Ways You Can Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment

Did you know that the average amount of consumers abandoning shopping carts is 68%? That means for every 100 visitors to your e-commerce store, 68 of them “walk” away! Why is this happening?

While every market is different and unique variables apply, most consumers have similar purchasing patterns and preferences. In addition, they also share the same frustrations over barriers that lead to shopping cart abandonment. According to data from Statista, these are some of the more common customer frustrations….

• 56% of consumers left due to unexpected costs, i.e. shipping or taxes
• 37% made no purchase because they were browsing
• 36% found a better price after comparison-shopping
• 25% left because the navigation was too complicated
• 21% felt the process took too long or the website had slow load time
• 17% were concerned about security

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Wondering 'How can I make shopping cart abandonment stop'?!

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Increase consumer trust in the purchasing process.

Think about it. Consumers who are shopping online are basically handing over their personal and financial information to complete a transaction, and these consumers want reassurance that their data is secure especially with all the hacking the news today. They want to trust where they are shopping!

An easy way to increase trust is to have a valid SSL certificate or show trust symbols on your site such as well-known security logos (Verisign, PayPal Verified, etc.). A bonus is that it also shows search engines that you care about security so you'll see a small rankings boost from investing in a secure domain.

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Take Price Shock Out of the Equation.

A huge reason for cart abandonment is unexpected costs, i.e. shipping costs that show at the end of the checkout process. To reduce sticker shock, make sure your consumer is well aware of the shipping costs during the browsing process. Consider adding a shipping calculator before checkout to estimate shipping costs and minimize any surprises with price.

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Send Cart Abandonment Emails.

By the time a shopping cart is full, there’s a good chance the customer’s email address has been captured. Use this to your advantage and set up auto-responder emails to notify the customer that they left items in the cart. Follow up with one to two more emails in the next 24 hours and add a tiered offer to entice them to complete the purchase. Make sure your emails include a call-to-action to your website!

In case, they haven't made it that far in the cart, you may want to add an exit intent strategy to capture emails in exchange for an offer in their email. This way you get a valid email to add to your list and they feel like they're getting a deal that may take out the sticker shock out of the buying equation.

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Provide an Option for a Guest Checkout.

A lot of customers prefer to not set up an account as they feel it makes the buying process take longer. Lower your shopping cart abandonment, by giving your customer a Guest Checkout option, and at the end of the transaction, offer to save their information for future orders.

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Simplify Your Website’s Navigation.

Rule #1, the more clicks you put someone through, the more likely they are to leave before completing a purchase. Keep it simple and aim to keep the number of clicks to a minimum until checkout. It’s also a good idea to present your products in a way that is easy to view and to add to a basket. You can do this with “Quick Previews” and an “Add to Cart” option without forcing customers to visit a lengthy product page.

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Tell a Better Story.

Storyselling is key! Don't leave the opportunity only to your sales reps and customer service team. Since your customers can’t physically touch or see your products, it’s critical that the images do the selling and that you give them an idea of why they need this product and your brand in their life.

Top online stores like Wayfair use their product descriptions to help sell the product. If a customer still isn't convinced, then they offer the 'call us' button to continue the conversation with a rep.

Don't skip the visual part of the story too! It's best to blend lifestyle and product images to help people feel great about their online purchases. Here are a few ways you can do this…

• Add multiple product photos from every angle.
• Use only high-resolution images.
• Use action images and show the product in use.
• Add videos to your product pages that support the value proposition and highlight the benefits.

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Track, and Take Action

Use Google Analytics to Identify Behavior Patterns. Google Analytics offers great insight into the behaviors of your visitors and allows you to examine the visitor flow and conversion pathways.

This is extremely helpful in that it will show bottlenecks on your product pages and the points where your traffic is dropping off. From here, you can make improvements to the pages to improve the customer experience.

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Are you nervous about how much business you're losing from abandoned shopping carts? We can help! We will do a free assessment of your website to identify areas of action. Then our affordable SEO and customer experience company can help make any necessary improvements to reduce the conversions for your online store. For more information, please give us a call or schedule a time to chat with Charisma!