Cart abandonment is a significant challenge in eCommerce, with statistics indicating an average abandonment rate of 70%. This means that only 3 out of 10 potential sales are being completed. The more abandoned carts you have, the more difficult it becomes to guide customers to the final purchase. But is this a problem you can influence or control? And what steps can you take to reduce the number of abandoned carts on your site?
Personalizing the experience using shoppers' previous history or interactions with you can help you tailor the shopping experience to what they are looking for. This is something anyone who has shopped on Amazon will be familiar with. It allows people to pick up where they left off or be shown related products that are aired to search history for a faster progression through the site. Offering personalized suggestions, discounts, and expedited checkout based on data you hold on to them can make them more likely to check out, as this attention to detail and making things easier for them will be appreciated.
Not just any emails, abandoned cart emails are those sent once the sale has been stopped without checking out to remind people of their activity and that their potential purchase is there, waiting for them to come back. Shopify states that cart review emails are the best-performing email, with an open rate of over 41% and a click-through rate of 9.50%. You can send reminders, time-sensitive offers, or related suggestions to entice people to back to complete the sale. But if you notice a high number of abandoned carts and reminding them could be exactly what they need.
Understanding that you cannot eliminate all abandoned carts will help you target those who are more likely to purchase. So people “window shop” online, essentially filling their carts and leaving them as a way to replicate the window shopping in-person experience. These people typically weren't likely to buy anyway. Focusing on those who are more likely to purchase allows you to better utilize your resources in the right places to ensure you reduce abandoned carts that can be checked out instead of wasting time on people who had no intention to buy in the first place. So, while it won't remove all instances of abandoned costs, knowing where you focus can increase sales effectively.
One huge issue that contributes to abandoned carts is overly complicated checkout processes or redirecting people to different places to complete sales. By keeping people on site and using a credit card payment processing API to accept payments within your website, you can increase the likelihood of people checking out as you streamline the steps to finalize the payment and make life easier for the customer.
Offering an added incentive to checkout and make the sale can be extremely enticing, help you reduce abandoned carts, and boost returning sales in one fell swoop. Using apps to help you create rewards programs can be an effective tool for increasing sales, and you can choose the type of rewards you prefer, i.e., building up points to see once they meet certain thresholds, collecting points to exchange for offers or discounts or offering discounts on follow-up purchases. It's entirely up to you but including this as part of your sales strategy can be an effective tool in reducing n abandoned carts.
Live chat can be a useful tool for people experiencing issues with the checkout process or needing help or further clarification. You can provide live, real-time help and advice to assist people checking out. Whether your live chat pops up within the checkout process to answer questions or is readily available on every page, using this effective tool can give customers help when they need to further encourage them to purchase from you.
The more payment options you allow people to choose from, the more likely they will be to check out. It is really that simple. People have different preferences for how they wish to pay when shopping online, and not allowing them to use their preferred method means they might not feel comfortable using other payment methods, or they may not have access to the options you're giving them, meaning they won't follow through. Take this out of the equation by introducing a range of options for people to choose from so they feel more confident about paying for their purchases.
