When it comes to an ecommerce business, an abandoned cart has the same nature as termites. It eats away slowly and steadily - leaving the damage visible long after it has hit the core.
Many marketing retail firms have shown data that indicates the average rate of cart abandonment is 80 percent! This means around 4 out of 5 shoppers chose to leave the site before confirming their purchase.
This may seem to be a rather worrisome problem; but this happens to be very common for ecommerce businesses and indeed does hold a solution. The best part is we’ve got you covered on all the possible reasons and their solutions right here!
1. Mobile-friendly
If it’s frustrating for you to see the number of abandoned carts on your website, imagine the level of frustration the customer must have felt right before they decided leaving was easier than checking out! And the most common reason behind this in today’s day is your website is not fully optimized for mobiles.
It has been proven that 79% of smartphone users have made an online purchase using their phones in the time frame of 6 months. This means that a major section of your traffic is a smartphone user and you are missing out on various chances to score a successful sale!
It is important to ensure your website is fully optimized for any platform in order to succeed at nailing the seamless checkout feel you shoppers really want. The sooner this is done the better as per forecasts for ecommerce; the sales from mobiles will jump to a total of 54% sales by 2021!
2. Simplify Guest Checkout
The checkout should feel like a light breeze of fresh air, or be as simple as a walk in the park and that can only be achieved if the customer doesn’t feel they have to constantly jump through hoops just to complete their purchase.
Guest checkouts are best for people who don’t want to go through the extra hassle of creating an account before making a purchase. And the best way to this is to offer an option to register and complete their profile later or upon the next purchase.
This way you request minimal information that allows you to build your database without overburdening your customer. Later on you can offer an option to complete their profile by simply linking it to a social media account of their choice.
3. All this AND Shipping?!
This is a box one must check off at the back-end of their ecommerce site. With a variety of users coming and going, shipping costs can deter a person from making a purchase.
Offering free shipping is important as the first thing the customer will see is a greater price tag on the shipping than their item of purchase. The easiest way to enable this is to offer free shipping after a certain price that is feasible to you and won’t seem too much for the average customer visiting your site.
Another alternative to consider; flat rate shipping. This is not exactly “free”, but is a fixed shipping rate regardless of the item.
The trick to finding which one of the two works better for you is to test them out and evaluate the results. They will settle for one eventually as it’ll be a much better offer than paying a hefty shipping fee.
4. Security before All
In today’s day, there is still a fair chance customers may not feel comfortable with providing their data online. Customers are without a doubt more interested in purchasing off trusted sites on which they feel 100% secure.
It is absolutely essential to promise your visitors with security badges and information all over your website to ensure that none of their data is at any risk whatsoever.
Try doing this by making sure your site has an active SSL certificate, even if a third party such as PayPal is handling all your transactions.
5. Eliminate the idea of Hidden Costs
It’s as simple as one can be. Make sure your prices are displayed clear cut and to the point. As it has been proven that 30% shoppers will abandon their carts since the final price is higher than the one displayed initially.
The final shipping costs and sales tax included towards the checkout usually makes the customer lose interest as they have planned accordingly only to find out they have to make more adjustments.
6. Multiple Payment Options? Yes Please!
The world of ecommerce is a lot more competitive than it seems. Amidst all the competition a very important factor to consider is flexibility. This means simplifying it for each user to make a purchase and securing them by offering as many payment options as possible.
No one is saying this part will be even remotely easy as it will be a bit of extra work on your end, but keep in mind it will pay off in the long run.
This is highly recommended for international ecommerce stores, as people from all over the world rely on various payment methods. The typical MasterCard and Visa, or PayPal options aren’t where you stop. Research some more. Understand you’re demographic and supply the users with an option that is catered specifically to them.
This level of understanding will definitely generate more sales and build a stronger and more loyal customer base.
7. Incentives
One word; Pop-ups. Use them wisely and to your advantage and it’s a promise to you the number of abandoned carts on your website will improve significantly.
If you can come up with incentives that can make your customers at least consider providing their email addresses willingly, then this can extensively decrease shopping cart abandonment.
You can make use of a welcome pop-up offering 10%-15% off just by adding their emails to the list, as the possibility of a sale right after is high.
Or you can choose to add the exit pop-up. It will trigger upon a visitor exiting and it’ll offer them with updates, discounts etc.
8. Send Reminders
The hardest pill to swallow is seeing all the shoppers that intended to make a purchase but deviated- thus leaving their cart to never be seen again.
But that surely doesn’t have to be the end of it. You can still offer your potential customers with incentives that require them to come back to their carts and complete their purchase with the help of email reminders! It has been proven to work and improve your conversion rate up to 45%!
9. Create Urgency
At the end of the day we are all only human. Sometimes all we really need to get the job done is a little extra push. This is a tried and true strategy used to create the need in the customer to make a cold hard decision to make the purchase!
The easiest ways are to:
- Notify the customer of the product being low in stock or a few remaining in their size.
- Adding a clock that begins a countdown on a deal or flash sale of some kind.
10. Communication made Easier
Lastly, this one usually goes unnoticed and may be a tiny detail to add to your online store, but it surely has been proven to be quite fruitful for those who have.
Provide your contact info to reassure your shoppers you care and are ready to hear out any queries they have.
If your customers can reach you by telephone, email, or post - that’s one step up in the trust department.
Bonus points for adding a chat box with 24/7 virtual assistance to reassure them that they can get instant service to help them carry out their purchase right then and there!
Conclusion
Implementing any of the measures listed above can surely prevent shopping cart abandonment. Some options may seem rather costly at first, but it’s a small price to pay for greater and more promising results in the future!
Author Name: Sarmad Saleem
Author Bio: Sarmad Saleem is a professional SEO expert with 3 years of industry experience. And I’m currently working for Addify.co as a marketing executive.
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