How to Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment

There’s nothing more frustrating to an ecommerce website than potential customers leaving the site, and not being able to do anything about it. However, there are multiple ways to influence customers to continue through the shopping cart process. Stop losing potential sales and revenue because of shopping cart abandonment.

Re-targeting Through Paid Advertising

You’ve probably noticed ads popping up on other sites after you’ve visited a certain site. These are paid re-targeting ads, aimed at bringing users back to a site to make a purchase. Re-targeting uses a user’s Cookies to see what sites they have visited. Re-targeting ads focus on bringing back ‘window shoppers’, people who viewed items or added items to a cart, but never converted. Re-targeting ads are a paid service, so it’s something that will need to be added into your marketing budget, however it can be very beneficial.

Re-targeting Through Email Outreach

A user is logged into their account, adds something to the cart, then never clicks buy. There’s a way to reach these users, and it’s done through email. As mentioned the users are often logged into their account, thus having an email address to reach them at. You will need to reach these users before they forget about the cart or make the purchase elsewhere. Also, when these emails are sent out it’s important to not be pushy, last thing you want is someone deleting their account and not returning to the site. Simply remind them of their abandoned cart and give them a way to get back to it. Offering some incentives will also entice users to return and make a purchase.

Create Trust

After adding items to a cart there are multiple reasons why a customer may leave, often they are hesitant to give a site their information. Consumers are very cautious of where they put their credit card information, and if your site has not built a brand users will be skeptical. Having a secure (https) site and trust logos are excellent examples of building trust. Nearly 61% of users will not make a purchase if trust logos are missing. Show off how secure shopping process is and start converting users.

Provide Shopping Progress

If your shopping cart requires multiple steps it’s best practice to let users know how far through the process they are. This can be a simple bar at the top of the cart that shows which step the user is on and how many they have left until it’s completed. Having too many steps can allow consumers to get distracted or begin to rethink their purchase.

Show Items in Cart Through Process

Now many people are not going to forget what’s in their cart, however, it can be reassuring for many that the correct item is in the cart. It also gives the user a way to see what they are purchasing, thus reminding them why they are going through the shopping cart process. The items doesn’t need to be displayed as a large image, a simple thumbnail will suffice. This will help reinforce the consumer’s desire to own the product.

Avoid Hidden Fees

One of the most common reasons for an abandoned cart is new fees show up within the checkout process. In many cases this means outrageous shipping costs, but it can also include fees associated with the website. Many users understand taxes will be included in their purchase, however, they often do not expect other fees. If unexpected fees pop up in the checkout process you can expect consumers to abandon the cart and find the product elsewhere.

Limit Distractions

Once you have a user going through the shopping process, keep them there. Don’t give them reasons to leave, such as more products. Sure it’s great to have a buyer purchase more than one item, but you risk losing that original purchase. Many shopping carts will remove the navigation to their site, limiting users to leave the cart and look at more items. Focus on getting the user through the conversion process, you can always pitch them different products once the purchase has been made.

Checkout as Guest Option

For many buyers it can be very frustrating when it’s required to build an account before making a purchase. Brick and mortar retail stores don’t require consumers to create an account before making a purchase. However, they do offer incentives if you join, which can also be an option your site implements. Many users want to simply plug in their information and get their products, thus this is why you should have an option for users to checkout as guest.

Save Cart and Wish Lists Options

A very common occurrence is users shopping around, adding products to carts, then second guessing their purchase. For many reasons they may feel they don’t need that item right now. Give them an option to come back and make the purchase later. Sites like Amazon allows for its users to build wish lists that they can share with friends and family. You may not get the original shopper to make a purchase, but you can get their friends or family to make it for them.

Have Multiple Payment Options

Not every consumer uses PayPal, so don’t limit yourself to just PayPal. Give users multiple ways they can make a purchase. If you offer different payment options, then let people know this before they click add to cart. Some credit cards offer incentives for using their card, if a user see that card’s logo on your page, they may be influenced to use that card on your site.

Offer Multiple Shipping Options

Typically, users will select the cheapest shipping option, however, consumers love to have options. Also, they may be interested in receiving the products earlier than ground shipping may estimate. Having multiple shipping options is not a must for sites, but it’s a great way to please your buyers.

Easy Contact Customer Service

Giving consumers an easy way to ask questions can help them make a decision on a product. Your phone number should be available throughout the website, along with your email address. Encourage buyers to contact you, don’t look at it as a burden. Another great way to reach users is to have a live chat option.

Make the Site Mobile Friendly

More and more users are moving towards mobile, thus it’s vital to have a site that is mobile friendly. Running your domain through Google’s mobile friendly test can help determine where changes need to be made. If a shopping cart is too difficult to navigate because it’s not optimized for mobile will influence users to shop elsewhere.

Test Site Speed

Google also offers a site speed test which will help pinpoint where your site may be slow. Users will leave a site if the page does not load faster than 3 seconds. If you’re lucky enough to get a user to click add to cart, it’s important that they get through the cart effortlessly. If a site is loading slowly users will become wary of the stability of the site. Also, depending on your cart, users may click the checkout button multiple times while waiting for the cart to load.