How Ecommerce Store Owners Can Minimize Abandoned Shopping Carts

By Mehreen Siddiqua , Feb 28 2017
Ecommerce-Store

Feature Image Source: iStock.com/Diane Labombarbe

When online shoppers visit any ecommerce website and put items in their online shopping cart but leave it before moving on to purchase those items is the basic case of shopping cart abandonment. Obviously it’s a nightmare for ecommerce store owners who are losing 67% of sales because of this. Besides, shopping cart abandonment is a real concern because that almost never happens in the real world. However what most ecommerce store owners fail to realize is the fact that it’s indeed an opportunity in disguise and certainly there are ways to minimize the rate of abandonment and increase conversions.

Key pointers

An abandoned shopping cart does not always represent “lost sale”.

When shoppers who abandon shopping carts are retargeted with emails, the average open rate is 40% and a click-through rate of 20% according to Listrak.

Why Shoppers Abandon Shopping Carts?

A study by Forrester indicated that the top reasons for abandonment fall into two key areas, price and time. Typically, the price of the product or shipping being too high; or the customer not being ready to purchase yet, or the retailer not able to deliver the product quickly enough. Also if the ecommerce site asks for the shopper to create an account, it becomes the second biggest reason for people to bail. Note that a lengthy checkout process might enable you to maintain a database but greatly compromises a smooth user experience at checkout.

Shopping Carts
Image Source

Key Strategies To Mitigate Shopping Cart Abandonment

  • Reduce the rate of cart abandonment
  • Remarket to customers who abandon shopping cart

How To Mitigate Shopping Cart Abandonment

Minimize Form Fields

Adding too many fields to the checkout form for your back-end/marketing needs can seriously undermine your chances of converting a willing prospect. Streamline your process to ask minimum details from customers. Unless it’s an absolute essential like home address, don’t add another field. With every additional, unjustified field, you are taking your consumers further away from hassle-free checkout.

Work On CTAs

User experience can be enhanced by simplifying the navigation process throughout the ecommerce website. If your product listing has too much information, make sure the information that is crucial to the user is available with visible CTAs. Instead of saying buy now, use the phrase ‘Add to cart’ and the choice of colors should make call to action buttons more prominent.

Use A Progress Indicator At Checkout Pages

The shopper spends most of the time making the purchase but when it’s done, he/she wishes to checkout as soon as possible. Leading a customer to multiple pages during checkout deteriorates customer experience. The checkout process can be made less intimidating with the use of a progress indicator so the shopper is not kept in the dark about the number of stages remaining.

Maintain Transparency

If you have any hidden clauses or charger, reveal them upfront on product listing pages. The last thing you want is to confuse a customer or worse make him change his mind at the very last stage of purchase. Also if you are not accepting credit cards, don’t wait until the shopper reaches the checkout stage to reveal that information. Your honestly can make a great difference here.

Add Recognized Trust Seals

Unfortunately the online shopping experience has been ruined due to cases of credit card frauds and identity thefts. It’s very natural for people to be cautious about sharing their payment information online. However, they are growing more informed and can begin trusting you if you have the security system in place. Display recognized security seals and your audiences will eventually start trusting you.

Trust Seals
Image Source:Acquire.io

Address The Delay In Page Load Time

It was found in a study that if a page load is delayed by 1 sec, the conversion is reduced by 7%. If applied to checkout pages, this can significantly reduce conversion. In case the delay cannot be minimized, inform the shopper about the exact loading duration. It’s essential to keep the consumers informed at every stage of checkout.

No False Promises In Terms Of Shipping Time And Date

Sometimes all your efforts to promote your ecommerce business goes down the drain if you fall short of commitment. It gives customers some peace of mind if they know when they can expect their order delivery. Plus, what if they need it before a particular date? Be clear in your communication. You wouldn’t want them to leave with a bad taste in the mouth.

Offer Multiple Payment Options

One of the biggest potential reason for cart abandonment is the lack of multiple payment options. Once this happens the potential customer would simply switch website to find a similar deal elsewhere with multiple payment options. With various options for customers to consider you’re giving them what they want, and that’s what it’s all about.

Remarketing Through Email

Sometimes shopping cart abandonment is inevitable despite all attempts to improve checkout experience. However all is not lost. You can retarget those who still abandon your shopping cart. This is probably going to be one of your last attempts to persuade your customers without sounding too desperate.

Offer Price Guarantees

Note that 61% of shoppers don’t complete their purchase journey mainly because the price or extra cost is too high. By offering a price guarantee you give the shopper confidence that they’ve found the best deal and have no need to compare prices with your competitors. And by having a clear and practical refund policy you’re adding peace of mind to the shopper’s experience.

Despite all these efforts the possibility of shopping cart abandonment still lingers. Let’s say it’s a downside to online shopping. However, the above mentioned tactics can minimize the loss of sales and bring back a good number of potential interested customers.

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My spirit lies in the distant past that I never saw with my own eyes but wish to reveal it to the world there is wisdom in the old adage. My heart lies in a future that is filled with imaginative art, technological advancements and scientific discovery in tomorrow-land. In my present, I want to bring about positive change through simple innovative ideas for businesses, brands, visual graphic designers and the world community at large.