How To Pick The Perfect eCommerce Shopping Cart

Picking the perfect eCommerce shopping cart software for you and your business isn’t always going to be an easy decision. After all, there are plenty of options for you to choose from. So what should you go with?

• A free or paid option?
• And what big features should you look for?

It’s important that you know the answers to these questions, as you want to make sure that you pick the right option that meets your needs and wants.

I’ll be addressing these questions and much more, so be sure to keep reading on.

Features For The Perfect eCommerce Software

First things first, you will need to address where you are in terms of your business experience.

There are multiple stages of building a business, but let’s classify them into 3 categories.

1. You are just getting started (beginner).
2. You consider yourself to have some type of experience (intermediate).
3. Lastly is being a grizzled veteran where your biggest goal is scaling (expert).

So which category do you currently fall into? You might fall in between a couple of categories as well, and that is perfectly fine.

The reason that I ask is that it can help you pick the best shopping cart.

I’m also going to assume that you fall anywhere in the beginner and intermediate stages, and don’t worry, those stages of your business can certainly be exciting.

So with that being said, let’s look at the first tip to help you with the process.

Free Or Paid Shopping Cart

Having to choose between a free or paid shopping cart is something that will most likely come up.

If you’re an intermediate or expert marketer, then it tends to be a much easier decision when it comes to choosing a free or paid option.

Given the fact that you have experience and have most likely already made sales, utilizing paid software will most likely be your best choice.

However, the choice might require a little bit more researching if you’re just starting your online store.

The good news is that most paid shopping carts come with free trials, and that’s something that you should certainly take advantage of. A free trial is a perfect opportunity to demo the software and see if it works for you.

But before you pick an option to demo, here are some more key features that you should look into when conducting your shopping cart research.

Your Domain Name

Here is a perk that can help you save some money when you get started, depending on the software that you pick.

Shopify is an example of a shopping cart that can help you build your online business, and they also come along with the ability to register your domain through them. However, that is something that you will have to pay for.

On the other hand, 3dcart is one of the bigger Shopify alternatives and they provide a free domain name, which means that you don’t have to pay an extra fee.

This can be an important decision for you, based upon where you are in the categories that I mentioned previously (beginner, intermediate, and expert). Let’s continue with more great features to look for.

Perfect eCommerce Shopping Cart: Multiple Integrations

Getting a new shopping cart software can be an exciting experience. What’s more exciting? Being able to integrate with other third-party tools to increase your traffic, leads, or even sales.

So be sure to ask yourself “What integrations will I be needing?” At the end of the day, shopping carts can’t do everything, but they can certainly help improve the process for you.

Here are a few examples of integrations that you might consider. Just knowing about these will help you make the best decision moving forward.

• Email marketing tools for building your list.
• Connecting with payment processors like PayPal and Stripe can be very important.
• Landing pages for further building out your sales funnel (like adding one-click upsells).

Those are just a few examples. Nowadays, many shopping carts integrate with Zapier, which allows you to connect even more apps for your liking.

Cart Abandonment Reduction

Good news for you here, and it’s that many of the popular eCommerce shopping carts come along with the ability to help reduce cart abandonment. I’m moving too fast though, let me rewind a little first.

Cart abandonment is simply referred to when a customer sees something that they like, they add it to their checkout cart and then leave without purchasing. They were about to complete the purchase, but something, for some reason, stopped them.

Many shopping carts come with preventative measures to reduce this as well, which you should be on the lookout for. Here are a few key examples.

• Creating a buying process that is as smooth as possible.
• Utilizing the most secure and trusted payment gateways.
• Making sure that your shopping cart is mobile optimized.

Some shopping carts even allow you to send an email to the potential customer after a certain amount of time if they don’t purchase. That is a great way to increase your conversions. Here’s another great way to increase your sales.

Perfect eCommerce Shopping Cart: Discounts And Coupons

Who doesn’t love a discount? The fact of the matter is that this is a great way to help incentivize potential customers to make a purchase. This is sometimes also referred to as a promotion, and there are a few ways to make it work.

First and foremost, you can advertise the promotion either on your site, your checkout page, or even both. Here are a couple more ways to utilize discounts and coupons.

If someone moves their mouse towards the exit page, you can have a popup window appear and offer a coupon code. You can also have a coupon sent via email to anyone who abandoned the shopping process (as talked about in the previous section).

This is yet another feature that you’ll want to be on the lookout for when choosing a shopping cart. Let’s have a look at one more helpful eCommerce shopping cart feature.

Premium Customer Support

This is a topic that isn’t talked about as much, but it’s important for building and growing your business through selling. After all, new software is going to come with a learning curve.

This is why you must look for a shopping cart that not only has great customer support, but also helpful tutorial videos and guides. You can always ask for help during your free trial as well because that’s what customer support is for.

Overall, the faster that you can have your online store up, the quicker you’ll be able to start making sales, and that’s a great thing!

Final Words

Let’s take a quick recap of what we talked about on the topic of picking the best shopping cart software. First, you’ll want to have a look at both free and paid options. This will allow you to differentiate between the features you get for free and premium software choices. Don’t forget about free trials as they are there to help you make the best decision too.

Next, we talked about your domain name. Depending on the software that you pick, this will either be free or cost a little bit extra to use. We talked about powerful integrations. While shopping carts aren’t able to do everything, that can certainly help you out when it comes to integrating with other powerful tools.

Don’t forget about reducing the number of visitors who leave their shopping carts. As well as utilizing discounts and coupons to help increase your sales. These are features that you’ll want to keep an eye on, because who doesn’t want to increase their sales? Lastly is the important customer support. When you finally get started with your eCommerce shopping cart. Don’t be afraid to speak with support and ask questions if needed. This will make for a better process of learning how to use the software. Keep these tips and features in mind when you’re doing your research. So, you’re bound to find the perfect software for your selling needs.