• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, July 28, 2015

It seems obvious that brands and retailers can reveal much deeper insights into how consumers feel and think about their products and Web site experiences by reading comments in the ecommerce sections of sites and across social networks, but not enough take the time to actually do it.

Findings from the Bizrate Insights' site abandonment survey of 61,766 ecommerce shoppers from Jan. 1, 2015 to April 30, 2015 found that retailers can reduce abandonment of customers who visit their Web site with the intent to buy but did not complete a purchase by listening to their problems and their proposed solutions in comments and social networks.

The study suggests that 11% of ecommerce visitors are what Bizrate calls "True Abandoners," where 50% are visit abandoners who don't engage the cart, 18% are cart abandoners who leave after engaging the cart but before checkout, and 32% are checkout abandoners who leave after starting checkout.

Some 21% of True Visit Abandoners had difficulty finding the item, of which 62% agree that a merchant offering to locate the correct item, color or size would persuade them to make the purchase. About 17% say they abandoned the cart because they had difficulty finding the correct size, color or style, of which 77% agree that a merchant offering to locate the correct item would persuade them to make the purchase.

Technical issues on Web sites cause many to abandon the sale. The three top issues for those experiencing technical problems were 12% error message; 9% couldn't add items to the cart; and 9% said the link they clicked on went to the wrong page. Aside from technical products, 10% left without making the purchase because they couldn't decide whether they really wanted to buy the item, 8% were unable to redeem the coupon, and 8% said the desired color or size wasn't available. Some 13% of True Checkout Abandoners said they would have completed the order if not for technical issues.

The 12% of shoppers saving items to buy later say the best time to come back and complete the sale is after 6 p.m. Discount and sale notifications could bring back the majority of True Cart Abandoners, with 59% saying they would purchase with a 20% or less discount, and 20% say a notification of when the item goes on sale would help them purchase.