Running an online store can be stressful. Between adjusting your product offering, fulfilling orders, maintaining your website, and more, it's easy to lose sight of something as sad as reducing shopping cart abandonment.
If you've ever felt personally victimized by cart abandonment rates, don't do it. You're not alone. In fact, the Baymard Institute has estimated the current global cart abandonment rate to be around 69%. You can be sure that every successful online business has a "lower cart abandonment" on your business wish list.
There are many reasons why a shopper may abandon their cart. Maybe they got distracted by a very cute dog outside their window. Probably not. They most likely left items in your cart for one of the following reasons:
- There were unexpected shipping costs
- They had to create an account
- They were "surfing" the whole time
- They did not trust the site enough to enter their credit card information
- The payment process was too complicated
Fortunately, for all the reasons why customers abandon their carts, there is a solution (and sometimes more than one). Do not lose hope. Just read on to discover 10 proven ways to lower your shopping cart abandonment rate.
Be transparent about fees, especially shipping
A few months ago, I was trying to buy office supplies online. But when I got to the checkout, the shipping fees to Canada would double the price of my order and I would have to pay additional duties. I didn't find out about this until I was halfway through the checkout process. How annoying. I abandoned my cart.
There is something about high shipping rates that deters customers like no other. According to Kissmetrics , "Unexpected shipping costs" are the main reason for cart abandonment. Try to provide as much information as you can, right away, about how much it will cost your customers to receive your products.
Also be transparent with taxes. Are they included in the list price? What percentage of the purchase is taxed? Will the customer have to pay tariffs for international shipments? These are all questions customers like to know ASAP, as they can make or break a sale.
Being honest about the costs, even if they are high, shows your integrity. Customers are more likely to revisit stores they like and trust. And whatever you do, do n't try to sneak up on additional costs at the end of the transaction. It makes you look sleazy and annoys or completely deters your customers.
Make use of pop-ups with exit intent
If you've never heard of them, exit intent pop-ups are those smart little pop-ups that wait to be displayed until the visitor moves their cursor to exit the page. Done right, they are a great way to increase conversions.
Before a potential customer leaves your site (thus abandoning their cart), display an exit intent popup encouraging them to complete their purchase by offering additional product information or a coupon code to use at checkout.
Include a persistent cart / checkout button
Can you imagine going to a grocery store and not being able to find the box or the exit? What a nightmare that would be! Well, the same goes for an online store. If your customer can't easily find their shopping cart or checkout, how are they supposed to buy something?
Implementing a persistent cart and / or checkout button ensures that your customers will not get lost or overwhelmed trying to find their way out of your product pages. It's a nuanced call to action. You want it to be as simple as possible for your customer to add items to their cart and proceed to checkout.
Make it easy for customers to ask questions
No matter how many positive reviews you have, no matter how well you've done writing great product descriptions , your customers are likely to have questions. Make it easy for them to get in touch with you, so you can answer their questions and help them continue their lucrative shopping journey.
If you can, consider integrating an automated chatbot or something like LiveChat . If not, make sure your contact information is readily available and that you are checking and responding to emails regularly.
Include security badges
Nobody wants to lose money. And nobody likes to be fooled. According to Shopify, 50% of online shoppers worry about being scammed by online businesses. In addition, 66% of Internet users are concerned that other people access their personal data. None of this is your fault, but you can ease your concerns by assuring customers that their purchases and personal data are safe.
You can reduce the worry by displaying SSL certificates or trust seals, but make sure the trust seals are trustworthy. It doesn't do much good if people distrust what they are supposed to trust. Do some research to uncover the concerns of your core demographic and act accordingly.
We suggest making your website as secure as possible and sharing the actions you are taking to keep information safe with your customers.
Give the option to "save shopping cart"
People accidentally exit browsers all the time. Maybe your computer decides to update randomly or you just have to put down your device. This is not ideal for you or your customer if they have the value of a cart of products that they intend to purchase. Giving shoppers the option to save their cart is a great way to reduce cart abandonment rate and ensure that customers complete their purchase.
There are several ways to do it. You can give the buyer the option to sign up for an account that will automatically save their cart and recently viewed items. You can also have an option to save cart or just automatically save the cart in your browser or cookies. There are a couple of apps that can do this for you. Remember My Cart is just one of many found in the Shopify app store.
Also, you may want to include a wish list option that allows customers to easily add items to their cart when they are ready to shop. Apps like Wishlist Plus can help you with this!
Send cart recovery emails
Cart recovery emails are exactly what they sound like - emails that let potential customers know that they have left items in their shopping cart. Done right, they are a super effective way to increase conversions.
The best part is that these emails can be fully automated, with the help of applications like Consistent Cart . So with a little configuration, you can increase conversions and decrease cart abandonment cases in no time. Consider including a coupon code or even just product details and photos to remind them of the great products they are missing out on.
Optimize your payment
One of the best ways to reduce your shopping cart abandonment rates is to streamline the checkout process. Customers don't need to click through six pages, sign up for an account, and give you their paternal grandmother's maiden name. Don't be Rowan Atkinson in Love Actually .
You want your payment to be as intuitive and easy to use as possible. There are many things you can do to speed up your checkout and make your customers excited about their purchase rather than frustrated.
Kissmetrics offers some great ways to reduce the number of steps in your payment. First, make sure your payment is consistent with the rest of your website. If it looks like a completely different website, the trust that has been established thus far may not carry over to this new checkout page.
Second, Kissmetrics suggests that merchants request shipping information before billing information. You care about billing first, but your customer cares where and when your products arrive. Align your payment with what your customer wants. Show that you care.
Additionally, Shopify recommends reducing the number of pages in your checkout process. The fewer the pages, the less opportunities for frustration and cart abandonment.
Allow guest payment
We seem to have a trillion accounts for a trillion different things. I can't even tell you how many different accounts I have created in the last week. Sometimes the last thing we want to do when we're about to buy that coveted water filter straw is create another account.
According to Invesp , 14% of online shoppers say that being forced to create an account or log in with a social account was reason enough to abandon their cart. Giving customers a guest checkout option is a great way to reduce cart abandonment rates. The checkout process will be easier for the customer and that's great for you.
If shopping with you is easy, customers are more likely to return or recommend you to their friends.
Offer multiple payment options
It sucks when you go to a store, find something you like, and go to pay for it, only to find that the retailer only accepts cash. Often times, you will end up buying the product elsewhere or waiting for it to come back another day. Either way, you've effectively just abandoned your cart.
Frustration over a lack of payment options is not an exclusive brick and mortar experience. It happens online all the time. According to comScore, 56% of shoppers want a variety of payment options. AND Invesp says 7% of shoppers will abandon their cart entirely if there isn't a good variety.
Sure, adding more payment options can be a hassle for you, but with a platform like Shopify, things are a bit easier. Not to mention, it's opening up to a broader demographic of shoppers.
Thinking of your customers' people will help you determine which payment options to include. Of course, you'll want to support credit card purchases, but also consider PayPal, Apple Pay, Visa or Mastercard debit, and Google Pay.
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