35 actionable tips to reduce shopping cart abandonment rate
TRANSCRIPT
35 WAYS TO FIGHT
The ultimate list of tips & tricks.
CART ABANDONMENT
What is shopping cart abandonment?
Abandonment rate is a term used to describe the ratio of the number of abandoned shopping carts to the umber of completed transactions.
Although shoppers in brick and mortar stores rarely abandon their carts, abandonment of virtual shopping carts is very common.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
How high is high?
Currently, shopping cart abandonment rate is as high as 68.63%.
This means that almost 70% of your shop visitors that have already gone as far as adding products to their carts and almost becoming your customer, will never be your customer.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
Source: Baymard Institute
People abandon their carts for a reason.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
Unexpected costsJust browsing
Found a better price elsewhereToo expensive
Decided against buyingComplicated website navigation
Website crashedProcess was taking too long
Excessive payment security checksConcerns about payment security
Unsuitable delivery optionsWebsite time out
Price displayed in foreign currencyPayment declined 11%
13%15%16%17%18%
21%24%25%26%
32%36%37%
56%
Source: Statista
But it’s preventable.
Most of these issues are preventable — but it takes a tweak or three to resolve them.
HERE’S HOW:
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
Before abandonment.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
1. Be transparent about your costs
If people are given a proper heads up about how much the product costs, they’re more likely to buy it — even if it’s more expensive.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
Source: Harvard Business Review
2. Offer free shipping A free shipping offer that saves a customer $6.99 is more appealing to
many than a discount that cuts the purchase price by $10.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
Source: David Bell
3. Be clear about your return policy
Give your customers a clear understanding of how your return policy works without sounding ambiguous.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
4. Reduce the average checkout steps
On average, it takes customers 5.08 steps to complete a checkout.
To reduce the process, only ask for essential information, e.g. name, email, delivery address, and payment method, and never make people fill out the same information
twice.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
Source: Smashing Magazine
5. Don’t demand too much Registration shouldn’t be compulsory — it should be optional. Let people
sign up only if they want to.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
6. Have a clear progress indicator
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
A small tweak, and yet a huge game changer.
7. Make your content shoppable If your content is directly shoppable, customers can add items to their
shopping carts right away — and as a result, buy more.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
8. Remove distractions Remove all distractions that urge people to click elsewhere, such as the
menu navigation, unnecessary calls-to action, etc.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
9. Be smart about your CTAs Do your calls-to-action attract enough attention?
Do they have a powerful look?
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
10. Improve website speed A two-second delay in load time during a transaction process increases
shopping cart abandonment rate up to 87%.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
Source: hobo-web
11. Improve website navigation People should be able to navigate around your website as smoothly as
possible. If they don’t get where to click and how to proceed, you’re losing a deal opportunity.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
12. Improve your mobile Are the product images too small? Are the buttons impossible to click on? Is the checkout process a pain? If you answered yes, it’s time to get a grip
of your shop’s mobile performance.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
13. Make sure your shop's getting relevant traffic
Traffic quality is a major contributor to whether or not people find your product interesting enough to buy it. So make sure your marketing team is pulling the right
targeting triggers and attracting the right audience.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
14. Use more images Adding more images showing off extra details about the product would
definitely make it look more appealing.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
15. Use more interactive images Ability to see an item in a different colour or style; ability to alternate views of
the item; the zoom-in functionality — all this is a must-have.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
16. And even better — use videos Use the power of video to describe, use and demonstrate your products.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
17. And even EVEN better — use User Generated Content (UGC)
86% of businesses use UGC. It is a huge, and yet still pretty much untapped, marketing opportunity that unveils unique angles of your product and adds an extra layer of personality
to it.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
Source: SEMrush
18. Is your product page persuasive enough?
Good product pages are built to say “Here’s how your life will change if you buy this product”. Bad product pages are built to say “Here’s the product, sweetie. I do hope you like it”.
Feel the difference?
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
19. Have a section for sales & specials
47% of online shoppers buy only discounted products.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
Source: ConversionXL
20. Use coupons Provide a special spot in the checkout process for people to insert the
code in order to activate the coupon.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
21. Allow customers to review and edit their cart…
…as well as get the details of products added at any time of the checkout process.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
22. Persistent shopping cart “Sorry, you shopping cart has expired.”
That’s not what you want your customers to hear. The solution? Persistent shopping cart. For at least 30 days.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
23. Enable people to save their wishlists
Encourage shoppers with weak purchase intent go back to the online shop by enabling a “wishlist" feature that would allow them to save items they like.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
24. Make sure you don’t go out of stock
Make sure you don’t go out of stock too often — or at the very least, send a gentle reminder to inform a customer that certain items in their shopping cart
are getting sold out.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
25. Use limited time offers According to behavioural psychologists, “urgent situations cause us to
suspend deliberate thought and to act quickly”, so by having a very short-term special offer, customers will be motivated to take action.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
26. Show that you’re trustworthy
Put security features everywhere, so that people know that their private information won’t get leaked. Having a clear privacy policy, displayed phone
number, and live support chat can also help you look more trustworthy.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
27. Add reviews for social proof Let people know if other customers were happy with the product.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
28. Offer multiple payment options
Every popular payment method is a must: VISA, Maestro, MasterCard, PayPal, Google Wallet — you name it.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
29. Show local currency If your shop runs international sales, make sure that your international
clients can pay in their own currency.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
30. Allow delivery tracking If your shop runs international sales, make sure that your international
clients can pay in their own currency.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
31. Make sure that delivery service is fast enough
60% of consumers decide not to purchase from a retailer because of slow delivery speed.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
Source: Dropoff
32. Show error messages on the checkout page
People sometimes make mistakes when entering a form field. Be helpful and point out what went wrong.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
After abandonment
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
33. Send an email reminder Even when you’ve done everything you possibly could, some people will still be abandoning their shopping carts. Send a gentle email reminder.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
34. Offer a discount Offer a discount or a special offer, such as a coupon code, or free membership to a loyalty programme, or a matching item — the
possibilities are endless, really.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
35. Do re-targeting Retargeting brings you back 98% of online shoppers who visited our site
before.
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
Source: AdRoll
35 Actionable Tips To Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate (Ultimate List)
35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT
Read the full article on the Styla blog!
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