why track cart additions

dgmufasa · 13th Jan 2017, 06:45 AM

Hi,

Just working on putting in tagging for my site. Saw that there is an option to track when people add items to a cart. I was just wondering why would this be tracked n the first place? With GA, you can see the page being visited for a product (at least this is possible with Woocommerce). You can add a tag to track when the item is purchased. So - why would you track when an item is added to the cart?

TIA

geldhost · 21st Jan 2017, 10:57 AM

More tracking = more data. If you gather enough data to know there's a trend of people that have gone as far as to explore your website, even add items to their cart but then did not purchase, you might need to improve shopping cart experience or the shopping cart page itself.

Kay King · 21st Jan 2017, 12:07 PM

I can see the value in knowing how many "abandoned carts" there are - it might point to an error in your process or funnel.

However, recently there have been several posts asking about contacting people who abandon a cart....and I have YET to see anyone post that sales result from doing that.

Last week I ordered several things online as usual. TWO sites contacted me (one sent 4 emails in 24 hrs) to TELL ME I had not completed my purchase.

Well, duh....I'm not stupid. Both were sites where the full info/price was not on the sales page - you had to enter the product into a cart to see the full info. This has become increasingly common both on digital products and on big box store sites where you have to "add to cart" to see the special deal.

Does the site owner believe he can FORCE me to buy? Won't happen. I click out of curiosity - but I don't buy the products if I have to jump through hoops for a price. If possible I'll "delete" the item from the cart - if that's not easy, I'll just close the site and move on.

I think marketers who are emailing visitors (one here suggested "3 times") to "complete the purchase" must be terribly desperate for sales. If cart abandonment is a major issue - there's something wrong with your process.

Only recently have I gotten these "complete your purchase" emails - so must be some "great guru" out there advising sellers to do this.

13th Jan 2017, 06:45 AM	#1
dgmufasa HyperActive Warrior Join Date: 2012 Posts: 422 Thanks: 213 Thanked 11 Times in 8 Posts	why track cart additions Share on: Hi, Just working on putting in tagging for my site. Saw that there is an option to track when people add items to a cart. I was just wondering why would this be tracked n the first place? With GA, you can see the page being visited for a product (at least this is possible with Woocommerce). You can add a tag to track when the item is purchased. So - why would you track when an item is added to the cart? TIA

21st Jan 2017, 10:57 AM	#2
geldhost Warrior Member Join Date: 2012 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 4 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: why track cart additions Share on: More tracking = more data. If you gather enough data to know there's a trend of people that have gone as far as to explore your website, even add items to their cart but then did not purchase, you might need to improve shopping cart experience or the shopping cart page itself.

21st Jan 2017, 12:07 PM	#3
Kay King VIP Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2004 Location: Ohio Posts: 15,685 Thanks: 28,923 Thanked 27,909 Times in 13,294 Posts	Re: why track cart additions Share on: I can see the value in knowing how many "abandoned carts" there are - it might point to an error in your process or funnel. However, recently there have been several posts asking about contacting people who abandon a cart....and I have YET to see anyone post that sales result from doing that. Last week I ordered several things online as usual. TWO sites contacted me (one sent 4 emails in 24 hrs) to TELL ME I had not completed my purchase. Well, duh....I'm not stupid. Both were sites where the full info/price was not on the sales page - you had to enter the product into a cart to see the full info. This has become increasingly common both on digital products and on big box store sites where you have to "add to cart" to see the special deal. Does the site owner believe he can FORCE me to buy? Won't happen. I click out of curiosity - but I don't buy the products if I have to jump through hoops for a price. If possible I'll "delete" the item from the cart - if that's not easy, I'll just close the site and move on. I think marketers who are emailing visitors (one here suggested "3 times") to "complete the purchase" must be terribly desperate for sales. If cart abandonment is a major issue - there's something wrong with your process. Only recently have I gotten these "complete your purchase" emails - so must be some "great guru" out there advising sellers to do this.
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