How Can I avoid shopping cart dropout at my e-shop?
What is Shopping Cart Dropout?
Shopping cart abandonment happens when customers add objects to their shopping cart but leave before completing their purchase. During the first quarter of 2021, almost 80% of online shopping orders were abandoned, i.e. not converted into a purchase (Source: Statista). Mobile users have an even higher rate of abandonment rate of 85.65% (Source: Barilliance)
The shopping cart drop rate is an essential metric for online retailers to monitor, strongly correlated to customer conversion rates and revenue. A high cart abandonment rate is a standard indicator of friction in the checkout process.
Shopping Cart abandonment is not the same as Checkout Abandonment; the former is standard on e-commerce sites when shoppers add things to their shopping carts but leave before checking out. On the other hand, checkout abandonment occurs when a customer starts the checkout process for in-cart items but doesn’t complete it. It’s essential to understand the difference between the two and observe each phase of the purchase funnel to draw the correct conclusions.
How can you calculate the shopping cart drop Rate?
To estimate the cart abandonment rate, simply divide the total number of completed purchases by the number of created carts (or initiated sales), subtract the result from one and then multiply by 100.
If you have, for example, 500 carts created and 150 completed purchases, your cart abandonment rate is 70%.
To find ways to handle the cart abandonment issue, you must understand the main reasons behind this customer behavior. The main drivers of shopping cart abandonment are poor user experience, a broken sales funnel, and a lack of transparency into details like shipping costs and/or return policies.
Cart abandonment is a common problem that you can only minimize. Comprehending what’s causing shoppers to quit their purchase and optimizing trouble areas will help decrease your cart abandonment rate and raise your conversion rate.
So here are some of the areas that tend to cause friction in the customer experience and lead shoppers to abandon their carts:
1. Long or incoherent checkout procedure
Shoppers want to complete their purchases as quickly and efficiently as possible. A checkout process with many steps and multiple forms can create discomfort and slow shoppers down.
2. Unexpected shipping costs
Unexpected costs (shipping, taxes and other fees) make the customer rethink their purchase. Some customers will even add items to their cart just to view a final amount to pay. Once they see added fees, they are less likely to proceed.
3. Forced account creation
The request for users to create an account before check out is unnecessary. Especially for those first-time buyers who may not be ready or willing to sign up for an account.
4. Payment security concerns
Many customers are cautious about online payments. If they feel concerned about security, they will most definitely not proceed. Things that matter the most are design flaws, outdated layouts, missing images, and no SSL certificates.
Explore how PayByBank payment option protects customer details
5. Absence of desirable payment options.
Online shoppers want to complete their purchases using the most convenient payment methods. Some may be willing to proceed with the default option, but for others, the inability to support their preferred method is grounds for leaving the site altogether.
6. Delivery times
Shoppers expect their orders to be delivered within a reasonable timeframe. If they discover they might have to wait too long, then you lose them.
7. Site speed and app performance
Serious problems with performance such as crashes and errors will lead customers to seek a better user experience. Minor performance problems are less likely to scare customers off, but will still impact their experience and should be prevented if you want to increase your overall purchases%
Now that you know the main reasons causing cart abandonment, what can you do to prevent it?
The checkout process should never be complicated for your customers
1. Be transparent on costs
Be upfront with shipping charges and other related costs like taxes and delivery fees and provide multiple options (next day versus 2-3 days delivery, etc.) so that you can set the expectations of your shoppers about delivery dates. When you give customers all costs in advance, including any shipping costs, taxes, and any other fees they should expect, you eliminate the possibility of losing them at a later stage.
2. Have progress indicators through the checkout
In this way, users understand where they are in the checkout process, and it can also work as an incentive for buyers to continue shopping.
3. Make navigation easy
Customers want to add items to their shopping cart quickly and get back to browsing the rest of the shop as soon as possible. Simplify and speed up the checkout process: make sure your registration form is practical and functional, removing all unnecessary fields.
4. Optimize page load speeds
The last thing you want is for a customer to question if their order went through successfully. A fast-loading website can satisfy your shoppers’ demand for a fast checkout experience.
5. Add guest checkout options
Locking the checkout behind a user barrier can prevent new visitors from your site. To ensure you’re not excluding any potential customers, offer the ability to check out as a guest instead of forcing account creation.
6. Offer support
An added value of shopping in-store is that you get access to pleasant staff ready to help you find items or answers. You can reflect this same level of care and attention by combining customer support options into your checkout flow.
7. Offer your customers’ product reviews
If a shopper is hesitating about a purchase, creating trust is a significant way to remove that uncertainty. Providing more details about a product’s quality and usage (3 bought in the last hour!) or showing authentic reviews can increase customer confidence in proceeding with the purchase. Consider using a badge to highlight reviews on the product page. This can further instill confidence and trust in the product and the brand.
8. Use trust symbols to reassure customers
Customers need to know that your e-shop is secure to share sensitive information like their credit card number and shipping address. Showcasing PCI-DSS compliance and other safety stamps can help comfort shoppers that their details will be kept safe throughout order completion. Security and authenticity play a major role in instilling trust in your customers and in helping them during their decision-making process. Things that matter to shoppers who will inevitably share some of their personal data are visible trust signs, such as Norton, McAfee, and TRUSTe security seals. Additionally, a clear and transparent return policy, ideally a free 30- day return window, creates a sense of security for your customers.
9. Offer several payment options
Presenting a single payment option or too few choices can put unneeded barriers between you and your shopper. You need at least two to three different payment methods to provide your shoppers with sufficient alternatives. Aside from debit and credit payments, you can also offer non-traditional payment gateways such as PayByBank that allow customers to make a purchase without entering a credit card number, which is a great option for mobile users as they don’t need to manually enter numbers. PayByBank also allows purchases with cash payments, through a network of more than 1.200 selected locations all over Greece, where a Customer can pay for online purchases as easily as they would pay for a simple utility bill.
Explore why should you have multiple options at checkout? What are the benefits?
Keep in mind that:
While every customer is different, many shoppers have similar buying patterns and preferences.
It might not be possible to recapture all customers who abandon carts, it’s worth undertaking a small investment and implementing certain changes in our e-commerce strategy to reclaim those potential sales.
The one clear thing is that checkout frustration, and time-consuming experiences are more likely to cause customers to leave their purchase.
To succeed in today’s experience-driven world, online merchants must continue to prioritize star purchase experiences to convert shoppers into paying customers and finally to loyal customers.
At the heart of everything lies the customer journey. By offering transparency and authentic reviews or trust seals, and by providing multiple payment options you will most likely see a corresponding decrease in abandonment and an uplift in recovered carts.
