How To Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment

Shopping cart abandonment is one of the biggest challenges for any eCommerce store, around 67.9% of customers leave their shopping carts abandoned, something that makes the company lose a lot of money.

If you are still unsure about what it is, shopping cart abandonment occurs when the customer adds items to the shopping cart but leaves before paying and it is highly related to revenue and customer conversion sales.

If your business is experiencing a high rate of shopping cart abandonment, this is an important indicator of your customer experience and checkout process.

Biggest Reasons For Shopping Cart Abandonment

Forced account creation: Having to create an account in order to perform the purchase is something that can bother many potential customers away, it is best to offer guest checkout.
Hidden costs: Customers can turn away if they notice unexpected shipping or tax costs.
A complicated and slow checkout process: Customers love the convenience and when the checkout process includes too many steps and data entry they can quickly leave before finishing the process.
Payment Security: Your customers want to be sure that all their credit card or payment method information is secured and the payment process will be safe. Things like an SSL certification can increase the trust of your customers and make them know their information is safe.
Limited Shipping Options: Customers hate when they don’t have many delivery options to choose from. They want to be able to choose express shipping or select a different shipping provider.
Website Crashes: Huge problems with website performance such as crashes, errors, and slow load times can negatively affect the customer experience.
Limited Payment Options: Some customers want to be able to pay using their desired payment methods such as Paypal, ApplePay, BTC, and Buy Now, Pay Later finance.

What Can You Do To Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment?

Increase Customer Trust

Customers want to be sure that their payment will be safe and their information is protected so you should take all the necessary steps to make them feel protected during the shopping process. Use trust signals such as security logos like PayPal Verified, Verified by visa and be sure to have an SSL certification otherwise your customers will look at a warning sign indicating that their connection isn’t secured.

Provide a Guest Checkout Option

Customers want convenience and being able to finish the shopping process easier so don’t force them to open an account and offer them to checkout as a guest. In the end, they can choose to save their information for a future purchase or create an account.

Avoid Unexpected Hidden Costs

Automatically add all the additional costs such as shipping, fees, and taxes on the preview page. You can also include information about the shipping on the homepage, for example, if you are offering free shipping after a certain purchase amount.

Include As Many Payment Method Options As Possible

As you may already know, all business owners have a merchant account that allows eCommerce stores to accept credit cards and debit cards as a form of payment, both of which are the most used payment methods. But there are alternatives to those payment methods such as Paypal, BTC, and Buy Now, Pay Later consumer financing from reputable partners like ChargeAfter.com. Sometimes the limited payment method options can turn away a customer.

You definitely don’t want your customers to abandon the shopping cart because you don’t have the payment method they want to use. So you should include as many as possible so the customer has more options and won’t look for your product or service on a competitor’s website that does offer the payment method they desire.

Apply Exit-Intent Popups

These pop ups appear when the customer is leaving the checkout page and you can use them to convince the customer about why they shouldn’t abandon your cart by giving them a coupon code or promotional discount. This could be the final motivation they need to proceed with their purchase.

Final Thoughts

Shopping cart abandonment is one of the biggest problems many eCommerce stores face. By implementing some of the steps mentioned above you can increase your customer trust, improve their experience, and keep them motivated during the checkout process to ensure they finish the process before leaving.