One mistake you're probably making that causes abandoned carts

By Ilana Davis

My freshman high school science teacher taught me one of the most valuable lessons that to this day I still remember.

Besides, that is, what happens when you drop a few Mentos into a 2-liter soda bottle.

He taught me to read through the entire experiment before even writing my name. On our first exam, the last sentence in the experiment read

Write your name in the top left corner and write the date in the top right. Then turn your paper over and sit quietly until the end of class.

It certainly caused confusion for those who were hard at work while others just sat there quietly. I look back on it now and it truly was one of the few lessons I actually remember from high school.

Flash forward a few years and I take this lesson with me every time I agree to something. Today I tried to make a purchase on a Shopify store that required me to check a box.

You’ve probably seen it at checkout. I agree with the terms and conditions which must be checked before I can proceed.

Agreeing to the terms and conditions is fine. In fact, I encourage you to have terms and conditions on your Shopify website. The issue arises when there’s no page titled “Terms and Conditions” nor is there a link to this page that customers are supposedly agreeing to.

If you’re going to require customers to check a box to agree, make sure they know what it is they are agreeing to.

What if the terms and conditions state that the customer will pay the company $50 every month for the next 5 years? Would you be happy with that as a customer?

Of course not!

A customer is forced to agree but they have no idea what they are agreeing to, which could lead some folks to shop elsewhere.

Having proper policies for shipping, returns, exchanges, and/or terms & conditions on your Shopify site are essential. These should be in your footer and appear on every page.

Ensure that if you’re going to require the box to be checked before moving forward, that the page is linked on the cart and checkout pages.

Test your checkout process. Are you asking customers to accept your policy without providing your policies? If so, you may benefit from a Website Rescue. I check this along with dozens of other things that could be impacting your Shopify site.

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