Online stores
The question at 11pm: why online stores lose buyers before they reach checkout
Buyers of anything custom, expensive or wholesale ask a question before they buy. The store that answers it first, at any hour, usually gets the order.
The FLWUP team · · 6 min read
Most of an online store runs itself. Products, cart, payment, shipping. But some buyers don't go straight to checkout. They want a walnut desk in 160cm. They need 40 signs by the 20th. They want a trade price for twelve units. So they ask, usually through your contact form, often at night or on a weekend.
That question is the warmest lead your store gets. It's also the one most likely to sit until Monday.
Why a slow reply hurts more online
- Your competitor is one tab away. A buyer who asks you a question has usually asked two other stores the same thing.
- The question comes when you're closed. Evenings and weekends are when people shop and plan, and when nobody is answering the inbox.
- The buyer is ready now. Someone asking about sizes, delivery or a bulk order has already decided they want it. They just need an answer.
- There's no shop counter. Nobody sees them hesitate. If they go quiet, nothing tells you they were nearly there.
Research on sales leads backs this up. A 2007 study of more than 15,000 leads found the odds of reaching a lead were 100 times higher when it was contacted within five minutes than after thirty. And the buyers who don't ask a question aren't much safer: Baymard Institute puts the average documented cart abandonment rate at about 70%.
What a good reply looks like, even at 11pm
Do you make the walnut desk in 160cm? And could it get to Perth before Christmas?
Hi James, thanks for getting in touch. Yes, we make the walnut desk to order in 160cm. I'll check our Perth delivery dates first thing and send you the price and timing. Is it for a home office, or a workspace with a few desks?
It answers what it can, asks one question that moves the order forward, and leaves the price and the delivery date for a person to confirm. By the morning there's an order to finish, not an inbox to dig through.
Follow up the buyers who go quiet
Some buyers get their answer and still go quiet: they're waiting for payday, checking with a partner, or comparing quotes for a bulk order. A friendly follow-up a couple of days later, then again about a week on, wins back a share of them. That matters most for wholesale and custom work, where one order is worth a lot of cart checkouts.
A checklist for store owners
- Answer every pre-sale question within minutes, including nights and weekends.
- Answer what you can, and ask one useful question. Size, quantity, deadline, where it’s going.
- Don't promise prices or delivery dates in a hurry. Say you'll confirm them, then do it first thing.
- Follow up quotes and custom requests two or three times over a couple of weeks.
- Make the hot ones obvious, so the buyer ready to order never waits behind the browsers.
FLWUP does this for online businesses: your store's enquiry emails come in, every question gets a reply in your brand's voice in about two minutes, quiet buyers are followed up, and you get a text when someone's ready to order. It never names a price or a delivery date for you. See FLWUP for online businesses.