How eCommerce Store Can Withstand Shopping Cart Abandonment?

Shopping cart abandonment is the biggest nightmare for every eCommerce store whose rates are showing no sign to fall down. Even, when the technology hits on all cylinders, the persistent problem is amplifying. It has become all-important to set the table for transaction else the sheer decline in sales, and profits put the businesses in a great loss.

The not-so-fun fact states that 98% of the people won’t make a purchase after their visit and eCommerce stores lose on an average 75% of their sales due to shopping cart abandonment. It means the visitor enter the store, browse the product and add them into the cart, and drop the process without making any transaction. It’s an alarming fact that’s requiring E-retailers to pay careful attention to.

By the definition, the cart abandonment rate is:

Cart abandoned rate = Total number of transactions / Total transactions initiated

When the value of divisor will decrease and the value of dividend will increase, certainly the cart abandonment will be reduced. But, without understanding why the potential customers abandon the carts, minimizing the cart abandonment is beyond the bounds of possibility.

Why shoppers leaving the carts without paying for it?

Here’s the quick overview of the causes that leads to cart abandonment which needs to be optimized:

• Hidden cost

The customer value transparency, but when the unexpectedly high shipping charges and taxes appear in the grand total during the final payment process, it becomes a source of frustration and they leave the cart without purchasing.

• No express shipping availability

Not just the cost, but the speed of order shipping also matters a ton for modern customers. For time-constrained purchases such as birthday, anniversaries, or holidays, the customers want the goods to get delivered in a defined window of time else they are forced to abandon the cart.

• The cumbersome new account creation process

Certainly, the user’s data give enormous insights to approach the customers, but it’s not the case with the customers. The customers expect convenience and instant results with zero friction, and when eCommerce store provide the guest option, in addition to the time-consuming registration process, the likelihood of cart abandonment will decrease.

• Long checkout create confusion

The option to create a user account is significant for the online stores, but it’s not essential to keep several fields in the form that makes it one or two pages long. The unnecessary fields create uneasiness and confusion that ultimately ruin the user experience and deters the users to not fill the form.

• No coupon code

It’s true the customers chase the deal and when the coupon code search bar is placed near the final payment field, it makes customers feel that they are paying too much. They drop out and look to another retailer to find a better deal elsewhere.

• Conduct research to buy later

Let’s face it: many online shoppers have the habit of browsing the products across different stores to compare price, quality, shipping charges, and discount. It implies the product added to the cart is just for the reference or to purchase them in the future. It’s impossible to eliminate such purchases where the customer even returns several times before making a purchase.

• Limited payment options

At the last page of checkout when the customer finds they are not able to make the payment through the preferred payment mode, it’s more likely the customer leave and never come back again.

• Payment security-related concerns

Nothing really to say here: the customer’s financial data is crucial and if it gets stolen, it costs them a lot. This is why most of the customers cite payment security as the topmost concern to abandon the cart. Especially, obsolete layouts, design flaws, or no SSL certificates are the signs that can put the store’s authenticity into question.

• Customer support is not as expected

The customer services stay at the heart of eCommerce success. When the customers don’t get the needed support or assistance during shopping through live chat or FAQs, they immediately exit the store.

• Unanticipated crashes or errors

Saying it’s an age of impatience is not an overstatement at all. The customers have zero tolerance for high load times, or unforeseen errors that when comes during the checkout process. It also gives a sense of insecurity on the site.

The smart tactics to prevent shopping cart abandonment:

Taking the great measures actively is essential to combat with cart abandonment and recoup sales. They are:

• Simplify the checkout process

At first, don’t put a thrust on the first time customers to create an account for placing the order and provide them a guest checkout option. Secondly, the number of steps in the checkout should be 3 to 5 so that customers don’t feel exhausted while filing the details. Third, the short actionable phrases- ‘last step to confirm your order’ or ‘you are almost done’ can be used to make the checkout interactive.

• Maintain transparency

The hidden charges shown at the last page of checkout annoys the customers and discourages them to not come back. The product cost, shipping charges, and additional cost must be shown at the outset so that the customer feels the store maintain the transparency. It’s recommended to disclose the cost fully.

• Let the customers pay seamlessly

The wide selection of checkout payment options makes it easier for the customers to pay anyways. Besides, they can be allowed to make payment with peace of mind by establishing trust in the eCommerce store through testimonials, endorsements, reviews, and social media comments. Also, integrating secured payment gateways and showing SSL certificates relieves them from payment security-related concerns.

Related: How to Secure an eCommerce Site to Assure Safe Shopping Platform for Online Shoppers

• Provide instant customer support

It’s nothing better than getting customer support throughout the app journey, but if it’s provided at least on the checkout page to address customers’ shopping-related concerns, the probability of conversion will be higher. The live chat during checkout session helps in reducing cart abandonment rate and lifting the sales.

• Ensure flawless performance

The customer experience from onboarding to checkout is paramount for every online store. It must be ensured that website is up-to-date, not contain a large number of graphics that impact loading times and perform to the notch on a variety of screen sizes to optimize the eCommerce presence according to the customer’s expectations.

• Last but not least, A/B testing

Even the five fingers of a hand are not the same, then how we can expect the same with the variety of target customers, their different reasons to abandon the cart, and the several ways to resolve them. Here, A/B testing software helps in viewing how the changes made to the pages bring the difference in the performance and which version is unlocking maximum value (Lower cart abandonment rate). There will be no guessing game.

The technology solutions offered by Magento

The developers have also created a multitude of solutions in the form of Magento extensions to get rid of the universal problem- cart abandonment. Here, we have evaluated the top extensions that can be used individually or in a combination which effectively help in reducing abandonment rate:

- One step checkout

As the name implies, the checkout process of six steps is reduced to one step that leads to faster and easier checkout. The extension aims to simplify the checkout process works fine on all the devices, and auto updates the various fields such as payment, shipping method, or location.

- Quick one-page-checkout

For express shipping, expert Magento developers set quick one-page checkout extension in eCommerce store and it removes the unnecessary steps and makes the checkout process five times faster than standard checkout. The mobile responsive extension supports popular order options and payment mode and allows the customers to review the order before placing it. The speedy checkout process will help the eCommerce store to not miss out on sales.

- Abandoned cart alert pros

It’s the case for the customers who browse the store and forget to buy the products at a later stage after adding them to the cart. To bring such customers back and complete the abandoned cart or order, the automatic alerts are sent. The alerts allow the registered members or guest members to recover the carts in a single click.

- Personalized shopping and coupons

Behavioral targeting tactics helps in retaining customers with abandoned carts. The personalized shopping and coupon extension helps in hitting the right spot by triggering unique experience for every individual based on the browsing behavior and purchase history. The personalized offer aids in rewarding loyal customers, increasing average order size and reducing cart abandonment.

- Delivery date and comment

At times, the customers want to choose the delivery schedule including delivery date and time slot with a comment (Remember express shipping). The extension integration facilitates the customers to select the delivery time intervals and allow the store owner to configure holidays (non-delivery days) and other delivery exceptions from the backend.

- Follow up email

The extension sends email to the customers as a reminder who exit the store without conducting a transaction for the product added in the cart. These email engages the customers based on the store’s activity and can be scheduled to send at the predefined interval of the time.

Sum up
Suffering from a high cart abandonment rate? Oops! It’s an intimidating factor for many stores that eat up the large chunk of sales and ROI. Unfortunately, you are also racing the same race. Don’t worry. There is a solution to every inescapable problem that can be sorted with the right knowledge and apt action.

In this blog, the nitty-gritty of cart abandonment including why it happens, how it can be prevented and extensions to prevent the same is described in detail. You haves complete knowledge beforehand. The next step is to perform the store assessment and find out the reasons that are deepening the woes with cart abandonment, and then address the reasons with the integration of the right extension.

My two cents: It’s essential to perform cart abandonment audit precisely and execute the revamp process with extensions rightly to surge the conversion and profits.

Still, if you require more assistance than consult with top eCommerce development companies