Shopping carts simplify closing sales by allowing customers to organize a list that has all important information (details & price) and buy multiple products with a single payment. Also, they boost the efficiency of your online store by allowing users to easily navigate through the checkout flow. However, it is completely normal for eCommerce sites to have some cart abandonment struggles.
Your #customers are often abandoning their #carts? Here's how you can minimize that! Share on XSometimes, people add items to their shopping carts and totally forget about them, which is, I know, a bit unusual but it happens. This means that you’re losing potential purchases at the end of your sales cycle, which is a crucial part of your sales/marketing strategy. The good news is, you needn’t worry, as, with just a few minor fixes, you’ll see huge improvement almost immediately.
If you take a look at Baymard Institute’s research, you’ll notice that the cart abandonment rate is around 69%, which is a huge problem that many businesses are trying to avoid. Furthermore, there are a few most common reasons why people abandon shopping carts, which I’ll show you how to fix.
Top Reasons Why Carts Are Abandoned:
- Not ready to make a purchase – financial reasons or still browsing.
- Additional fees that aren’t visible upfront – high shipping costs and tax/VAT.
- It takes too long to complete a purchase – requiring registration, additional user information, long checkout process.
- Limited payment methods – the more the merrier.
The research also shows that larger eCommerce sites can gain around a 35% increase in conversion rate by simply creating a better checkout design. If you ask me, that is a big improvement, which can easily be achieved by implementing the right checkout optimizations.
Make Use of Social Proof
One trait that all people share is that we like to mimic each other, especially each other’s purchasing habits. Exactly that is why social proof became such a powerful tool in the eCommerce industry.
By showing to your website visitors, in real-time, that other people are completing purchases on your site, you make them want to follow suit so they don’t miss out.
An easy way of incorporating social proof into your website is using a tool like Evidence.
With Evidence, you can display customized social proof notifications for purchases, registrations, and much more. Meaning when one customer completes a purchase, the rest of those browsing your site will get notified about it, giving them that FOMO we have all felt before.
The number of social proof campaigns you can create with Evidence isn’t limited and you can create one for each of your sales/marketing strategies and goals. Amazing!
Show Trust by Using Badges and Offering Support
The number of identity thefts and private information leaks has been on the rise. Understandably, people are skeptical when an unknown brand/business asks for their credit card information as they aren’t familiar with it and there is a certain lack of trust between the two parties. This is why it is important for you to show as much of your information/credentials as possible.
Everybody likes to know who they are dealing with and if you have logos (PayPal, Visa), security badges (McAfee, Norton), SSL certificates, or recommendations, make sure to display them. This helps you gain your customer’s trust, which is very important with first-time customers.
Make sure to let them know that you are there for all inquiries related to your products and that they can count on your assistance if anything goes wrong. For example, you can insert chat boxes into your site or simply use third-party platforms (Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn) to communicate.
You can resort to using something like AtomChat, a chat that helps create trust that, in turn, minimizes card abandonment.
Avoid Unnecessary Surprises by Showing All Costs Upfront
If you’ve done your share of online shopping, then you’ve probably had a few bad experiences. Some online stores don’t tell you about additional expenses, fees, discounts, and so on. When you open your shopping cart you’re bombarded with all the stuff you don’t want. There are also examples where shops sell cheap stuff but require you to pay abnormal shipping fees that are three times more expensive than the product itself. Rarely do people purchase products if the shipping fee is greater than the product’s price and can we even blame them?
You should also include the subtotal and total costs if possible. Unfortunately, it is not always possible, but you should at least show an estimated cost, so your customers know that the final cost will include additional fees.
The more information and features you include, the fewer reasons there are for customers to leave the website and abandon their shopping carts.
Include Multiple Payment Options
The more payment options you have, the higher your chance is for customers to go through with a purchase. You can include PayPal, Stripe, Google Wallet, Visa, Mastercard, and so on. It is also not a bad idea to include Skrill and even Bitcoin if you’re looking to maximize sales.
You can easily add various payment options by using one of the many WordPress plugins.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce lets you accept major credit cards, alternative payment methods, bank transfers, and even cash on delivery. It integrates with over 140 region-specific gateways such as Stripe, PayPal, Square, Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
Features
- Product, Cart, and Checkout pages
- Secure payments
- Configurable shipping options with flat rates & label printing
- Automated tax calculations
- Google Analytics, MailChimp, and Facebook integration
Easy Digital Downloads
If you’re looking to sell digital products, then Easy Digital Downloads is the plugin for you. Easily configure your products and integrate with popular third-party services or extensions.
Features
- Discount codes
- Activity tracking
- Data reporting
- Unlimited downloads
Use Automated Follow Up Emails
Use email marketing to remind potential customers that they have abandoned their shopping carts and that they can still complete the purchase. Most of the time, these emails include discounts or any sort of incentive to motivate people to complete the purchase. Don’t forget to include call-to-actions (CTAs) and don’t be too annoying. You can even include related products or products you think they’d like to show that you care about their preferences.
However, to ensure the best possible results, you must be very careful when it comes to timing, frequency, incentives, and overall design.
Timing – send an email within the first 24 hours and to try to recover the sale.
Frequency – don’t send more than a few emails or you risk going into the spam folder. If someone is not opening your emails, there’s a good reason why it’s happening and your best course of action is to move on.
Design – looks are important, so try to grab as much attention as possible if you want to reduce cart abandonment issues.
Klaviyo
Klaviyo is a software platform for marketing online sales. They offer all sorts of different features that include tracking stats and they even offer expert support.
Add Exit-Intent Pop-Ups
Exit-intent popups can be added to any page, even shopping cart and checkout pages. By tracking user behavior, they detect when the user wants to leave the page and send them a pop-up message that incentivizes them to stay by usually offering discounts.
Why Exit Pop-ups Work:
- Before they leave, you can grab their attention with a promo offer and finalize the purchase.
- The message is in the middle of the screen and it usually includes a limited time offer, which forces them to make a choice immediately or they’ll lose the special offer.
- Everybody likes deals and if they can get something cheaper, why not? By offering better deals to your customers you grow your relationship and make your brand more likable.
Conclusion
There are endless ways how to minimize cart abandonment, but I’ve covered the most common issues that you’ll find out there. If none of these work for you, and you think it’s time for a fresh start, finding a good ecommerce development company might solve the problem.
Focus on your customers, and ask yourself – how would you feel if you were in their shoes? Obviously, the more information you can share with them, the better. Therefore, try to understand their concerns and if you can, provide simple solutions that will increase your sales margin.