Shopping Cart Abandonment Solutions for Online Business

For many e-commerce websites the biggest loss of revenue happens due to the checkout process. A recent study reveals the following:

A 70% average shopping cart abandonment rate was observed for the majority of retailers. Since, on average, websites convert visitors-to-sales at a rate of 1% to 2% then 98% to 99% of the guests to your website leave without purchasing!

The cart abandonment rate is one the most “stared- at” metric in retail e-commerce, and one that most businesses could stand to improve. But before making changes to their Web sites, retailers need to study and understand the many factors that lead to cart abandonment – not all of which are inherently evil.

So what exactly is the Cart Abandonment?

Basically, shopping cart abandonment is when a visitor initiates your checkout process but leaves before completing their purchase.

For online businesses with their main goal of selling products, shopping cart abandonment can mean the difference between profitability and loss.
Some of the most obvious factors driving cart abandonment include inventory availability and unexpected shipping and tax charges. Many Web sites do not indicate whether a product is actually available for purchase until the cart page; others wait until the checkout process. In either case, customers who can’t purchase the product they’ve selected are highly unlikely to convert. 

These percentages identify an enormous improvement opportunity for online businesses.

Scenario by Example: (with reference to a Departmental Store)

Just think of a visit to your local departmental store to purchase grocery items. You are able to locate the ten items you wanted to buy, but together the total price exceeded your budget, so you plan to remove 2 items from the cart.

Standing at the checkout counter, you get frustrated with the long queue ahead. After a ten minute wait, the cashier asks you to complete a membership form before they will compete your purchase. More time is consumed as the credit card reader fails owing to technical glitches.

These all incidents narrow down the chances of a conversion which mars the profitability of the retail store. Customers do hesitate while going out of a brick and mortar store, but just think of when they shop online!!! So it becomes very essential that you treat your online guests in a way that will help you convert more of them into customers.

There are various reasons for shoppers to abandon their shopping carts. Some are put off by trust, security issues, confused navigational path, some by speed and many are comparison shopping and never intended to complete the purchase.

A PayPal (NASDAQ:EBAY) survey revealed that nearly half (45 percent) of online shoppers have abandoned their carts multiple times in the past three weeks due to high shipping costs, security concerns and lack of convenience. High shipping costs was cited as the largest single reason for cart abandonment.

How to decrease Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate?

In an e-commerce site it is essential to ensure a secure and safe checkout for the esteemed guests.

The major measures which have improved guest experience are:

State your shipping prices or rules upfront:

Online buyers should have knowledge about the Shipping Charges even before they start the check-in process. The best locations are next to the shopping cart, page header or footer or within content in the product pages. People will always abandon carts when the Shipping Costs is calculated based on what is in the basket. It is actually very difficult to work out / find the correct postage rate until you have placed items in the basket (unless you have to login first which is a real bug bear).Retailers need to get smart in this area in particular and either offer flat rate or free delivery. 

Ensuring Shopping at your site is Secure:

 Display security items prominently to remove any hesitation about security and let them know exactly why you need their information and that it will only be used for this order. Tests have shown that adding a security seal within the user eye flow at critical times during checkout can improve conversion. Reassure the consumer about data privacy, transaction security and use of personal data. Put third party secure site seals (such as VeriSign) to lower shopper resistance to providing credit card details.

  

Offer alternative payment methods:

Offering multiple payment methods opens up the number of people who will do business with you. Customers like to choice and control. It is an excellent marketing strategy to include as many payment options as possible to raise the comfort level of the shopper, as well as not to exclude anyone from being able to buy.

Ensure Product Quality:

 Include thumbnail product images in the checkout pages to make shopper confident he added the product he actually wanted to buy.

Low Checkout Time:

Never force a customer to login or register in order to checkout, make it optional (and obvious). Forced registration at checkout lowers trust, raises frustration, and steals time from the customer. Make as short of a checkout as possible, and if you need several pages, let visitors know how many steps are in your checkout process and to show progress as they work through it. A progress indicator is commonly located at the top of the checkout pages and is clearly numbered with the current step highlighted. This will serve the double purpose of being less confusing and shortening the time to purchase (and avoiding “Buyer’s grievance“).

Customers can be motivated to fill out forms by providing them small discounts on their next visit which would substantially increase their chances of a repeat visit. This would ensure that the Business is not loosing out on necessary Guest Information as well.

Offers and Discounts:

Few retailers have tried out a promotional campaign as well to not to loose out to potential customers. They offer them a x% discount on the whole order if they stay and complete. This has been quite good and worked on well for them.

 

There are a numerous ways to improve the Customer Experience on your site. Thus retailers should make it a top priority to investigate their customers’ behavior. The best way to get an understanding of customer behaviors is through direct customer research, including surveys and usability testing.