Last year, abandonment rates jumped to as high as 60%, according to LiveMarket, in part due to consumers’ jitteriness about the economy. Here’s what you can do to reduce cart abandonment at your online store.

1. Show stock availability on product pages and show which countries you ship to. Disable the cart button for out-of stock or back orders.
2. Show tax and shipping charges pre-checkout to prevent “sticker shock” – the number one reason for cart abandonment.
3. Don’t require login, but instead allow guest check out. Make account creation optional after the purchase is complete, and explain the benefits of registration (faster checkout next time, order tracking, special discounts, etc).
4. Use SSL (secure socket layer) certificates, and make sure you renew them when they expire. SSL certificates protect credit card numbers and personal data, preventing identity theft. Customers do look for them.
5. Show credibility indicators like McAfee Secure and TrustE badges.
6. Ask for email address in the first step of checkout. Explain that you will only contact customers if there is a problem with their order.
7. Place a link to your privacy policy in proximity to where the customer enters personal information. Use pop up windows so the customer doesn’t leave the checkout process.
8. Provide a 1-800 number on each page, and use a unique number tied to the cart so you can track how many calls came from within the cart process. Mongoose Metrics provides both unique 1-800 numbers and the ability to track conversion in Google Analytics.
9. Don’t ask for more information than necessary in forms, and mark required fields with an asterisk. Often times customers get frustrated when their form is not accepted because of an empty field.
10. Sometimes customers use the cart to bookmark items of interest to purchase later. Consider increasing your cookie length and using a persistent shopping cart, which saves the contents of the cart for a number of days. Let customers know on the cart summary page how long their cart details will be saved.

In tight economic times, fund raising can be daunting task for many non-profit organizations.  In light of this, choosing the right item to raise money with is very important.  So what factors should decide how you fundraiser?

1. Excellent Return on Investment – Of course, the primary reason you fundraise is to raise money, so it’s imperative that you pick relatively high value items that can be resold at an ideal price.  For example, if you get customized sports bottles from BargainMugs.com for as low as $2.38 each – which, if they are resold at $8-$10 each could bring in a tidy profit!
2. Think Practically! When people are focused on saving you want to offer customers products that are practical and of high value.  Sure it’s great when someone wants to help out your organization financially, but it’s even better when you can help someone make a purchase they can feel good about both practically and emotionally.
3. Make it Memorable, Personalize it! A lot of non-profit groups sell perishables like chocolate that taste good, but don’t keep their organizations name and mission in the customer’s memory.  With custom printed travel mugs and personalized sports water bottles, your customer will see your organization’s name through-out the day as they quench their thirst for years to come.