Ways To Reduce Cart Abandonment

 It is seen that online shoppers add items to the virtual cart and then abandon it. There can be several reasons for the customers to leave the website before making the purchase, let's find out which are those reasons and how to reduce shopping cart abandonment and can cart abandonment be prevented?

What is Cart Abandonment?

In simple words, cart abandonment occurs during online purchasing when a customer selects the products and stores in the virtual cart of the app but discontinues the purchase and checks out of the process. The item that was selected and put into the cart but never purchased is now called the “abandoned”.

Based on a number of different eCommerce studies, the average shopping cart abandonment rate is 68.81% with the most recent study showing 74.52% ( Source : Geckoboard).

What is the cart abandonment rate?

It is calculated by dividing the total number of completed purchases by the number of shopping carts made then subtract the result from 1 and then multiply by 100 for the abandonment rate.

Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate = [1 - [ completed purchases / shopping carts created ]] * 100 = (%)

What leads to cart abandonment?

1. Required sign up.

2. Complex checkout process- 21% of US online shoppers have abandoned an order in the past quarter solely due to a “too long/complicated checkout process”. (Source- Baymard)

3. Limited payment options.

4. Shipping costs.

5. Lack of payment option.

(Source: Baymard.com)

Unavoidable cart and checkout abandonments

1. Price comparison

2. Saving items for later

3. Exploring gift options

4. Window shopping

Ways To Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment

Avail Thumbnail Images of Products:

• Customers remember what they see and ought to buy the product. 

• The eye-pleasing thumbnails can assure the interest of the customer and combate shopping cart abandonment. 

• For example, when we visit a store to buy clothes, we tend to buy it because of the way it is displayed and the same goes for an eCommerce experience. 

Utilize Transaction Forms Effectively:

• It is estimated that almost 61% of consumers had not purchased something online because trust logos were missing, but also that more than 75% of consumers had chosen against making a purchase because they didn’t recognize the trust logos (Source: WordStream). 

• A customer is always particular in spending his hard-earned money. It is our responsibility to give them a sense of conviction. 

• Transaction forms with trust signals such as security logos in a prominent position can be used as an opportunity to build trust in the consumers. 

(Source: WordStream)

Avoid Complex Checkout Processes:

• It has been found that 1 out of 5 shoppers have abandoned a cart in the last quarter due to a “too long/complicated checkout process” (Source: Baymard Institute). 

• Avoid the lengthy checkout process and include a progress indicator on your checkout pages. 

• You will be able to track and show the customer where he is in the checkout process. 

• It gives the customer a sense of process being on the last step thus eliminating ambiguity and makes the process clearer and easier for customers to understand.

Points To Be Marked:

• The average large-sized e-commerce site can gain a 35.26% increase in conversion rate though better checkout design.- Baymard Institute.

• If we look at the combined e-commerce sales of $738 billion in the US and EU, the potential for a 35.26% increase in conversion rate translates to $260 billion worth of lost orders which are recoverable solely through a better checkout flow & design- Baymard Institute.

The Interface Of The E-cart Should Be Easy To Navigate:

• Customers are always attracted towards a site that is easy to move on between different functionalities of the website including the checkout process. 

• The navigation between a shopping cart and an eCommerce store should be made easy to decrease the discord while making a purchase.

Closing Remarks

Eliminate the potential worry of the customers and yours to abandon the cart by providing them with an easy checkout process, transaction forms and making navigation between cart and store painless. These are some of the points which can be kept in mind to help reduce shopping cart abandonment and redeem the prospective customers that you might lose along the way.