How many times have you loaded up an online shopping cart only to change your mind and walk away?
If you answered “many times” to this question, you aren’t alone. According to Statista, the rate consumers abandoned shopping carts on Black Friday 2015 was 72.81%. That’s up from 65.53% in 2011.
The “every day” abandonment rate is 68.55%. That means nearly 7 out of 10 shoppers fill their virtual shopping carts and click away. This rate, like the Black Friday rate, is up over previous years.
Before we get into the tips to prevent eCommerce shopping cart abandonment, let’s first answer the question, “Why do so many shopping carts get abandoned?”
The answer is multiple reasons. A Business Insider study, lists the top reasons for shopping cart abandonment as:
- 58% said shipping costs were more than expected.
- 57% said they weren’t ready to purchase, and they just wanted to compare prices and shipping costs to other website.
- 55% said they just wanted to save the cart for later.
- 50% said their order wasn’t large enough to qualify for free shipping.
- 28% said the shipping time was too long.
- 28% said they didn’t want to create an account to purchase.
- 25% didn’t purchase because their preferred payment options weren’t available.
So, to sum up – the top three reasons shoppers abandon shopping carts are high shipping costs, price comparing, or not ready to purchase.
Now that we know why carts are abandoned, let’s talk about tips to prevent eCommerce shopping cart abandonment.
Tip #1: Use Wish Lists
Having just abandoned a shopping cart myself, I pondered the reasons why. I came up with several explanations. First, I wanted to add everything I might want to purchase. Second, I wanted to shop around and see if I could find a cheaper price. I wasn’t concerned with shipping because free shipping was already offered.
For me, it came down to price shopping.
Unfortunately, this online merchant didn’t offer the ability for me to create a wish list. If they had, not only would I have been able to save my items, they would have captured my email address for future communications about my wish list.
We suggest adding the option for people to create a wish list or save their cart. This benefits both you, the merchant, and your customer.
Wish lists also help you with proper reporting of your conversion rates because instead of passively “abandoning” your cart, customers are actively creating a wish list. See the positive difference?
Tip #2: Offer Free Shipping
Today’s consumer is price conscious, and the Internet makes price comparisons easy. Plus, with Amazon offering everything from books to clothes, the online giant has conditioned shoppers to expect free shipping.
This is why free shipping is a must according to Inc.com.
They say that free shipping is actually a necessity for eCommerce sites. It’s one of the best ways to promote your online shopping site and encourage your customers to follow through with their purchase.
According to another source, 88% of consumers say they are more likely to shop at a site online if they are promised free shipping.
Prevent eCommerce shopping cart abandonment by offering free shipping.
Tip #3: Create the Perfect Checkout Page
If you create a perfect, transparent and helpful checkout page, you’ll prevent shopping cart abandonment.
Your perfect checkout page must build trust and credibility. On this page, you want to make your customer comfortable and answer all their questions – even the ones they didn’t know they had.
Meet your customers’ needs upfront, and they’ll be less likely to click away from their carts.
Here are some best practices for the ideal checkout page.
- Use your strongest testimonial(s) on your checkout page.
- Don’t force customers to register to make a purchase. Offer guest checkout. After they’ve completed their purchase, then you can offer them account setup so they can track their purchase.
- Offer price guarantees. Offer price matching and include a phone number so they can call immediately.
- Don’t hide shipping costs. As mentioned earlier, offer free shipping.
- Be careful with your coupon code box. These boxes actually encourage shoppers to leave your site in search of a code. A lot can happen during their search, and they don’t always make it back to their cart. The best plan is to list your coupon codes on the checkout page and let the customer pick the one that works best for them.
- Offer the option for customers to save their cart for later. Once they create an account, you have their email address to remind them.
Tip #4: Offer a Loyalty Program
You can decrease shopping cart abandonment rates by offering a loyalty program. Today’s consumers like rewards and perks.
Offering a loyalty program can mean the difference between a customer completing their purchase on your site or moving on to another site that offers a rewards program.
Your loyalty program has the potential for increasing conversions. Plus, you’ll encourage customers to return to your site for consecutive purchases because there is a reward at some point.
To Conclude
If you use these tips to prevent eCommerce shopping cart abandonment, you’ll increase your conversion rate optimization and ultimately, your profits.
We’ve got a few last tips for you to help improve your success.
Pay attention to your checkout process. Go through it yourself. It should be as simple as possible. Your goal is a quick and efficient checkout.
Add some trust seals so your customers know they can trust your site – think seals like the Better Business Bureau, VeriSign and others.
Eliminate all distractions from your checkout pages. The only navigation you need is a keep shopping button or back button.
Make your call to action buttons easy to find. Don’t hide anything at this point. Include a side bar with a few pertinent policies (think return policy) along with a chat button so customers can have instant access to get their questions answered.
Always give an estimated shipping and delivery date. Your customers want to know you’ll quickly send their products.
Lastly, if possible, collect their email address in the very beginning of the checkout process so you can contact them in case they abandon their shopping cart. Retargeting abandoned carts is our final tip as it allows you to reach out to customers and remind them their cart is waiting.
If you’d like more information on how to prevent eCommerce shopping cart abandonment, we can help. Landing pages and conversion rate optimization are our specialty. We can help you improve your checkout process to increase the likelihood your customers will make a purchase. Contact us today.
We’ll provide you with our FREE site performance analysis so we can work on your landing page conversion rates.
Image: Faruk Ateş
The post Tips To Prevent eCommerce Shopping Cart Abandonment appeared first on Landing Page Optimization Blog.
