Any ecommerce business owner should be familiar with shopping cart abandonment and the problems that come with it. Shopping cart abandonment is when a website visitor starts the buying process but abandons it before completing a purchase.
Imagine going to a mall, filling your shopping cart with different items, only to get distracted, subsequently leaving the store without buying anything. This scenario is unlikely, but it’s a common occurrence with online shopping and ecommerce. Regardless of your website design, prices, and other factors, customers will visit your site, start shopping, then leave because their favorite TV show is about to start.
Reducing shopping cart abandonment rates is a primary problem for all online vendors and retailers, as it’s rather complex. While it can’ be mitigated entirely, there are steps business owners can take to ensure shopping cart abandonment rates are as low as possible.
Shopping Cart Abandonment Statistics
According to shopping cart abandonment statistics, the average cart abandonment rate is 69.57%, which is a shockingly high number.
Before getting into ways of reducing your business’s cart abandonment rate, let’s delve a little deeper into the stats and facts connected to shopping cart abandonment:
- 55% of people abandon their carts due to extra costs.
2. Companies lose around $18 million in sales revenues because of cart abandonment.
3. 39% of people abandon their carts when asked to fill out too many forms, and 36% give up when asked to create an account.
4. A company can recover 20% of sales if it sends a reminder email within 24 hours.
Ways to Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment
Utilizing Reminder Emails
Sending reminder emails is one of the first things a company should do, as far as ways of reducing shopping cart abandonment go. It’s arguably the most effective shopping cart abandonment hack. Statistics show that 46.1% of people open their cart abandonment emails, 13.3% click inside those emails, and 35% out of 13.3% end up buying something.
Progress Indicators Are More Valuable Than They Seem
Imagine you’re at a supermarket, standing in a line to buy something, and then a cashier asks for your zip code, phone number, ID, card number, etc. If you had to go through a similarly tedious purchase process online, you’d have trouble finding the patience to complete your purchase.
Such a long check out process should be avoided on ecommerce platforms. A progress indicator gives customers the impression that the buying process is “almost complete” and enables them to understand it better.
Retargeting
According to statistics, only 2% of visitors make a purchase on their first visit to a website. That means that the remaining 98% need a little convincing. Retargeting is a strategy that reminds them of their initial interest in your website. It’s simply showing online ads of your products to anyone who has visited your website recently, which is a quicker and slightly more stress-free alternative to reminder emails.
Enable Guest Checkout
Most online retailers ask potential buyers to create accounts before purchasing their products, which is a common cause of cart abandonment. According to statistics, as many as 36% of customers will abandon their carts if asked to create an account.
Sharing personal information, confirming an email address, and all the other steps involved in creating an account is a lot to ask of a customer who can go to a different site in a matter of seconds. Therefore, allowing guest checkout (if possible) is an excellent way of reducing a cart abandonment rate. You can always ask customers to register with your business after their purchase.
The Importance of Simple Website Navigation and Design
The functionality of your website is just as important as any other factor. A complicated design with extra pages and too many clicks is sure to drive away many potential customers. According to statistics, 25% of website visitors abandon their shopping carts due to complex navigation. Keep your site easy to use by categorizing products neatly and providing a quick check out process.
Additionally, you can reduce the number of clicks by including thumbnail images of products in the checkout process. Enabling customers to see products is reassuring and helps them remain conscious of what they are purchasing by eliminating extra clicks and potential distractions.
Security Assurance
A common mistake online retailers make is assuming that the check out process and transaction forms are a formality. That couldn’t be further from the truth. By making your customers fill out transaction forms, you’re asking them to trust you with personal and sensitive information.
That goes beyond just their contact details because you’re asking for their address and credit card details. Considering that credit card security breaches are on the rise, your customers need to know that their personal information is secure.
Your transaction forms should be a highlight of your platform’s security. Showing security badges and customer reviews are two sure ways of doing that. A study showed that as many as 61% of shoppers didn’t complete their online purchases due to the lack of security badges and trust logos. Including security badges such as Norton and McAfee is the way to go.
Summary
In conclusion, you can reduce shopping cart abandonment rates on your website by:
- Using reminder emails;
- Showing progress indicators on the checkout page;
- Utilizing retargeting techniques;
- Allowing customers to buy products without creating accounts (guest checkouts);
- Ensuring that your website is easy to use;
- Giving your customers security assurances.
There are also other ways of achieving your goal, like reducing your page load time, offering refunds, and allowing multiple payment options. These methods should make your shopping cart abandonment rates drop significantly, thus increasing your revenue.
