It is common for online shoppers to load up their shopping carts with products only to exit the website and abandon the cart without completing the transaction. The main reason for this is being hit with unexpected costs at checkout, which leads by a large margin. Then there are those who either didn’t have any real intention to buy or had found better prices elsewhere. There are even those who decided that the price is just too expensive and those who changed their minds in the middle of shopping.
Other reasons include functionality of the website; excessive fees, unsuitable delivery options, currency problems, limited payment options and security. Around $4 trillion worth of merchandise is expected to be abandoned while still in cart in 2015, which stems from around 72-75% of all carts online. That means 3 out of 4 carts in the whole Internet get left behind without completing the purchases.
Online shopping cart abandonment is still a problem for the most part and should be addressed accordingly, and the following are some of the measures you can take to do so.
Retarget Shoppers
Since around three-fourths of customers tend to get back to their previously-abandoned carts within 12-24 hours, it wouldn’t hurt to remind them of it just to be sure. Most commonly, this is done through email, but you can also utilize retargeting ads that works through cookies to cleverly pop up whenever someone does not complete a transaction.
Offer Exclusive Deals
It is a classic strategy for enticing customers and there is no reason that it can’t work online as well. By giving them really good deals that they can’t get anywhere else, you are also giving them more reason to frequent your business. You can also offer coupon codes for special discounts, but just remember to not give them out all the time.
Provide Ample Product Information
Add more details on the product information because pictures can only say so much about a product in online shopping. Since it is not a physical store where customers can get a personal look and feel for the product, the best thing you can do is to give accurate detailed information. Depending on your product, this may include the dimensions, material used, available colors, and many more.
Be Transparent About Shipping Costs and Times
There are a few things that always frustrate online shoppers, and one of them is not being able to know the shipping costs and time of delivery. The fundamental truth in online shopping is that the product must get to the customer, preferably as quickly as possible. Being able to give them an honest estimate, depending on their chosen method of delivery, would lead them to trust your website more.
Assure Site Security and Safety
Since the website has to deal with sensitive personal information that include billing addresses and credit card information, security is important to ensure the safety of customers. If cautious buyers find out that your online shop doesn’t have good security, they will surely hesitate to avail of your products and services.
Offer Multiple Payment Options
The more customers you have, the more ways they should be able to pay; the more payment options you offer, the more customers you can have. It is also a good idea to accommodate other currencies, although it is only recommended for online shops that have an international customer base.
Make Registration Optional
Mandatory accounts are quite tedious, especially for one-time shoppers who just so happened to have stumbled upon what they want in your online shop. If you really must have customers to log in to your online shopping website, you can offer social login so they can use their social media accounts to register and log in with just one click for convenience.
Streamline Checkout Process
The functionality of your online shop is crucial, so everything has to be smooth from the browsing experience to the checkout. One of the main reasons for cart abandonment is encountering errors in the middle of shopping, which is most often avoidable by having a good website design that reliably works.
Optimize for Mobile
The mobile user base can never be ignored as they cover a sizable portion of the market. The same size also include much of the desktop user base since plenty of people use both desktop computers and mobile devices. Online shops that work well in mobile devices are one of the best ways to ensure success in today’s fickle and progressive online market.
Which of these aspects do you need to improve on your checkout process? Work on decreasing your abandonment rate so you would not waste any leads and possible sales.
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