Shopping cart abandonment can be one of the most frustrating challenges for eCommerce brands and retailers. Shopping cart abandonment happens when shoppers add items to their cart but leave your site before making a purchase.
For most online brands and retailers, lost revenue is the most important issue associated with shopping cart abandonment. However, in the world of eCommerce today, building community and customer relationships are also a huge part of a business’ success. When carts are abandoned before turning into a conversion, they become missed opportunities to form relationships with shoppers.
So what’s causing your shoppers to change their minds at the last minute? Online shoppers abandon their carts for various reasons from conducting research on the product, shopping around to compare prices or simply changing their mind at the last minute due to various reasons such as high shipping costs or concerns about payment security.
Fortunately, online shopping cart abandonment is a problem you can address. Here are some tactics and strategies you can take advantage of to minimize your cart abandonment rate:
Reduce checkout complexity
Make the checkout process as short, quick and easy as possible. When there’s a minimal number of steps and fields to fill out, you will decrease the chances that shoppers will get annoyed and quit in the middle. Shorten your checkout process by only including the necessary fields. Some other ways to quicken the checkout process is by enabling guest checkout, and also to allow them to save their checkout information for future shopping sessions.
Show product recommendations
While including last-minute recommendations on the cart page is a useful marketing tactic, this can also backfire if you’re displaying unrelated product images that can distract them and cause them to veer away. Offer only related or complementary products at the checkout to encourage customers to add more items to their cart and increase their order value.
Provide clear information
Display delivery times and costs prominently and accurately to help customers make informed decisions. Finding ‘hidden’ costs within checkout is a common reason for abandonment and shoppers don’t enjoy being surprised at the checkout. Before a customer reaches the final checkout page, be sure to give them a reasonable understanding of what shipping costs and other additional fees will amount to. It may even be wise to offer free shipping in some circumstances.
Offer multiple payment options
Consumers today enjoy numerous ways to access and spend their money. If your online store only accepts a limited range of payment options, you could miss out on potential sales when a customer abandons their shopping cart upon learning their preferred payment method isn’t accepted. Provide a range of payment options, including credit cards, PayPal, and other popular payment methods to accommodate the preferences of different customers.
Increase trustworthiness
Customer trust is imperative to conversion. Use tactics that establish and build trust in a potential customer, especially when asking them to fill out a transaction form. You can also use social proof to foster trust. By displaying social proof such as user-generated content, customer reviews, and ratings on your site, you will show new shoppers that many others have safely and happily bought products from your site.
Implement abandoned cart email campaigns
Shoppers abandon their carts for a multitude of reasons. It could be because they had reservations or concerns about the product, or maybe they simply got distracted. Automatically send impactful follow-up emails to customers who abandon their carts, offering them incentives to complete their purchase. By following up with cart abandoners and reminding them of the products they left behind, you can nudge them to go back and make a purchase.
Address customer concerns
Make sure your website provides clear answers to common customer questions, such as returns and refund policy, to help build trust and reduce uncertainty. Some customers will also need extra help during checkout. Offer live chat and customer service options to answer queries and resolve any issues they may encounter during the checkout process.
Keep shopping carts saved
Some cart abandonments may just be temporary. A shopper might not have time to finish the checkout process at a certain time, with every intention of completing the purchase later. Enable customers to save their carts so they can return to purchase later, without the hassle of having to select items again. You can also remind them of their saved items with targeted email campaigns.
While it’s inevitable that not all customers will go on to complete a purchase, these are some of the strategies you can take advantage of to reduce digital shopping cart abandonment. Optimizing your checkout process, providing an easy-to-navigate shopping experience and building customer trust can prevent the likelihood of cart abandonment to some degree.
