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Top 5 Ways to Overcome Shopping Cart Abandonment

Hemanand
December 22, 2014 |

Ecommerce companies invest significant resources in terms of advertising, search engine optimization and other brand building operations for driving traffic to their websites. Then the customer journey begins as the retailers aim to convert website visitors into customers. To make that happen it’s important that customers are guided through the process and provided with all the essential details for every product listed in the website.

In many circumstances, customer’s journey seems to end abruptly in the middle leading to shopping cart abandonment. For most eCommerce retailers, shopping cart abandonment is a significant pain, since it equates to billions of revenue loss each year. Forrester researchers illustrate that on an average only 3% of shoppers make a purchase during their first visit to an online store. In the other 97%, nearly 88% of the shoppers place their products in shopping cart but end up discarding them. So there arise questions like “Why are consumers abandoning their transactions and what are the top reasons? why are they hesitant to buy?”

Latest studies found the following:

 •         57% felt shipping costs were too high

•          48% felt cost of the product was more than expected

•          41% simply used the shopping cart for research

•          27% required a discount coupon

•          24% for less payment options

•          22% disliked inappropriate information and felt the website was less credible

•          15% faced a complicated checkout process

•          12% reported other reasons

Some people may just browse the products and return at a later time, but there are a number of ways that an improved customer journey will help increase conversion rates. The abandonment can be minimized by providing the right information, at the right place and in the right form to answer customer questions. This will enhance the user progression towards sales conversion rather than a customer disappearance.

The critical areas which need to be focused in terms of reducing shopping cart abandonment are as follows;

Be Upfront About Prices

According to Statista survey, about 56% of buyers discard their shopping cart because hidden fees rise up after they move on to the checkout process. Also, quite a lot of customers abandon their shopping cart because of high shipping rates. The best way to reduce any hidden fees is to add a shipping & sales tax calculator to the actual shopping cart. Many e-tailers only offer alike calculator after checkout, which can certainly scare off potential consumers. If you do it up front, then people know what to expect.

Provide Clear Accessible Information

Consumers don’t wish to manually search the whole site for answers to their questions. They especially do not want to resort to email or telephone communication to get information. Ensure that you have web self-service on your site to ask questions in their own words and get the answers they need to move forward quickly and easily.

Alternative Payment & Guest Checkout Options

A lot of customers wish to use PayPal, Google Checkout or similar payment gateways that facilitate them to fulfill their online transactions without providing their financial and shipping particulars for each purchase. Analysis from Forrester shows that 75 percent of online buyers have an alternative payment account.

Forrester Research also shows that 23% of buyers will abandon their shopping progression when asked to register prior to check-out stage. Unless its mandatory, enabling guest checkout will simplify the shopping journey and tends to quicken sale conversion.

Enhanced Multi Device Experience

Today, customers use multiple devices for their shopping. For example, a new product might be researched on an iPad and then booked several days later using a work laptop or even by calling the contact centre. What is crucial is that changing channels doesn’t fracture the customer journey – ensure you carry forward as much information as possible to recognize returning buyers and don’t push them to replicate themselves or fill in forms multiple times.

Read one of our latest blogs on how Omnichannel eCommerce is transforming customer experience  different channels.

Remarketing Emails

Remarketing is about enhancing sales through a convincing reminder. The email should be branded and recognized as a helping hand; ‘Customer Service’ is a good way to brand your email. The subject line has to be petite, appealing and trigger an instant reaction. Remarketing campaigns should be something recipients will find useful. The purpose is to get customers to complete a checkout without much force.

Businesses will never thrive in converting all website users into buyers. However, by delivering the right customer experience, it will considerably boost conversion rates and enhance sales. Shopping cart abandonment is a unique opportunity not to be missed.  It will help your company increase revenues whilst increasing credibility and trust in your brand for your customers.

References

Hemanand

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