Cart abandonment doesn’t happen all that often in brick-and-mortar stores. But the relative ease of online shopping means that in the e-commerce realm, it’s an all too common occurrence. In fact, the average online cart abandonment rate currently stands at about 70%.
While that statistic may seem like cause for alarm, there are a number of simple things you can do to keep your abandoned cart rates down. In most cases, it's a simple matter of design and making the checkout process easier and more straightforward.
With this in mind, here are a few ways that you can reduce cart abandonment and help more buyers -- and their full carts -- make it through the checkout process successfully.
1. Understand intent.
First and foremost, it’s important to recognize that in the e-commerce industry, the prevalence of abandoned carts isn’t always something you can control, nor is it always a bad thing.
Understanding the reasons behind cart abandonment can help you to view it through a more accurate lens. For one thing, only 2% of shoppers convert on their first visit to a store, and some 92% of first-time visitors to a website don’t even intend to buy anything. People need to think about their purchases before they make them, and it takes time to establish rapport and gain their trust.
Additionally, it’s also important to consider that some people treat their cart as a shopping list, a place to store items that they’d like to have but aren’t ready to commit to. In fact, according to quantitative research by Baymard Institute, “I was just browsing/not ready to buy” was found to be one of the top reasons for cart abandonment, coming in at 58.6% among U.S. online shoppers.
2. Shorten and simplify checkout.
According to Statista, some 21% of survey respondents claim that they’ve abandoned a shopping cart because the checkout process was too long or daunting. For e-commerce stores, implementing steps such as one-step checkout, or at least drastically simplifying the process can help to lower your abandoned cart rates and keep people from abandoning ship. If practical, you may also want to consider implementing a quick-order system that allows people to register their payment method for next time.
3. Be upfront about shipping costs (or offer free shipping).
Higher-than-expected shipping costs, as well as taxes and fees, is another top reason for cart abandonment. According to research, 60% of U.S. shoppers who have abandoned a cart claim to have done so because these extra costs were too high. For many shoppers, getting to the end of the purchasing journey, only to find hefty shipping charges looming, is enough for them to close the page.
If you can afford to offer free shipping, you’ll want to consider doing so. If year-round free shipping isn’t feasible, consider running regular promotions where you make it available. The value of free shipping becomes clear when you consider that it can help to increase your average order value. According to one UPS study, 93% of online shoppers take action to qualify for free shipping, and that action usually involves adding additional items to their cart.
4. Offer guest checkout.
Research from Baymard Institute also found that 37% of shoppers who abandoned their carts did so after being asked to create an account. While encouraging your visitors to register offers benefits from a marketing standpoint, it can also lead to cart abandonment by shoppers unwilling to take this additional step.
It’s worth noting that for some industries, allowing customers to check out as a guest works especially well. For others, it may not have such a big impact. In the cabinet business, for example, I've found that allowing customers to check out as a guest isn’t as crucial. Since customers need to save their layouts and other info anyway, almost everyone ends up registering. You may find that results vary, depending on your industry and the amount of work that a shopper needs to do before they place an order.
5. Inspire confidence.
Abandoned carts can also be linked to security concerns. According to research by Klarna and the University of Reading, around 23% of canceled transactions occur because shoppers didn’t trust the website's security. In fact, according to a survey by Econsultancy/Toluna, trust seals are considered to be a significant factor in gaining customers’ trust, even outranking peer recommendations and trustworthy design.
Wondering what badges to use? One survey found that the most trusted badge was Norton, taking 35.6% of the votes, followed by McAfee (22.9%), TRUSTe (13.2%), and BBB Accredited (13.2%).
Personally, I’ve had great success with adding the Norton Security Badge to the checkout page of my e-commerce site, noticing an 18% increase in revenue and a 23.9% increase in completed carts after implementation.
6. Consider accepting additional forms of payment.
“My preferred payment method was not offered,” is another commonly cited cause of cart abandonment, given by 25% of respondents in the aforementioned UPS study. Offering at least two different payment options, including credit/debit card payments and PayPal is always a good idea. Sportswear company Adidas provides shoppers with six different payment methods including PayPal, Visa and even Apple Pay. Having options is a must for large companies and something that smaller companies can benefit from as well.
While window shoppers can’t be helped, there are ways to reduce carts that are abandoned for other reasons. That is why, rather than despairing at the figures, it’s important to use cart abandonment as an opportunity to gauge your visitors’ intent and help them in their purchasing journey. By split testing changes that you make to your checkout process, you can see which adjustments have the most significant impact. The above steps should get you off to a great start.
