Reasons Users Abandon Their Carts and What to Do About it

Reasons Users Abandon Their Carts and What to Do About it

Shopping cart abandonment is a very common phenomenon, where customers add items to their online carts but then leave the site without making a purchase. The abandoned carts are potential revenue the retailer would have ideally obtained, but have lost.

What is the abandonment rate?

The abandonment rate is the ratio of the number of abandoned shopping carts to the number of initiated transactions or to the number of completed transactions. The global average rate for 2016 was 77.24%, which means that a little over ¾ of shoppers who added items to their carts ended up not making a purchase.

Top Reasons why Users abandon their carts:

  • Being forced to create an account.
  • Struggling with complicated checkout processes.
  • Unexpected delivery costs.
  • Concerns over security.
  • Long and confusing checkout process.
  • No express shipping available.

Here are some tips to improve conversions:

Account Creation:

Give the user a reason to sign up for an account. EG: Offer a 10% Members discount. Also make sure the sign up process is simple and quick.

Shipping Cost:

Consider offering FREE delivery. A free or standard delivery charge is more user-friendly. But many retailers are reluctant to do this because it tends to raise prices that make the site appear less competitive. Whatever your decision make sure your communicate the message clear and open.

Security:

Believe it or not there are still people out there who are hesitant about buying online. They have read about the rise of credit card fraud and online scams, and it’s left them nervous. So how can we reassure them? One option is to place credibility badges for example PayPal or VeriSign logos. Also make sure to use an SSL certificate for your domain. HTTPS rather than standard HTTP.

Abandon cart emails:

You can automatically send an email to customers after they have abandoned their checkout. The email contains a permanent link to a customer's abandoned checkout – the cart page with their products already added – so that they can quickly and easily complete their checkout if they so choose.

Emails, sent three hours after a consumer abandons a cart, average a 40% open rate and a 20% click-through.

Remarketing Ads:

Remarketing lets you show ads to people who've visited your website. When people leave your website without buying anything, for example, remarketing helps you reconnect with them by showing relevant banner ads across their different devices.

Email marketing

Email marketing is still one of the most effective forms of online marketing. So make sure to send offer and other valid information to your customers on a regular basis.