E-commerce Tips & Tricks 4 min read
10 Aug 2020

7 Proven Ways To Effectively Reduce Checkout Abandonment

7 Proven Ways To Effectively Reduce Checkout Abandonment

Picture this: you’re browsing your favorite ecommerce site and find a few things you’d like.

You add them to the cart as you browse further. However, when you proceed to the checkout page, you find that the items’ total cost is more than you’re willing to shell out.

So, what do you do? Close the page and go scroll through your Instagram. Checkout abandonment occurs that way.

This is one of the most familiar problems many eCommerce stores face. No matter how good your marketing is, the whole purchase process fails if you can’t get visitors through checkout.

In the U.S. alone, ecommerce business owners spend close to $2.5 billion on digital marketing but only convert 2.7 percent of visitors.

So, how can you stop customers from abandoning carts?

This article explores this phenomenon. Guiding you through a strategy to earn more from your visitors and reducing shopping cart abandonment.

How Can You Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment?

As we said earlier, many uncleared carts do a lot of harm to your online business. Despite all your best efforts, you can never get rid of it entirely. 

Sometimes it’s caused by the way your store is set up.

For example, sometimes, many shoppers abandon carts because they’ve found better prices elsewhere.

Alternatively, it could be that your shipping costs make the final price too high. Or, your checkout experience might be too long and complicated. Thus, forcing them to give up buying entirely. Other times, it’s just out of your control.

Sometimes the customer was just browsing with no intention of buying.

In other words, shopping cart abandonment comes with the territory if you open up an eCommerce store. 

Here is an effective strategy to reduce shopping cart abandonment.

 

Put All Costs Front And Center

Well, not literally, but something along those lines. Here’s what I mean.

Ensure that shoppers see what it’ll cost them to buy an item and have it delivered. Make sure you optimize your product page. Show the cost of the product, shipping, and taxes.

Customers hate it when they add items to their cart and proceed to checkout only to find that there are extra costs, such as the shipping costs, that you didn’t disclose earlier.

What happens next?

They abandon the cart and look for alternatives from other stores. Be transparent about all possible fees.

Consequently, customers will add items to their carts, confident that they aren’t paying a cent more than you’ve displayed on the product pages.

On the same note, it doesn’t hurt to offer free shipping.

This kind of offer is a great way to reduce the shopping cart abandonment rate. After all, who doesn’t want free stuff?

 

Show That Your Brand Can Be Trusted

Trust is a significant factor in each and every online transaction. Before potential buyers can fork over their hard-earned money, they need to know that you won’t just cut and run. Product and guest checkout pages are areas of your store that can make or break your brand’s trustworthiness.

For example, many people don’t input their credit card information if they don’t trust you. What follows? Online shopping cart abandonment. If they don’t see some form of accreditation or security logos, they might give your brand a side-eye and abandon the cart. Security logos, you say? Yes, think along the lines of VeriSign Secured, Norton Secured, Verified By Visa, and MasterCard Secure Code.

Placing these badges on your checkout pages lets buyers know that their personal financial information is safe. They will be more willing to proceed to checkout and make the purchase. Debutify offers an add-on called "Trust badges," which essentially shows the logos from MasterCard, Visa, Paypal, etc., designed to increase transparency and raise buyer trust.

 

Enable Several Methods Of Payment

Take this, for instance, you have come across an online store that sells different kinds of shoes. You add different designs to your cart and proceed to checkout, excited that you’re going to receive them in a few days.

However, when it comes to payment, the site only has a few options. Your credit card provider isn’t listed. You cannot abandon the cart and opt for another store.

You definitely don’t want your potential customers to have this same experience while shopping in your store. A great way of reducing abandoned checkouts is by providing several payment options. List different credit and debit card providers.

Common ones include Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover Card.  Furthermore, other customers might want to pay through e-wallets like PayPal, Venmo, and Google Play. Ensure you cover your bases, ensure your customers pay, and clear their carts.

 

Make Use Of Exit-Intent Pop-ups

What’s the best time to catch the attention of a potential customer who’s abandoning their cart? Just as they’re exiting your store. You can use trackers to tell when the customer exits your site.

If you sense this, display an exit-intent pop-up. What do these do? Exit-intent pop-ups encourage prospective customers to go back and complete their purchases. The most effective way of convincing them? Offering a lucrative incentive.

Craft the pop-up with compelling copy and call-to-action. Additionally, offer customers a deal that hinges on them clearing their cart. For example, when the client is about to exit the checkout page, you can present a pop-up offering a discount if the customer returns and completes their purchase.

Plenty of customers would want to take up this deal. Result; that’s one cart cleared and several more to go. Create a compelling exit-intent pop-up in no time with one of Debutify’s one-click plug & play add-ons, no coding required.

These add-ons don't affect page load speed (like a typical Shopify app) and automatically match your theme style and settings. Download Debutify now!

 

Allow Non-Account Holders To Buy Items

A good number of people browsing your online store haven’t signed up and gotten an account with your brand. They most probably found your site via one of your various marketing methods. Now, for many online store owners, capturing leads comes only second to sales.

Leads are pieces of contact information about a client. Say, their email address. They are essential when you want to continue marketing your brand products to people who’ve already been to your site. Your goal doesn’t need to be getting more accounts. Don’t deny potential clients the opportunity to make a purchase because they don’t have an account.

Instead, allow them to clear their carts as guests. Many potential buyers abandon their carts because they’re prompted to register before buying. This is a hurdle they can easily avoid by opting for another online store.

Don’t give the buyer an excuse to exit your store without buying a product. Allow everyone to complete their purchase regardless of whether they have an account.

 

Make The Checkout Process and Your Checkout Page Simple And Straightforward

Why go and complicate the easy checkout process by having the customer jump through several hoops as they try to buy your product? 97 percent of online shoppers give up when the checkout flow becomes complicated.

If the potential buyer feels like they're having to do too much work, they’ll abandon their cart. With a more straightforward checkout process, your competitors will welcome the deserters with open arms.

Therefore, one way to reduce abandoned checkouts is by ensuring that your checkout process is as simple and straightforward as possible. Customers will have a pleasant shopping experience and clear their carts. Additionally, they can spread the word about your store, becoming advocates for your brand.

 

Send Shopping Cart Abandonment Emails

Sometimes you can’t stop a customer from exiting your site before they clear their cart. It’s time you used those leads you captured earlier when the buyer was browsing your site.

If you have the customer’s email address, you can send them a message inviting them to clear their cart. You can automate these kinds of emails, sending them as soon as the customer exits the site. If there isn’t any activity, you can send a follow-up email after some time.

This subsequent email can offer a discount if the customer clears their cart. This last bit is usually compelling enough to get customers to log back on and check out their items. When you leverage the power of email marketing it can help you reduce shopping cart abandonment.

What Do We Draw From This?

Shopping cart abandonment will set your online store back. Worse still, you can’t avoid it. However, you can reduce its impact.

With the above strategy to reduce abandoned carts, you can increase your sales and set your store on a more profitable path. Having special add-ons to help you simplify the checkout process and gain customers' trust will further reduce abandoned carts. This means - more money in your pocket.

Debutify bundles premium add-ons - to reduce abandoned carts/get more purchases - for free. Start getting more sales today. 

Download the Debutify theme now, completely free!

Ricky Hayes
Author

Ricky Hayes

Ricky Hayes is the CEO at Debutify. He is a passionate entrepreneur running multiple businesses, marketing agencies, and mentoring programs.

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