In the fast-paced world of eCommerce, minimizing cart abandonment is crucial for driving sales and maximizing revenue. From optimizing the checkout process to implementing persuasive marketing techniques, you need to retain customers and boost conversion rates. Don’t let potential sales slip away – explore the insights in this blog post to learn how to minimize cart abandonment and optimize your eCommerce success!
It is often observed in eCommerce purchases that a customer adds products to their cart and abandons the purchase at some point between checking out and the final order placement. This non-completion of a purchase is commonly referred to as shopping cart abandonment. The products that the customer did not complete the purchase of are called abandoned products. To combat this abandonment issue, we must first understand why they are abandoned.
Top 5 Reasons for Abandoning Shopping Cart
The current burning question, therefore, is why people abandon their shopping carts. To understand that, we will have to delve into the mindset of a consumer. Some of the most common reasons are not being ready to make a purchase, lack of discount or promo codes, confusing returns and refund policies, limited quantity of products available, website issues, and other shopping sites giving the customers a better shopping experience.
Apart from the reasons listed above, there are a few other frequent causes of cart abandonment. Let’s look at them individually in the following sections.
• Must Create an Account
Some shopping websites make it mandatory for customers to create an account or sign in before purchasing a product. This account creation or signing in is an extra hassle, especially if the customer plans to make a one-time purchase. Businesses make it mandatory to sign in for lead generation. However, new customers might not feel comfortable disclosing their contact information. Especially considering the current internet security scenarios. Customers often abandon the cart when the website asks them to log in or create an account.
• Complicated Checkout Processes
Customers expect a seamless checkout experience when buying a product online. A regular checkout process has a logical sequence. When customers check out their products, they must enter their billing and shipping information first. They then can select their preferred shipping method and get a preview of the order. This is usually followed by making a payment, then they receive a notification that their order has been confirmed.
If the checkout process does not follow the logical sequence above, customers are confused and abandon the cart. Another deterrent is if the website asks for various personal details that a customer might not be comfortable disclosing, such as date of birth and gender.
• Extra Shipping Costs
One of the major deterrents for customers, when they are shopping online, is seeing their final bill increase. Baymard Institute did a study that found that almost 48% of customers abandon their shopping carts due to extra charges such as taxes, fees, and shipping costs. Customers now expect the same free delivery that they receive from many online merchants.
• More Days Taken to Deliver Goods
Some online websites do not show the delivery date until after a customer goes for checkout. The expected delivery date depends mainly on the location of the customer. For overseas customers, the delivery dates are understandably longer. However, in recent times, customers expect the earliest possible delivery date. The items to be delivered also play a significant role in the delivery process and time. So, the longer you take to deliver the products, the higher the chances of cart abandonment.
• Less Variety or Insecure of Payment Options
During checkout, customers expect a variety of payment options so that they can choose the one they are most comfortable with. Furthermore, many payment portals do not disclose customer’s credit card information when shopping online. Some websites also have an EMI plan where you buy the product first and pay for it later. If the website has fewer payment options available, customers are likely to abandon the cart. Also, if the website is not secure or requires your credit card details, the customer may find it unacceptable and abandon the cart.
Top 5 Techniques to Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment
The way to reduce cart abandonment lies in the reason why customers abandon their carts. If we can work towards smoothening the checkout process and making the process as hassle-free and seamless as possible, we will see a marked reduction in cart abandonment.
In the following sections, let’s look at some major techniques for facilitating a successful checkout.
• Clear Call to Action (CTA)
One of the significant ways of combatting cart abandonment is to have a clearly defined call of action or CTA. Once the customer adds a product to their cart, clearly define the next steps. A good starting point is to confirm to the customer that the product has been successfully added to their cart. If a customer knows what to expect when they add a product to their cart, the chances are that they will not abandon it as the steps are quite clear. Communication is the key to ensuring that the customer is aware of each step.
• Make Signing in Optional
Instead of mandatorily making the customer sign in to check out their items, offer an option for guest checkout. This way, if the customer makes a one-time purchase, they can use the guest checkout option. Alternatively, offer the sign-in option and point out the benefits of doing so. Customers are less likely to abandon their cart if it is not mandatory for them to go through the hassle of signing in. If they plan to visit your website regularly, they can always sign in later when they are free.
• Provide Multiple Delivery Options
An important step to ensure customers check their products out successfully is giving them multiple delivery options. Some customers want to save money and don’t mind waiting for the products. Offer them free delivery with a slightly longer wait time. Some other customers need the products as soon as possible and don’t mind paying for them. Offer them charged delivery with a considerably shorter delivery time. The most important factor is to ensure you provide choices to the customer and let them select whatever they are comfortable with.
• Regularly Remind About the Cart
If the customer has added items to the cart but has not bought them yet, provide them with options. Show them the summary of the products in their car clearly, including the size and the total cost. It will help in informed decision-making.
• Seamless Checkout
Make sure that buying the product is as smooth, seamless, and hassle-free for the customer as possible. The ease of checkout is as important to a customer as the price and quality of the product. The easier the experience, the higher the chances of them returning to your website.
Conclusion:
Customers hesitate before making the final purchase. However, you can assure them of the correctness of their decision by making your checkout process as user-friendly as possible. Put yourself in the customer’s position, try to spot the obstacles to purchasing your product, and remove those obstacles. After all, successful sales result from customer satisfaction.
About XPDEL:
XPDEL is a leading hi-tech provider of Fulfillment and Logistics Services on a mission to enable growth for eCommerce companies. We are futuristic in our vision and constantly work on creating technology that helps us meet customer expectations for today and tomorrow. We have a wide network of Fulfillment centers that enables us to efficiently handle nationwide delivery in the US – same day, next day, and 2-day delivery. Being closer to the end consumer, we deliver much faster than others.
