Findings from a Study on Online Shopping Cart Abandonment

Research made with Eye Tracking technologies on Online Shopping Abandonment

Let's dive into a research project that I completed with my good friend when finalizing our masters programme at Copenhagen Business School. We had decided to do a pilot experiment to study human behaviour in an lab-based online shopping environment with a special focus on eye tracking methodology.

Introduction

"...as soon as they reach the checkout it becomes a thoughtful task and the purchase intention often tend to diminish."

The Internet has changed the way people engage in shopping activities. We live in a world where online sales continue to grow steadily year for year, however businesses are trying to find solutions to decrease the tendencies of many online shoppers choosing to leave in the process without a completed purchase. The phenomena of ‘online shopping cart abandonment’ has flourished, but when we did our research few had opted to explore the area by applying neuroscientific tools — especially around the mechanics related to the checkout page. Arguably, customers like to browse around and shop for products that they find interesting and exciting, but as soon as they reach the checkout it becomes a thoughtful task and the purchase intention often tend to diminish.

Research relevant for business

The results of the research paper highlighted that the checkout page is a crucial part of the online shopping experience, and visual product pictures when displayed sensibly can affect willingness to purchase. As mentioned, we used eye tracking methods to experiment multiple variables on the checkout page in order to analyze the particular relationship towards purchase intention. The main hypotheses of the research confirmed that product pictures with people included created a streamlined cognitive acceptance of the products which eased the demanding tasks in comparison to products being displayed with a descriptive text alone. The data suggested that business should focus more on the checkout page as there are several factors that have a direct link to cognitive processes and behavior. Thus, it has important consequences for business who seek to optimize their conversion rates and to better understand the dynamics of the checkout page.

Research Question

As mentioned in the introduction, consumers are shopping more and more online, but most shopping carts are left at the checkout stage. Previous eye tracking studies within the field have explored the online shopping process as a whole and without a focus on the checkout page as an inhibitor for completing a purchase. As a consequence, the research as completed in the thesis was based on the following research question:
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How can a business maintain purchase intention in the checkout stage of online shopping?