7 Proven Ways to Combat Shopping Cart Abandonment
Shopping cart abandonment causes a major dent in sales & revenue for any eCommerce business. Many businesses try to mitigate it but with little success. However, it is not entirely impossible to minimize cart abandonment if you leverage the right techniques. Let’s look at 7 tips that will help you to minimize Cart Abandonment & offer a smooth eCommerce experience to your customers.
7 Proven Ways to Combat Shopping Cart Abandonment 1. Use Thumbnail Images Throughout the Checkout Process When you go to a mall or a supermarket, chances are that you’ll most likely use a shopping cart to carry all your products. Whenever you want any product, you’ll just grab it from the shelf & put it in the cart. In this process, all the products are continually visible to you. If in
case you put a wrong product in the cart, you’ll most likely notice it and place it back on the shelf. The same criteria apply to the Shopping Cart of your eCommerce Website/Mobile Application. Most people don’t necessarily forget their shopping cart while purchasing products on an online store or a mobile app. However, by placing a thumbnail of the products during the checkout you reassure the customer that they are purchasing the right products. Interesting Fact: Thumbnails eliminate any distraction or hesitation experienced by the customer while purchasing from your eCommerce Store/Mobile App. By including a thumbnail of your product, you help the customers stay grounded, with minimal frictions & distractions which eventually translates to reduced cart abandonment rates. 2. Build Trust in the Checkout & Transaction Forms Many eCommerce businesses tend to see the Checkout or the transaction form as a mere formality. I mean why not? You put in a lot of efforts in showcasing your products in the best possible way. You incorporate all the nice UI/UX elements to make the browsing experience flawless. But, is that enough? Not exactly. Although you may have put in a lot of time & efforts to optimize the browsing experience of your eCommerce Store/Mobile App, the Checkout & Transaction forms hold equal importance when it comes to reducing Shopping Cart Abandonment. Why? Customers need to fill in their details that include a contact number, email address, shipping/billing address, credit/debit card details & other information. Many people are hesitant to give all these details. So, if your checkout/transaction form doesn’t showcase trust & security then chances are that your customer will most likely abandon the shopping cart. However, you can offset this hesitation by leveraging trust signals like ·
Using Security Logos of the Payment Forms
·
A small message that tells customers to their details are safe & secure
Did you know that more than 60% of customers abandoned their cart only because of missing trust logos? So, simply place a trust logo or a reassuring message to establish & build trust with your customers. 3. Incorporate a Progress Bar in Checkout Pages You might’ve come across some irritating sales pitch while shopping from a mall or a nearby local store. Here are a few examples: ·
Asking whether you have a rewards/loyalty card.
·
Save 10% by opting for a loyalty card.
·
Would you like to get a membership card?
·
Asking for details like Phone Number or Zip Code.
All of these questions or sales pitch tends to waste your time & keep you standing at the checkout counter. The same thing applies to the Ecommerce Store/Mobile App Checkout Process. By clearly notifying customers about where they are in the checkout process, you remove any doubt or worry that the customer might have about the time that he/she has to spend on your mobile app. In addition to that, a progress bar assures your customers that they are almost done with the purchase. So, incorporating a progress bar in the check out makes the entire process clear & easy for customers which results in reduced cart abandonment rates as well as improved sales. 4. Ensure Fluid Navigation between Cart & the Home Screen Customers usually take a lot of time when it comes to completing a purchase. Normally, when you shop, you’ll get to choose from a variety of products. So, there are times when you might not have liked the product which you added. Therefore, you’ll go back to the home page to check out some other products which will interest you. In this switching between cart & the home page, if the loading speed is slow then it can seriously dent the transaction process. Why? Customers will get irritated because they need to spend more time waiting for the screens to load. On the other hand, if you offer a smooth browsing experience in your mobile app then customers can seamlessly switch back & forth. You need to keep in mind that customers expect a hassle-free browsing experience. If you provide such an experience to your clients then rest knowing that your customers won’t abandon the shopping cart! 5. Offer an Effortless Cart Saving Feature In Brick & Mortar stores, you have to either commit to buying a product & stay in line to complete the purchase or just go window shopping. However, with online or mobile shopping, customers expect convenience. One of the forms of convenience is the cart saving feature. People are busy with their daily work so they may sometimes check out your mobile app’s products and add a few to the shopping cart. But alas! They get an urgent meeting call or a medical emergency or their kid’s crying. So, what do they do? They close the mobile app & take care of urgent needs. This is where the cart saving feature can make the difference. You can incorporate this feature in your Shopify mobile app so that customers can easily return to your app & complete their purchase. If you don’t leverage this feature then chances are that the customer might come back to your mobile app but he will have to search for the product again which might eventually frustrate him resulting in abandoning the shopping cart. 6. Provide a Guest Checkout Feature
The checkout process in an online eCommerce store or a mobile app can be an amazing opportunity to get all the crucial information about your users like contact details, credit/debit card information & others. However, if you are actually forcing customers to sign up on your website or mobile application then it can become a major deterrent for those customers who want to purchase your products. You might have to face a slight loss (gathering data about customers) but you will make the checkout process easy & simple for customers. This is what any eCommerce business should aim for! Rather than simply gathering customer data via signup or login process, you can simplify the entire checkout process by offering a guest checkout option. If the customers like your products and services, then it is highly likely that they will create an account & continue to be a loyal customer. Keep in mind that your main goal is to reduce cart abandonment & offering a guest checkout feature can certainly help you to cut down the cart abandonment rate. 7. Be Upfront about any Additional Costs Additional or hidden costs can easily increase the shopping cart abandonment rates. Why? Who likes hidden/additional costs in the first place? Customers are already paying for your product & the shipping charges. So, if you go ahead & charge them a few more bucks for shipping or other reasons, then there are chances that the customers will either leave the transaction or cancel the order. Why put your sales at risk when you can be upfront about all the charges including the shipping costs. These are 7 proven ways to effectively minimize Shopping Cart Abandonment. Want to build a mobile app & leverage it to reduce cart abandonment. Then you should check out Storifi. It is a powerful Mobile App Builder that enables you to seamlessly build a Shopify Mobile App in Minutes.