According to recent studies, more than 60% of online customers abandon their carts. This phenomenon is explained as the process of exiting a website before finalising orders.
This is a disturbing figure for anyone doing business in the eCommerce sector. However, the situation is even more troubling for online retailers. This is due to the fact that cart abandonment lowers conversation rates and distorts data. It also increases the cost of acquiring new customers.
This is why you have to analyse why customers abandon their carts and how to prevent or tackle the issue.
In this article, we will reveal a powerful method you can use to strategically lower your shopping cart abandonment rate and improve your sales.
What is shopping cart abandonment?
Shopping cart abandonment is a term used in eCommerce to describe when a visitor to a website initiates the checkout process for online purchase but quits before finalising it.
Items that the online shopper added to their shopping carts are deemed “abandoned” because they did not complete their purchase.
Best Strategies to reduce cart abandonment
Now that you know what shopping cart abandonment is, it’s time to explore techniques that will lower your shopping cart abandonment rate and improve your conversion rates for customers who abandon their purchases.
Factors that cause online shoppers to stay away from your checkout page may vary. This depends on your industry, type of client and brand. Because of this, it is expected that some strategies will be more effective than others.
Here are some of the best techniques for shopping cart abandonment reduction:
Use Exit-Intent Pop-Up
With an excellently-designed pop-up template, you can lower your cart abandonment rate by up to 20% or more.
Exit-intent technology enables you to make one final move to convert your online shopper when they intend to exit your site.
Exit-intent popups are highly effective because they capture attention. When you integrate an exit-intent popup with an irresistible offer on your checkout page, anyone who tries to abandon a cart will have a final window of opportunity to convert.
Here are some ways you can better optimize your popup to tackle shopping cart abandonment:
Target shoppers with exit-intent popups just before they abandon
The good thing about exit-intent popups is that they never interfere or negatively impact your shoppers’ browsing experience. You can tailor them to the surface whenever your visitors are about to exit. This tremendously improves your conversion rate, especially with shoppers who are about to leave.
And shoppers won’t hesitate to convert when there’s a convincing reason to.
Influence purchase decisions by providing a discount or free shipping
Offering a sweet deal or discount to shoppers who finalise their orders can lower your cart abandonment rate by 25%.
It’s no surprise that all shoppers like a bit of encouragement to complete their checkout. A good way to do this is by offering them free shipping or a price slash. This might be sufficient to convince them to finalise their purchase order.
Boost sales by creating a sense of urgency.
A great way to get shoppers to complete their purchase orders is to create a sense of urgency. They are more inclined to finish their purchase activities if they believe their freebie is available for a short period. This is why you need to use Leadforza’s FOMO popup, as it is equipped with a countdown timer. This way, you can harness a sense of urgency to lower your cart abandonment rate.
Use popups to capture email addresses.
It may interest you to know that you can use your cart abandonment popup for email address capture. For instance, you can request your shoppers input their email addresses in the popup. Once they convert, you can offer them a coupon code via email.
As soon as you receive their email details, you can always notify them to finalise their purchases whenever they abandon carts. It might seem difficult if you have never set up a cart abandonment pop up before.
Luckily for you, Leadforza simplifies the process of creating exit-intent popups. Click here to get started.
Make the checkout process much easier.
Most times, customers might quit the checkout process shortly after making purchases. A possible reason for this is that the checkout stage is very complicated.
Today’s shoppers have a short attention span. Nobody has the patience to undergo a lengthy or cumbersome checkout process. This could lead to an increase in cart abandonment rates.
A great way to rectify this is to ensure your checkout process is seamless, quick, smooth and simple.
Look out for where shoppers encounter obstacles or bottlenecks, remove any friction points, and enhance your store’s shopping cart experience.
Although this may appear to be an exaggerated issue, it is important not to dismiss it.
Incorporate trust signals during the checkout process.
If shoppers do not trust your website, they will most likely abandon their carts. This insecurity that customers feel will cause your conversion rate to reduce drastically.
Though in this era, more shoppers are okay with using their credit cards to shop online, incorporating trust signals into your checkout process and other parts of your site will assist in eliminating any concerns or misgivings your clients may have.
Tips for incorporating trust signals into the checkout process:
- Ensure you use credible payment gateway systems like PayPal, Google Pay, Square, etc.
- Add reviews and testimonials from satisfied customers.
- Include trust badges and security seals on your checkout page.
- Showcase pictures of real people on your site.
- Add your contact details to your help centre page.
Shoppers will be more willing to go through with their purchases if you improve the trustworthiness of your site. They will always look out for trust signals like return policy, money-back guarantee, product exchange policy, SSL certifications, etc.
Increase the number of payment options
Limited payment options during the checkout process can cause shoppers to abandon their carts.
Today, many shoppers have a strong bias for the kind of payment system they wish to use online. They won’t complete their purchase if their chosen payment system is unavailable.
You can rectify this issue and lower your cart abandonment by providing shoppers with a wide variety of payment methods, including:
- PayPal
- Google pay
- Shop Pay
- Bitcoin, etc.
Send emails to shoppers who have abandoned their carts.
At times, updating and streamlining your site’s shopping experience may not be enough to get the job done.
The techniques we have explored in this article are effective at lowering your cart abandonment rate; in spite of your utmost endeavours, some customers won’t stop quitting your site without finalising their purchase.
In that instance, you will need a shopping cart recovery plan.
This will involve you trying to capture the shopper even when they are not on your site.
One of the best ways to do this is by emailing shoppers who have abandoned their carts.
When sending an email to your shopper, ensure you add incentives like a discount code or free shipping offer. This will persuade them to revisit your site and finalise their purchase.
It is a simple but highly effective method that can help you reconnect with your shoppers. According to studies, over 55% of shoppers return to finish a purchase within 24 hours after they get a tailored cart abandonment email.
