Nowadays, consumers have option to choose from a large number of web stores. The online retailers must make their web stores stand out in the crowd and deliver optimal customer experience to increase conversion rate. At the same time, they must explore ways to boost sales by resolving a crucial problem – shopping cart abandonment. A number of studies suggest that over 80% of shoppers abandon shopping carts and leave the ecommerce websites before completing the purchase.
The shopping cart abandonment rate still varies from one sector to another. Also, each consumer has his own reason for abandoning shopping carts after adding items. An online retailer must identify the reasons why consumers abandon shopping cart and reduce the shopping cart abandonment rate to boost online sales. At the same time, The merchants must focus on a number of shopping cart abandonment solutions during the eCommerce website development phase itself to improve website conversion rates and get better revenues.
Shopping Cart Abandonment Solutions: 8 Simple Solutions to Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate
1) Make the Checkout Page Load Faster
The loading speed of web pages nowadays directly impacts the website’s user experience and search engine visibility. Likewise, the loading speed of the checkout page also impact eCommerce shopping cart conversion rate directly. A large percentage of shoppers abandon shopping carts if the checkout page do not loan in three seconds. It is always important for merchants to measure loading speed of the checkout pages under varied user conditions. Also, they must optimize the checkout pages’ loading speed to prevent shopping cart abandonment.
2) Keep the Checkout Process Simple and Fast
In addition to making the checkout page load faster, it is also important for the online retailers to keep the checkout process both simple and fast. They must assess the checkout process and eliminate the steps that make the process complex. Often shoppers abandon shopping carts if the checkout process requires them to pass through additional pages. The online merchants can even speed up the checkout process by requesting shoppers to store their credit/debit card information for future use. The eCommerce platforms even allow online merchants to design simple checkout pages.
3) Keep the Shopping Cart Visible
A substantial percentage of shoppers abandoning shopping carts want to save the items added to the cart for future consideration. When the shoppers do not see the shopping cart consistently, they forget about the items added to the cart. On the other hand, they come back to the items when the shopping cart remains visible. Many large online retailers display the shopping cart icon at the top corner of the screen to remind shoppers about the items picked by them. The shoppers can further check the items added to the shopping cart simply by clicking on the item.
4) Allow Shoppers to Checkout as Guests
There are many first-time buyers who do not like to open accounts to purchase items. They even explore ways to checkout directly without going through the registration and verification process. These shoppers even abandon shopping carts if the web store requires them to create an account. The online merchant can easily prevent such customers from abandoning shopping carts by allowing them to check out as guests. Most eCommerce platforms nowadays support guest checkout facility.
5) Don’t Surprise Customers
A number of studies suggest that many shoppers abandon shopping carts due to high or unexpected shipping cost or charges. The online retailers can easily reduce shopping cart abandonment rate by offering free shipping. If the retailers are not offering free shipping, they must mention the shipping charges in advance. They can even consider conveying shipping cost clearly when the shoppers are adding items to the shopping cart. Likewise, they also need to clearly convey all charges and taxes that require the shoppers to pay more. When the shopper knows about the fees, charges and taxes in advance, they are more likely to complete the purchase.
6) Allow Customers to Choose from Varied Payment Options
The choice of payment mode differs from one customer to another. In certain countries, shoppers prefer cash on delivery to digital payment modes. At the same time, some shoppers prefer using their debit/credit cards, whereas others opt for internet banking. A steady increase is also being noted in the number of shoppers opting for mobile wallets and payment options. Often shoppers abandon shopping carts due to lack of preferred payment option and mode. No online merchant can identify preferred payment options of shoppers. But they can easily prevent shopping cart abandonment by allowing shoppers to choose from a wide range of cash and cashless payment options.
7) Convince Customers about Security of Their Sensitive Data
Many customers still hesitate to purchase products or services online to avoid cyber crimes. They even purchase items from web stores that keep their sensitive information secure and inaccessible. Many shoppers abandon credit cards if they doubt the security of their debit/credit card information. In addition to providing cash on delivery option, the online merchants also need to convince shoppers that their payment will be processed securely. They must display security badges and guarantees of leading brands to gain the trust of customers. The security badges will further persuade shoppers to make payment and complete the transaction.
8) Impress Shopping Cart Abandoners through Re-marketing Campaigns
The business analytics services help merchants to gather information about shopping cart abandoners consistently. The online retailers must leverage the customer insights gained based on real-time data to launch re-marketing campaigns. The campaign must persuade the shopping cart abandoners purchase the items by offering attractive discounts/deals. Likewise, the campaign can also highlight the key features and benefits of the products and persuade the shopper to come back to the web store. However, the re-marketing campaign must target shopping cart abandoners along with prospective customers.
In addition to implementing these shopping cart abandonment solutions, the merchants also need to implement eCommerce application development trends. They must take advantage of business intelligence tools and services to track and measure shopping cart abandonment. The information and insights gathered through the analytics tools will further help the merchants to take the actions required to prevent shoppers from abandoning shipping carts.
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