As I’m sure most eCommerce store owners would agree, it’s shopping cart abandonment that has become their long-standing archenemy.
At this point, you might have already mastered the art of moving your shoppers from one point of the sales funnel to the next, yet losing them at the near-end of the purchase is, unfortunately, quite inevitable. The good news is that, even though the average global cart abandonment is already at 69.57% according to recent statistics by Baymard Institute, reliable ways to overcome this are now within your reach.
Now is the best time to start creating a seamless sales funnel and boost conversions to close more sales. In this post, I’ll be sharing 5 tried-and-tested strategies to minimize cart abandonment.
Why do shoppers abandon carts?
Most customers share certain similarities when it comes to online shopping frustrations. Here are some reasons that contribute to your high cart abandonment rate:
- Extra costs are too high (shipping fees, taxes)
- Complicated checkout process
- Unreasonable estimated delivery date
- Limited payment options
- Too much information needed from the customer, and many more!
Sounds familiar? No worries, help is here!
1. Avoid shocking customers with unexpected costs
One of the most common reasons why customers abandon their carts is because of price shock due to shipping fees, taxes, and other unexpected extra costs at the end of the checkout process. This tends to back them off straight away. Who wants to be surprised with additional costs you don’t want in your cart in the first place, right?
To address this, be as transparent as possible. Make sure to include all the other fees at the very onset, much better if it’s right before they add items to their cart so you can manage their expectation. This way, they’re aware of any top-up cost as they browse through your online shop.
Moreover, providing a shipping calculator, discount options, and freebies can help you successfully usher your customers through the checkout process until they settle their payment.
2. Establish trust by showing security badges and improving customer support
Did you know that there’s been a whopping 284% increase in reported cases of data breaches that affected 15.1 billion personal records in 2019, according to Risk Based Security?
Data breaches are a real danger, that’s why customers are savvier nowadays when it comes to security protection in online transactions.
Gain your client’s trust by showing off your security badges, such as a valid SSL certificate and other well-known security logos (PayPal Verified, McAfee Secure). They help establish confidence especially if your visitor is a first-time buyer.
Another effective way to establish trust is to let them know you’re willing to assist whenever they encounter anything wrong, or when they have questions about your items.
Provide your visitors with different ways to chat with you. Have them choose from a wide range of commonly-used messaging channels (WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, Telegram, and many others) so it would be easy for them to reach you even after they leave your eCommerce site.
3. Use analytics to identify funnel leaks
There are many website analytics tools that you can utilize and take advantage of so you can get a clear insight into your customers’ behavior when they visit your eCommerce site. This is helpful especially if you’re new to the business and trial-and-error is not an option.
To get a full glimpse of what to retain, improve and eliminate from your sales and marketing efforts, start exploring the most suitable analytics tool for you, then examine the best visitor flow and pathways based on your market demographics. By doing so, you can pinpoint what part of your funnel your customers are backing off so you can strategize from there.
4. Set up an exit-intent pop-up with an irresistible offer
Successful eCommerce businesses know this secret very well.
Knowledge about exit-intent technology would enable you to boost your conversion rate in no time. This advancement lets you track mouse movements of website visitors and detects when they intend to leave the site without giving any personal record or buying anything.
Whether in the form of an exit pop-up or a widget, your message appears as soon as the cursor of your visitor leaves the frame of your website. Such messages often include discounts, freebies, and other exclusive offerings to entice visitors to continue with their purchase.
Here are some of the reasons why you should try exit pop-ups:
- You catch their attention perfectly with an enticing offer right before they leave.
- As you put your message in the middle of their screens, they have no option but to make a choice immediately or lose the special offer permanently.
- You get a chance to offer better deals which might result in an improved relationship and brand affinity with customers.
5. Enhance credibility by displaying social proof from previous clients
When buying online, customers always want to ensure that they spend their money wisely on good quality products/services since they don’t have the ability to check themselves. The only thing they can rely on is social proof.
They’d definitely want to know how your specific item made an impact on the previous buyers. Without testimonials, customers might think there’s a problem with you or with your product that’s why no one’s willing to testify something good about it.
To help your customers make purchasing decisions and improve your brand’s credibility, it’s highly recommended that you install a WordPress testimonial plugin on your site. With this, you’ll be able to successfully include your star ratings, testimonials, and images from actual customers.
Wrapping up!
To increase your chances of closing a sale, being transparent about extra costs can help you tremendously, while security badges can win trust when they’re handing over their bank information.
Another way to impact their buying decision is by giving social proofs and enticing them with exclusive offers through exit popups. And if you want to understand your customers’ behavior more, you can also take advantage of data analytics tools.
Although shopping cart abandonment is really a hardcore nemesis, just take these strategies to heart and you’re set for success.
And if for some reason you still see yourself experiencing increased cart abandonment, never lose hope. You always have the ability to rescue purchases and make them return to your store through MailPoet’s advanced cart abandonment email capability!
We’re excited for you to enjoy high conversion rates and exceed sales targets very soon!
