were clicked through

Now stop and think about these numbers for a moment (seriously). Of all marketing emails delivered in Q1 2009, 22% were opened and 6% produced clicks directly resulting in website traffic and potential sales.

There is no question that email continues to be an effective marketing tool that drives results. How effectively is your company using email marketing to grow your business?

Share your thoughts by commenting below.

A recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that despite a slower economy (and traditional in-store retail sales being significantly down) eCommerce retail sales are still growing at a strong pace.

The chart below shows estimated quarterly U.S. retail eCommerce sales as a percent of total quarterly retail sales from the 4th Quarter of 1999 to the 2nd Quarter 2009.

If retail eCommerce can go against all of the current economic odds, just imagine how much more growth there will be as the economy improves.

 View Complete U.S. Census Bureau Report

Contact us to learn more about how eCommerce can help your business.