Strategies to Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment

Shopping cart abandonment is one of the serious problems that e-commerce businesses face. If your goal is to boost sales, then you need to think about how you can reduce this common obstacle and get your customers to complete the checkout process.

What Causes Shopping Cart Abandonment?

According to this Forbes article, about 70% of online shoppers abandon their carts without completing the checkout process. It’s a real concern for business owners who are looking to boost their sales.

Before you dive into the tips and strategies to reduce shopping cart abandonment, first it is important to know the common reasons why customers leave their shopping cart in the first place. Knowing the causes behind this will enable you to address the root of the problem. It will also help you formulate strategies in order to make sure that customers complete their buying journey.

Here are some of the reasons why shoppers abandon their cart:

● Need to register an account

● Expensive shipping costs or no express shipping

● Exhaustive checkout process

● Coupon code not visible

● Payment security issues

● Lack of customer support

● Website errors

● Unsatisfactory return policy

Amazon Convert Shopping Cart to Wishlist: 30 Must-Use Ideas

Cart abandonment is a real issue for retailers. The average loss for ecommerce stores due to cart abandonment is 75% with some losing up to 83% in sales, according to this report.

With a list of reasons for shopping cart abandonment above, it’s now time to examine how you can reduce this problem. Make sure your customers complete their checkout process by mitigating the problems above.

1. Offer coupon codes to give discounts to customers. And make sure that the code is auto applied so they don’t have to spend time looking for it.

2. Keep your site secured and make sure you have the certificate to show for it. This will give your customers more confidence when shopping with you.

3. Employ analytics to understand and evaluate shopping behavior. This will help you implement strategies in the future to reduce shopping cart abandonment.

4. Improve your site speed. No one likes to shop on a website that is lagging. Test your site for speed to make their shopping experience is seamless.

5. Make navigation easier. It can discourage your customers from buying from you when they do not know where to go to check out their purchase.

6. Avoid hidden costs. Be upfront about your shipping fees (if any). No one likes surprises; in fact, shipping costs are one of the leading reasons why shoppers abandon their cart.

7. Allow guest shopping. One of the frustrations that shoppers have is when they have to register an account before they can shop. Make it easy for them by allowing guest shopping or easy login using Google or Facebook.

8. Use email retargeting. Win your customers back and convince them to complete their purchase by offering a deal.

9. Limit the checkout process to a few steps only. The fewer clicks required for them to complete the purchase, the better.

10. Provide a progress bar. This will give your customers an idea of how many more steps are needed to complete their checkout process.

11. Provide a product comparison chart. This will eliminate the need for customers to abandon their cart to do research on other options.

12. Fix website errors to avoid crashes. This can impact the overall shopping experience and ultimately, the customers’ decision to buy.

13. Offer express shipping. Some customers would not mind paying extra if it means they can get their items faster.

14. Offer free shipping. If you can, give your customers free shipping vouchers. You can even set a minimum order value threshold to enjoy this offer.

15. Check your return policy. Customers want to make sure you have a good policy in place in case they have issues with their purchase.

16. Offer live customer support. Make sure you have someone that the customers can speak to if they have further questions about orders or shipping.

17. Send cart recovery emails in a timely manner. Email is a great tool to communicate to your customers if they left something in their cart, just in case they got distracted while shopping.

18. Make shopping interactive. Use interesting and creative copy throughout the checkout process to keep customers engaged.

19. Pitch a smaller discount rate versus higher dollar value. For example, your customers will be more enticed to buy if you offer a 5% discount instead of $50 off.

20. Make your refund policy clear. Customers despise uncertainty; they want to be clear about your policies before they decide to buy.

21. Customize product pages. To avoid shopping cart abandonment by customers that want to do more research, provide the relevant information they need right within the product page itself. Include the customer reviews and provide detailed information about each product.

22. Design a mobile-responsive website. The majority of consumers nowadays prefer to shop online. Make sure that you have developed a website that is easily accessible from mobile devices.

23. Add a ‘Save for Later’ button. Many shoppers are using their carts as a ‘Wishlist’ so give them the option to go back to it later when they can finalize their purchase with ease.

24. Avoid adding external links in the checkout page. You don’t want to take your customers away from their shopping cart.

25. Make it easy to edit the cart. This is helpful when customers want to make changes to their cart.

26. Avoid cross-selling on the checkout page. You want to keep this activity in the product page. The checkout page should be all about converting.

27. Add exit intent popup. Give your customers added reason to re-think their decision to leave your site by giving them a great offer.

28. Accept any currency. This is especially important for an international site.

29. Provide multiple payment methods. Make it as convenient as possible for your customers to pay for their orders.

30. Secure your site with an SSL certificate. This is not just beneficial in reducing shopping cart abandonment but also helps your Google ranking.

The Bottom Line

Shopping cart abandonment could be the one thing that is hurting your bottom line. Are you willing to take this risk?

If you answered no, then make sure to experiment with the ideas above on how you can reduce this and boost your sales. While a zero percent shopping cart abandonment rate is far from possible, reducing this number is the ultimate goal.

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