Cart abandonment is a common challenge for e-commerce businesses. It happens when a potential customer adds items to their online shopping cart, but leaves the website without completing the purchase. This can result in lost revenue, wasted marketing efforts, and lower customer satisfaction. In this article, we will share some tips on how to reduce cart abandonment rates and increase conversions.
One of the main reasons why customers abandon their carts is because of a slow-loading website. A study by Google found that 53% of mobile users will leave a site if it takes more than three seconds to load. Therefore, you need to optimize your website speed and performance to provide a smooth and seamless shopping experience. You can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or Pingdom to test your site speed and identify areas for improvement. Some of the best practices to speed up your site include using a fast and reliable hosting service, compressing images and videos, enabling caching, and minimizing redirects.
One thing I have noticed in the e-commerce field is people actually view products and end up not making purchases. Some add to cart but never proceed to checkout, a main factor could be the cost or sales price of your product may be slightly higher than your competitors. Another reason is when the proceed button or button to move to the next stage after adding to cart is not visible.
It should be Mobile-First optimization. Your should be fast while using cellular network. Less than 5 sec to fully load is good enough
While speed is extremely important, the likelihood of a visitor making it to checkout on a slow website is very low to begin with. The most common and the biggest reason for abandoned carts is poor UX (User Experience). Leveraging technology to pre populate all information you know about your repeat customer or a prospect is key to minimize the manual effort for the buyer to fill our various forms before making a purchase. You must get your processes as closely to a “one-click buy” experience (like Amazon). In addition, eliminating any extra clutter and unnecessary information from the checkout experience will keep the person focused on the task at hand (placing the order).
Another reason why customers abandon their carts is because of a complicated or lengthy checkout process. According to a report by Baymard Institute, 23% of customers will abandon their carts if they have to create a new account, and 21% will do so if the checkout process is too long or unclear. Therefore, you need to simplify your checkout process and make it as easy and convenient as possible for your customers. You can do this by offering multiple payment options, allowing guest checkout, showing progress indicators, displaying security badges, and providing clear and accurate information on shipping costs, taxes, and delivery times.
In my opinion, a “simple checkout” is where I don’t have to think twice. - I know exactly what I need to do next. - I know exactly what to fill out and why. - If I already provided some data to this merchant, their system pre-populates it for me automatically. - I would not mind if even high probability assumptions are made through technology (like “your country is United States”, I mean this is just basic stuff everyone should be doing today). - A few payment options is good, I tend to navigate towards the one where I don’t have to fill out my payment information in full (ApplePay, GooglePay, etc) - those are very simple to use. - re: shipping. There are only 2 questions that matter: WHEN and HOW MUCH. Nothing else matters.
Use real-time address and email verification software to speed up and simplify the checkout process. I recently purchased something where I had to manually type in the address details FOUR times ( shipping and billing on two different pages in the payment process). There was no autocomplete and the form did not give the option to check a box to say the addresses were the same for both. This made the payment process long winded and wasted time, and will no doubt put a lot of customers off completing a purchase. In short, don't miss out on the basics because they can make a massive difference!
Shipping costs are another major factor that influences customers' decision to complete their purchase or not. According to a survey by Statista, 55% of customers will abandon their carts if they find the shipping costs too high, and 36% will do so if they find the delivery time too long. Therefore, you need to offer free or discounted shipping to your customers and communicate it clearly on your website. You can also use shipping as an incentive to increase the average order value by setting a minimum purchase amount or offering free upgrades or returns.
This goes back to KNOWING your customer. You only want to offer discounts or free shipping IF and only IF price is the issue. And many can argue that the issue may not be the price itself, but lack of value the customer is getting for the dollar you are asking them to pay. Knowing the customer will help you find the RIGHT solution for them. Example: customer learned that the product they want to buy will not arrive on time, no discounts will help here. Offering them expedited shipping, will convert them. Never make assumptions, leverage the data, track, and measure = success ??
Exit-intent popups are a powerful tool to capture the attention of customers who are about to leave your website without buying anything. They are triggered by the mouse movement or scrolling behavior of the user and display a message or an offer that entices them to stay and complete their purchase. For example, you can use exit-intent popups to offer a discount code, a free trial, a free gift, a reminder of the items in the cart, or a testimonial from a satisfied customer. You can use tools like OptinMonster, Privy, or Sumo to create and customize exit-intent popups for your website.
Here are vital pointers about Exit intent popups 1. Capture Attention: Display a popup as a user is about to exit, re-engaging their interest in their cart. 2. Offer Incentives: Provide limited-time discounts or free shipping to motivate purchase completion. 3. Simplify the Process: Highlight streamlined checkout options, like guest checkout, to ease buying. 4. Display Guarantees: Showcase money-back promises and easy returns to build trust. 5. Mobile Optimization: Ensure popups are responsive, as many users shop on mobile devices. 6. Security Assurance: Emphasize security badges and encryption to alleviate safety concerns. 7. Test and Analyze: Regularly A/B test popup strategies and review interactions to refine and improve effectiveness.
Email reminders are another effective way to reduce cart abandonment rates and recover lost sales. They are automated emails that are sent to customers who have left items in their cart but have not completed their purchase within a certain period of time. They usually include a link to the cart, a summary of the items, a call to action, and a sense of urgency or scarcity. For example, you can use email reminders to offer a limited-time discount, a free shipping coupon, a stock alert, or a product recommendation. You can use tools like Mailchimp, Klaviyo, or Omnisend to set up and send email reminders to your customers.
In my experience knowing the email address for a prospect when the shopping cart is created maximizes your opportunity for this recommendation. Many e-commerce platforms don’t do this today and this is a big opportunity area. IMPORTANT: the ask for email has to feel natural and not intrusive to the prospect.