Site-Optimizing Moovweb Launches Suite Of Shopping Cart-Optimization Tools

Shopping cart checkouts are the Heartbreak Hill of marketing.

It’s where potential buyers hit a wall of indecision and leave their chosen products, unbought. This week, website optimizer Moovweb is launching MoovCheckout, a mobile web toolset to help marketers fight back.

It’s a big fight. The San Francisco-based company reports that more than 80 percent of users who put something into a shopping cart leave without making a purchase.

But the problem is pinpointing the bottlenecks, which can differ in different user scenarios.

MoovCheckout offers analytics based on MoovWeb’s data about 100 million mobile shoppers, as well as best practices gleaned from research at ecommerce usability firm Baymard Institute. Also included are A/B testing and the ability to revise the user path, including setting up a unique cart for users coming from a specific ad campaign.

A screen from Moovweb’s new MoovCheckout

Previously, Moovweb’s products have focused on entire site optimizations — either an entire mobile site, or converting a desktop site to mobile.

In some cases, VP of marketing Haresh Kumar told me via email, conversions can be increased through something as straightforward as removing the requirement of entering a phone number at checkout.

A second “Confirm checkout” button at the top of the page, in addition to one at the bottom, can also result in more checkouts. But requesting a coupon can be a distraction, he pointed out, because a consumer might then “go to sites like RetailMeNot to look for coupons and then don’t come back.”

The company claims that its new product has shown an increase in conversion rates as high as 25 percent during beta testing.

Kumar says that cart optimizers, such as those in ecommerce platforms like Magento or Demandware, often focus on one aspect, like payments, or on fixing demand, like retargeting shoppers via email or ads. By contrast, he said, MoovCheckout offers a full suite of analytics and tools specifically for fixing carts.

About The Author

Barry Levine

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.