Seven Ways to Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment Rates
A recent study by Forrester Research revealed that more than 7 out of 10 shopping carts are abandoned before checkout. Considering all the work retailers do to drive qualified traffic to its sites, it is a bit unnerving that 7 out of every 10 visitors who adds a product to their cart does not end up making it to the end of the buying process
Investing a little effort into figuring out how to retain even a fraction of these customers can have a noticeable impact on your bottom line. So what can you do to decrease the shopping cart abandonment on your site? Here are seven quick and easy tips to help guide you to higher conversion on your eCommerce storefront:
1. Website design
A fast-loading, easy to navigate website will keep your visitors intrigued and wanting to shop more. Three great options to have is an easy to find customer support section that has a toll-free number, email, and live chat options. Even in the virtual world, customer service is very vital in retaining and gaining customers. A shopping cart section exemplified with a larger font and eye-catching display will also make it easy for customers to locate. Allowing a backlink from the shopping cart so a customer can continue shopping if he or she chooses, makes online shopping an easier experience.
2. Retain items in shopping carts for future purchase.
Often, when customers place items in a shopping cart, it will not be saved. No reminders will be sent to the potential customer, and the sale is lost. To prevent this, have an option upon the customer logging out that offers customers to add their email address to allow customers to return to the site and still have their shopping cart available.
3. Give customers checkout options.
In this fast-paced society, many potential customers do not want to waste time becoming a registered user. With the amount of logins and passwords that people already have to remember, adding another is only cumbersome. Consider using Paypal, Google Checkout or another online wallet to help drive your shopping cart abandonment rate downward.
4. Show shipping costs immediately.
Most carts are abandoned when the customer realizes how much shipping will cost when they are ready to make final payment. Avoid this deterrence and have a place for the customer to add his or her region and zip code so shipping costs can be calculated as items are added to the shopping cart, leaving no surprises.
5. Show thumbnail pictures in shopping cart.
Make it easier for your customers to review their shopping cart by including thumbnail pictures of the item, its size, color, and quantity next to each item in the cart.
6. Add the ability to edit in shopping carts.
It frustrates customers if they are unable to make simple edits in a shopping cart. Maybe they picked the wrong color or size. Giving them the option to edit in the shopping cart makes the entire process easier.
7. Improve Ease of checkout.
Limit the checkout process that customers must complete to final an order, and always show a progress indicator so they know where they are in the checkout process. Add inline validation checking so errors are identified as customers are adding in shipping and payment options. It is frustrating for customers to think they completed a form only to find that they have to go back and re-do the section, or sometimes the entire form.
Implementing just a few of these strategies on your storefront will go a long to help you make high shopping cart abandonment rate a thing of the past. What are some other strategies you or your teams have used to decrease shopping cart abandonment rates on your websites?
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