Shopping cart abandonment is a problem that affects online stores of all sizes. In fact, it’s estimated that almost two-thirds of shopping carts are abandoned, which can lead to significant losses for businesses. Knowing how to reduce shopping cart abandonment can significantly boost your profit margin and improve your customer experience.
At Bapple, we understand that strong UX and usability principles are crucial to ensuring your customers reach the end of the checkout process — every time. In this blog, we’ll explain the meaning of shopping cart abandonment, explore the key factors that cause engaged customers to drop out of the checkout process, and reveal how to avoid shopping cart abandonment with strategic website design.
What does shopping cart abandonment mean?
Shopping cart abandonment describes when a customer adds items to their online shopping cart but leaves the website before completing the purchase. There are a number of reasons why this might happen, but it often comes down to UX issues — for example, if a website is challenging to navigate. A study by Baymard Institute found that the average shopping cart abandonment rate is 69.23%. That means nearly 7 out of 10 people who add items to their shopping carts do not buy anything.
When does shopping cart abandonment occur?
There are two potential scenarios for shopping cart abandonment to take place. The first is when a user adds items to their cart but chooses not to complete the purchase — perhaps because they change their mind about the item or find the total cost to be higher than they expected. The second scenario is when a user attempts to complete a purchase but is unsuccessful. This can be due to technical difficulties, such as the website crashing or the payment process being delayed or too complicated
— With the onset of online marketplaces, the trend of enabling regular individuals and retailers to sell their products to their consumers has risen. The C2C eCommerce websites act as portals for direct transactions between two individuals like eBay, Etsy and Craigslist.
How to avoid shopping cart abandonment
To understand how to reduce shopping cart abandonment, you must understand the most common factors that lead customers to desert the checkout process. Maybe they were merely browsing and did not intend to make a purchase, or the checkout process was too long-winded. Perhaps the website crashed or was slow to load, the shipping costs were too high, or they couldn’t find a discount coupon to use.
If you’re wondering how to avoid shopping cart abandonment, there are a few tactics that businesses can deploy to improve the user experience, such as:
Provide detailed shipping information
Almost 70% of shopping cart abandonments are due to a lack of shipping information, according to Baymard Institute. Make it easy for customers to find shipping information by placing it in a prominent location on your website, and be sure to include the estimated delivery date and any relevant shipping costs early in the checkout process. Better yet, offer free shipping if you can.
Provide a guest checkout option
Some customers may not want to create an account on your website — because they’re not familiar with your brand, are short on time, or simply can’t be bothered. You’ll capture sales from customers who would have chosen to abandon their shopping carts by making it possible to checkout as a guest.
Make it easy to create an account
Some customers are hesitant to create an account before purchasing because they don’t want to receive spam emails or deal with remembering yet another password. Communicate how creating an account will benefit them — faster checkouts in the future, for example — and make the process as straightforward as possible by asking for minimal signup information.
Offer multiple payment options
How often have you reached the end of the checkout process and realised you don’t have your purse or wallet to hand? Customers like to have plenty of choices, so it pays to offer multiple payment options. In addition to the major credit cards, you could also host PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other regionally-relevant alternatives depending on where you’re located.
Streamline the checkout process
One of the main reasons for abandoned shopping carts is that the checkout process is far too complex. Users want to complete their purchase quickly and easily without having to jump through hoops. If your checkout process is long and convoluted, get rid of non-essential fields, enable auto-fill — for example, a checkbox if the billing address is the same as the shipping address — and add a progress indicator so they know how far along they are.
How to avoid shopping cart abandonment
By following these tips, your business can provide a better experience for potential and returning customers, which will drive sales and increase profits in turn. At Bapple, we’re experts in purpose-driven website development and design. Reach out and contact our knowledgeable team today to learn more about how to reduce shopping cart abandonment with our user-friendly web application development.
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