What Can You Do If You See An Abandoned Cart? 10 Action Points

Have you ever been shopping online, excitedly adding items to your cart only to be met with a pricing shock at checkout? Not ideal right? The same can be said for other common issues, like website performance or long checkout forms. These are common issues that can lead to an abandoned cart.

You’re not alone, half of all online shoppers abandon their carts without completing a purchase. That’s why we’ve put together this list of 10 tips and strategies that you can use to reduce cart abandonment on your website. We’ll look at everything from the user experience of your customers, to increasing ROI. Let’s get started!

Optimize User Experience

Optimize User Experience

If you want to keep customers in your checkout process, it’s vital to make sure the user experience (UX) is as seamless and intuitive as possible. That means optimizing your website for speed, simplifying and streamlining navigation, and making sure that navigation works on all devices.

Doing this will encourage shoppers to move through their shopping journey with ease. It’s also wise to offer a guest checkout option on your site. This makes it easier for new customers who are still deciding if they want to create an account with your store.

Make sure you also have clear product descriptions, multiple payment options, and proper shipping details that are easy to understand. Finally, it’s important to provide helpful customer service contact information if a shopper has any questions or issues during their checkout process. By reducing customer confusion, you’ll be able to reduce abandonment rates and keep customers in the process until the very end.

Provide Discounts & Offers

Provide Discounts & Offers

Everybody loves a good deal, which is why providing discounts and offers can be an effective way to reduce cart abandonment. Customers are more likely to complete their purchase when presented with a special offer, such as a discount code or free shipping.

Providing these discounts and offers may seem like it’s going to eat into your bottom line, but it can actually be a great way to increase your sales by making customers feel like they are getting value for their purchase. The key here is to entice customers without giving away too much—use your best judgment on what kind of deals are worthwhile.

You can also offer certain discounts at different stages of the checkout process as incentives for customers to keep progressing through the checkout process. For instance, you could offer 10% off on the product selection page or free shipping on orders over $50 on the payment confirmation page. This will encourage customers to keep shopping and complete their purchases instead of abandoning their cart.

Offer Multiple Payment Channels

Offer Multiple Payment Channels

Providing a selection of payment channels can make all the difference when it comes to reducing cart abandonment rates. Studies have found that when customers are given only one way to pay, their chances of completing their transaction drop by 40%! That’s a lot of potential business that you’d be leaving on the table.

By having multiple payment channels—no matter if it’s credit card, debit card, PayPal, or Apple Pay—you give your customers the option to pay in whatever way is most convenient for them. It’ll not only increase your chances of closing a sale, but also make the checkout process simpler and more efficient for everybody involved.

Plus, by offering multiple payment channels, you maximize your security against fraudulent activities as different companies have their own individual protocols for verifying payments and keeping customer information safe. So that extra bit of effort could save you plenty in the long run!

Show Shipping Costs Upfront

Show Shipping Costs Upfront

If you want to reduce cart abandonment, one of the most important things you can do is to make sure you show shipping costs upfront. Nobody likes surprises when it comes to unexpectedly high shipping costs—and seeing those costs at the very end of the checkout process might be enough to turn someone away from completing the purchase.

Why Show Shipping Costs Upfront?

Showing your customers how much shipping will cost them at the very start of their shopping journey can really help reduce cart abandonment and ensure customers finish their purchases. When customers are aware of their estimated shipping costs from the beginning, they are willing to pay a higher price than if they had discovered it at checkout.

How to Show Shipping Costs Upfront?

You have multiple options for showing your customers their expected shipping costs right away. You could:

  1. Display a message telling them that standard shipping is free or calculate an estimate and show this in their shopping cart
  2. Create a “Shipping Calculator” feature that allows the customer to choose their location and get an accurate cost estimate prior to check-out
  3. Offer flat rate or free shipping depending on order values or order quantities

By making sure that customers know how much it’s going to cost them in total before they even get near checkout, you’ll dramatically reduce cart abandonment and increase sales—it’s really worth doing this sooner rather than later!

Offer Guest Checkout

Offer Guest Checkout

You already know that customers are more likely to complete their purchase if they don’t have to create an account. Guest checkout is a great way to reduce cart abandonment because it doesn’t force customers to register for an account. Keep in mind, though, that when you offer guest checkout, it should come with some benefits for the customer.

If you want to make sure your guest checkout experience is top-notch and high converting, consider the following tips:

  1. Make it easy for customers to access the “guest” option by prominently displaying it at checkout.
  2. Make sure customers are aware that their information will be kept secure, even when they’re not creating an account.
  3. Offer a “remember me” function so customers can come back and pick up where they left off if they abandon their cart.
  4. Send post-purchase emails where customers can save their purchase information or set up an account with ease.
  5. Include guest checkout as part of your order confirmation page after the customer has already completed their purchase (for any future purchases).

Enable Auto-Save Cart Feature

Enable Auto-Save Cart Feature

Another great way to reduce cart abandonment is to enable an auto-save feature. This feature makes it easy for customers to come back and pick up where they left off later. In other words, a customer can make selections and those choices will be saved—when they come back, they’ll be able to resume their shopping.

This feature saves customers time, making the shopping experience more convenient and user-friendly. Plus, there’s less risk of a customer getting frustrated and leaving your website before completing their purchase.

Here are a few tips on how to make auto-save cart work effectively for you:

  1. Make sure it’s easy for customers to find the auto-save feature. Include a link in the navigation or put it prominently at the top of your home page.
  2. Give customers the option to save their carts only when they are logged in (for a more secure experience).
  3. Make sure that all of your products have detailed descriptions so that customers know what they’re buying before hitting “Add to Cart”.
  4. Regularly check that items are still available in stock, so the customer isn’t disappointed when it comes time to checkout.
  5. When possible, give customers information about estimated delivery times for products in their carts so that these details won’t surprise them at checkout time.

Simplify Check Out Process

Simplify Check Out Process

You can’t expect customers to click through multiple pages and forms during the checkout process. You have to make it as simple and straightforward as possible. Anything extra that you add to the checkout process increases the chances of a customer leaving and not completing their order.

What can you do to reduce cart abandonment and make the checkout process easier?

Offer a guest checkout option

Guest checkouts are becoming more and more popular because shoppers don’t have to create an account for every single store they shop in. Allowing customers to check out as guests simplifies their experience because it reduces the number of steps required for completing an order. It also makes customers more likely to return in the future, as they won’t have all their purchase histories stored on one account.

Use autofill forms

Autofill forms use a customer’s previously saved data while they’re filling out their address and payment details. Autofill helps speed up the checkout process which helps influence people who might be on the fence about buying your product or service. Autofill forms also help reduce typos, which can help reduce errors, and provide an overall smoother shopping experience for customers.

These are just some of the tips you can use when implementing strategies to reduce cart abandonment in your online store!

Speed Up Website Load Times

Speed Up Website Load Times

You did not know that website loading speed can contribute to higher cart abandonment rates? It’s true, if your website is slow to load it can lead directly to customers leaving without making a purchase. Studies have shown that the optimal page loading speed is two seconds or less and anything over four seconds can result in an abandonment rate of up to 87%!

That’s why it’s important to optimize your website’s performance by speeding up page loads. Here are a few ways to do this:

Optimize images

Resizing and compressing your images and graphics can lower page loading times. This also helps with SEO rankings since search engines prefer fast-loading pages.

Prune plugin use

Too many plugins and extensions being used can slow down loading times. Doing a regular cleanup of unnecessary plugins can help boost performance.

Cache data

Caching data temporarily stores web pages, so returning visitors won’t have to wait for the same information to reload each time.

Implement a content delivery network (CDN)

CDNs provide quick access to your content for visitors worldwide by using multiple servers located around the globe, so if someone from India is visiting your website, they don’t have as much distance to travel, keeping loading speeds high.

By implementing these strategies on your site, you should start seeing an increase in visitors who complete their purchases—and fewer abandoned carts!

Don’t Ask for Too Much Information

Don’t Ask for Too Much Information

It may be tempting to ask your customers for a lot of personal details during the checkout process — but asking for too much information can be detrimental to your bottom line. Every additional field you ask for can increase cart abandonment by up to 11%, as customers become frustrated with the amount of time it takes to complete their purchase.

So keep things simple: if you need people’s phone numbers or email addresses, let them know why it’s important and how it will help their experience. For most customers, the fewer fields they have to fill out (for shipping, billing info, etc.), the better.

You should also look into secure payment options like PayPal or Apple Pay. These services allow customers to quickly check out using an existing account, instead of needing to input their financial information every time they shop with you. And make sure your checkout page is optimized for mobile devices – 40% of all online purchases are made on smartphones, so having a smooth mobile experience is key!

Send Abandoned Cart Emails

Send Abandoned Cart Emails

Did you know that one of the best ways to reduce cart abandonment is to send abandoned cart emails? These are emails that are sent out automatically when a user adds items to their shopping cart, but leaves without completing the purchase.

Timing

Timing is everything when it comes to sending the right kind of abandoned cart email. You want to send your customer a reminder soon after they abandon their cart, and before they have time to forget—an average time range of 15-60 minutes for the first recovery email, 24 hours for the second, and a week for the third recovery email works best.

Personalize Your Message

Personalizing your message is key when it comes to successful abandoned cart emails. Think about what matters most to your customers—do they care about discounts? Quality? Fast shipping or delivery? Take this into account when crafting your message, and make sure you call out any promotions or offers in it.

Include Visuals

Using visuals in your abandoned cart emails is another great way to increase conversions. People process photographs and videos faster than text, so adding visuals such as product shots or short videos of how something works can help showcase the features and benefits of what you’re offering in an engaging way. This can also help jog customers’ memories and remind them why they wanted the product in the first place, which makes them more likely to come back and complete their purchase.

Taking all these factors into consideration can be overwhelming. Hence the easiest way to go about this is to use a plugin. The ELEX WooCommerce Abandoned Cart Recovery with Dynamic Coupons plugin is perfect for this situation as it automates this entire process, leaving you with ample time to handle other crucial issues.

Conclusion

Reducing cart abandonment requires an understanding of why shoppers leave items behind, and then taking steps to address those points. From optimizing the checkout flow with fewer steps and clear labels, to providing secure payment options, to offering incentives for completing the purchase, there are a number of tactics you can use to increase conversions and keep customers coming back.

Remember, reducing cart abandonment isn’t just about boosting sales, it’s also about creating a better experience for your customers. By taking the time to understand your customers’ needs, committing to clear communication, and investing in a checkout process that is both secure and convenient, you can help ensure that customers have a positive, rewarding shopping experience every single time.

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