Everyone knows that building a list is absolutely vital if you want to really send your online marketing to the next level, but most people seem to fail to fully absorb the information. They may start a list and then just ignore it, or they piddle around with it and it never gets fully off the ground.

But let me give you a little example to ponder…

Let’s say you own a little hometown grocery store. Imagine 100 people all coming into your store at once. You watch eagerly, anticipating all the money these customers are going to bring you, and you see them filling their carts to the brim.

Now you have your cashiers at the ready as people begin making their way toward the checkout lanes. The first couple of people filter down the lanes, and you hear the cheerful chirp of the scanners ringing up purchases.

Then suddenly, things change. First, one-person abandons their shopping cart and just inexplicably walks out the door. Then another, and another, and soon 97% of your customers flood out the door, leaving their full carts sitting in the aisles, frozen food dripping onto your formerly spotless floors.

Would you just sit by and watch as your customers flooded out the door, or would you rush toward the crowd and beg them to stay, asking them what was wrong, pleading for another chance?

Would you set up new end caps to encourage extra sales, send out coupons, hire new employees to ensure lanes were always open, and do everything you could to ensure the best possible shopping experience?

Of course, you would!

The trouble is that online businesses have come to thing that shopping cart abandonment rates of 97% are normal. They think, “Oh well, what can I do about it?”