Simple tips to reduce shopping cart abandonment

Shopping cart abandonment remains a big head ache for online retailers. According to Baymard Insitute the average rate of cart abandonment is 68.07%, and a recent report by BI Intelligence states that approximately $4 trillion worth of products will be abandoned this year! So, imagine the difference to your revenue if you could covert the abandoned carts or reduce abandonment altogether! Here are a few simple tips to help you do just that…

Make the checkout process as easy as possible

Nothing is more frustrating for a customer than a lengthy and complicated check out process, requiring information ranging from their birthday to their next door neighbour’s cat’s name.

Ok, I’m exaggerating, but you get the picture: keep it simple. Shoppers don’t want to go through unnecessary steps to make their purchase, so make it quick and easy. Firstly make sure your calls to action are clear and prominent on the page. A progress indicator bar is also a good idea to inform buyers of how many more steps are left! Furthermore, make sure that they can easily return to previous steps in case they want to change anything.

There are both pros and cons to prompting customers to create an account when making a purchase. By getting customers to sign up, you can start to gather information on them, gather information on their profile, offer them deals specific to their needs and create a more meaningful relationship with them. However, customers may get frustrated if they feel they are being forced to sign up. Therefore, make the process of signing up as hassle free as possible and offer them a valid reason for registering, for example so they don’t have to re-enter all their details next time. Only make essential information compulsory to fill out. Consider also offering incentives to encourage customers to give more information, for example to receive personalised offers.

It might also be a good idea to include a live chat or a free phone number, just in case the customer has any mast minute doubts regarding the product. Finally, more and more customers are shopping via mobile. UK mcommerce is expected to increase by 77.8% to £14.95 billion in 2015, therefore, make sure you site is optimised for mobile.

Be upfront

It has happened to all of us, we have got to the final stages of the check out only to discover that our “great deal” isn’t as much of a bargain as we previously thought once the shipping fee has been whacked on!

Be up front from the beginning regarding shipping costs and delivery dates. If financially viable, free and quick shopping is a great way to encourage conversion. Make sure your returns policy is clearly communicated as well.

Always display stock, to avoid disappointed customers! Furthermore, displaying stock, especially when low, can be a great incentive to get customers to buy!

Remind them about their abandoned shopping cart

Unfortunately, despite your best efforts there will always be some abandoned carts. If you have the customer’s email address, you can always send them a friendly reminder about their cart, and add an incentive ie: free delivery or 10% reduction, to get them to come back and complete the purchase. According to Marketing Land, the best time to send the first recovery campaign email is 1-3 hours after the cart has been abandoned.

You can also reduce cart abandonment through retargeting. By targeting visitors who leave your online store with customised adverts on other sites, based on their interactions on your site, you can entice them to go back to your site to complete the purchase.