Introduction – 42 Powerful Ways To Reduce Abandoned Carts And Explode Sales
Ecommerce stores are always looking for ways to reduce the number of abandoned carts on their website, but what is an abandoned cart?
Abandoned carts are products that customers add to their shopping cart and then never go through with the checkout process. This can happen for many reasons, such as not being able to find a payment option or forgetting about their order after adding it.
We know that abandoned carts are a major problem and source of lost revenues for eCommerce business owners.
But how much revenue is lost from abandoned carts each year?
And, why should we worry about our abandoned cart rates anyway?
Are they really such a big problem since they seem like people who abandoned their carts were never going to checkout anyway or are those sales we can actually get for our store?
If abandoned carts are such a big problem for my online store success how can I solve it?
In this blog post, we’d like to teach our readers what are abandoned carts, why abandoned carts are a major problem, and 42 very helpful strategies they can do to reduce the number of their customers who abandon their carts in their eCommerce store!
We’ll be teaching our readers how they can reduce cart abandonments by implementing some simple changes to how they do business online.
- Introduction – 42 Powerful Ways To Reduce Abandoned Carts And Explode Sales
- Download Our Free eBook
- What Are Abandoned Carts?
- Why Are Abandoned Carts Important?
- Some Important 2021 Abandoned Cart Statistics You Should Know
- No. 1 The number 1 reason for cart abandonment is that extra costs are too high
- No. 2 The average cart abandonment rate across all Industries is 69.57%
- No.3 Mobile Cart Abandonment Rates Top 85%
- No. 4 E-Commerce Businesses Lose $18 Billion In Revenues Each Year To Cart Abandonment
- No. 5 Checkout Optimization Can Increase Conversions By 35.62%
- How To Reduce Abandoned Carts
- No. 1 Offer Free Shipping
- No. 2 – Calculating Taxes At Checkout
- No. 3 Make Checkout Fast – Use As Few Steps As Possible
- No. 4 Make Checkout Simple – Don't Mark Too Many Fields As Required
- No. 5 Ensure Your Website Loads Fast
- No. 6 Ensure Checkout Works Well
- No. 7 Ensure Checkout Page loads fast
- No. 8 Add SSL Certificate To Your Website
- No. 9 Add A Security Badge To Your Online Store
- No. 10 Add High-Resolution And High-Quality Product Photos
- No. 11 Add Product Thumbnail To Checkout Page
- No. 12 Add Video Reviews Of Products To Your Store
- No. 13 Add Customer Reviews Of Products To Your Store
- No. 14 Use A Sales Funnel
- No. 15 Higher Than Expected Checkout Costs
- No. 16 Use Scarcity
- No. 17 Use Urgency
- No. 18 Use Email Retargeting
- No. 19 Use Retargeting Ads With Google Ads And Facebook Ads
- No. 20 Allow Customers To Checkout Without Creating An Account
- No. 22 Send An Email Reminder Drip Campaign
- No. 23 Use A Progress Bar On Your Checkout Steps
- No. 24 Use One Clear Call To Action
- No. 25 Add A Website Tutorial
- No. 26 Split Test Your Checkout Process And Design
- No. 27 Optimize Your Unique Value Proposition
- No. 28 Improve Your Branding
- No. 29 Offer Free Returns
- No. 30 Use An Audacious And Hard-To-Believe Guarantee
- No. 31 Offer A Warranty
- No. 32 Allow Quick Checkout
- No. 33 Make Cart Editing Easy
- No. 34 Add Live Chat To Your Website
- No. 35 Initiate Contact With Shoppers
- No. 36 Add Your Business Contact Information
- No. 37 Add Your Shipping And Delivery Policies
- No. 38 Add Social Proof
- No. 39 Add Multiple Payment Options
- No. 40 Accept Multiple Currencies
- No. 41 Allow Payment By Bank Transfer
- No. 42 Ship As Fast As Possible
- Conclusion – 42 Powerful Ways To Reduce Abandoned Carts And Explode Sales
Download Our Free eBook
What Are Abandoned Carts?
Abandoned carts are items that customers add to their shopping cart and then never go through with the checkout process.
This happens for many reasons, such as not being able to find a payment option or forgetting about their order after adding it.
Abandoned carts are not a new problem for eCommerce stores. Almost all online retailers experience an abandoned cart rate of at least 20% and these abandonment rates can get as high as 50% on some websites.
The abandoned cart statistics we will give you below will help you learn more about the problem faced by eCommerce store owners because of abandoned carts.
We’re going to teach you what you should do about these types of cart abandonments, but first, we’ll answer some common questions that may be on your mind.
What’s so bad about having an abandoned cart rate?
The two most important reasons why you would want to reduce your number of lost sales due to abandoned carts is that it increases customer satisfaction and reduces costs associated with customer acquisition (such as advertising).
It would also directly contribute to higher revenues and better conversion rates for your pages and ad campaigns.
This also directly influences your profits.
You might think that since customers left before checkout they didn’t intend to make a purchase anyway so there isn’t much harm in losing them but this isn’t true.
A shopper that has made it all the way to your checkout page is someone who is giving you the strongest signals that they are ready to make a purchase.
It is easier to convert a lead like this than to find an entirely new lead to take through your sales funnel and all the way to your checkout page.
Why Are Abandoned Carts Important?
Abandoned carts are a major problem and source of lost revenues for eCommerce business owners.
But how much revenue is really being lost from these abandonments?
The most important Abandoned Cart statistic that you should know is that each year eCommerce brands lose $18 billion in sales revenues because of abandoned carts.
That means that if you are able to retrieve just a small percentage of your abandoned carts or reduce your abandoned cart rate by even a small percentage it could massively increase your revenues and your profits.
The major reason why abandoned carts are so important is that a high abandoned cart rate can mean the difference between a failing business and a thriving online store.
The revenues lost from abandoned carts can cause you to pay higher advertisement costs and a higher customer acquisition cost.
This can drastically reduce the profitability of your online store.
The additional revenues that need to be spent to acquire a customer or run Pay Per Click ads with a higher bid because of high cart abandonment rates could be spent in different departments like Research and Development, Customer Support, hiring another staff member, or even to acquire more customers and generate more profits at a lower cost.
Another reason why we need to reduce our abandoned carts is that the cost per acquisition for customers is much higher than the revenue generated from that customer.
Let us assume that the average Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) (the price you pay to get a new customer) in your eCommerce store is $32. With an abandoned cart rate increase of 20%, your average CPA could increase to a whopping $64!
That means you’re spending about three times more on acquiring a new customer which will reduce your profitability by an alarming amount.
Abandoned carts are not just bad for your profits, they can also be very damaging to your brand reputation.
Customers who have had their purchase experience interrupted feel frustrated and annoyed because they were willing to spend money to solve a major problem they had that they thought that your product could solve but couldn’t complete the checkout process.
They may take this frustration out on social media or review sites like Yelp which could cause serious damage to how others view your store and the quality of your products.
We know that abandoned carts are a problem but what can you do about it today?
Don’t worry! That is what we will talk about for the remainder of this article.
We will teach you how to reduce abandoned carts in your online store to get better conversion rates, more customers, more revenues, and more profits.
Before we look at ways to reduce your abandoned carts let us find out more about abandoned carts by looking at some important abandoned carts statistics.
These statistics will also help us to figure out ways to reduce abandoned carts and improve our conversions.
Let’s get started!
Some Important 2021 Abandoned Cart Statistics You Should Know
In this section, we will look at some important abandoned cart statistics from 2020 to 2021. We will also try to learn as much from these statistics that will help us to learn how best to reduce our abandoned carts.
No. 1 The number 1 reason for cart abandonment is that extra costs are too high
55% of shoppers abandoned their carts because the extra costs added at checkout, including tax and shipping, are too high.
Being required to create an account influence 34% of abandoned carts with 26% being because the checkout process is too long.
Yet still another 21% of shoppers abandoned carts because the pricing is unclear and a whopping 17% left without completing checkout of their purchase because they did not trust the site.
Offering free shipping at checkout is one of the best things you can do to reduce abandoned carts in your online store.
This is because it not only removes the barrier of having higher costs than you initially thought but also because it can act as an incentive for shoppers to checkout.
No. 2 The average cart abandonment rate across all Industries is 69.57%
The average cart abandonment rate across all industries is an extremely high 69.57%. That means that nearly 70% of all shoppers on average are not completing their purchases.
In fact, rates can vary from 51% on average to about 81% with this report from Baynard Institute fairly reporting this number for an average of 70%.
If you could reduce this number by 50% then that would mean that instead of having only a 30% conversion rate your conversions could jump to about 65 percent!
That’s almost 7 customers where you would normally only get 3!
In the next section we will look at things that you can do to achieve this
No.3 Mobile Cart Abandonment Rates Top 85%
A Baynard Institute research shows that cart abandonment rates across devices vary. The research found that cart abandonment rates on desktop, tablet, and mobile was:
- Mobile: 85.65%
- Desktop: 69.75%
- Tablet: 80.74%
As you look at these statistics you should also keep in mind that there are 4.32 billion active mobile internet users as of January 2021. This number accounts for 54.18% of global internet traffic.
This means that mobile internet users are more abundant than users on any other device. Having a mobile-optimized checkout process is going to be critical in reducing your cart abandonment rates.
No. 4 E-Commerce Businesses Lose $18 Billion In Revenues Each Year To Cart Abandonment
Overall, this means that e-commerce businesses are losing $18 billion in revenues each year to abandoned carts.
The worst part about all of this is the fact that it’s so easy to reduce your abandoned carts and get more conversions!
This is because the number one cause for abandoning a shopping cart on an online store is high extra costs at checkout which can be reduced by offering free shipping or not requiring shoppers to register accounts when they check out.
By combining these two statistics and the fact that higher than expected costs are a leading factor for cart abandonment we can arrive at the solution of including checkout coupons and discounts to incentivize our shoppers to complete their checkout process.
No. 5 Checkout Optimization Can Increase Conversions By 35.62%
By implementing the right checkout optimization strategies, experts have found that you can increase your checkout rate by 35.62%.
This gives you the opportunity to resolve most of your checkout and cart abandonment issues.
But how do you optimize your checkout process to reduce cart abandonment?
That is what we will be focused on for the remainder of this article so let’s get started on looking at some helpful ways to reduce abandoned carts.
How To Reduce Abandoned Carts
In this section, we will go over some of the most common reasons for cart abandonment and how you can reduce them.
There are many different things that you can do to reduce your abandoned cart rate but it’s important to remember that not all methods will work for every eCommerce site so make sure you find out what works best in your industry, target audience, and business model before implementing any new changes.
Here is a list of some helpful tips on how you can reduce your abandoned cart abandonment.
No. 1 Offer Free Shipping
One of the first suggestions we have to help you reduce your abandoned carts is to offer free shipping at checkout for your online store.
The worst part about all of this is the fact that it’s so easy to reduce your abandoned carts and get more conversions!
This is because most online shoppers who abandon their shopping carts are doing so at checkout due to a high cost which can easily be reduced by offering free shipping, not requiring them to pay extra for shipping (or taxes) at checkout.
We know that free shipping is one of the best ways to reduce abandoned carts on your site and the statistics above even helped us to understand why – shoppers abandon their carts primarily (55% of shoppers actually) because they see an unexpected price at checkout.
This price can be the addition of taxes or even shipping costs.
Free shipping can be so great for conversions that you might even want to offer this as a reward or incentive when customers spend more than $X amount with your store!
This way if they happen to abandon their cart and come back later in search of other items then they will have the opportunity to get free shipping just by coming back and having exceeded a certain amount of cart price (or order price) on your store.
Offering free shipping removes all barriers from purchasing your items as well as being an incentive for shoppers who might have otherwise left without a purchase.
It gives them the opportunity to budget their dollars more easily from a simple eyeball test as they browse your store.
Shipping costs are especially important in the post-COVID-19 era where shipping prices have been soaring because of the disruptions caused by the pandemic.
No. 2 – Calculating Taxes At Checkout
We know that it is every business’s legal obligation to pay taxes in the country that the business earns the money.
We said it this way for a reason so let us highlight the main point again – It is every business’s legal obligation to pay taxes.
That’s what taxes are and nothing more – your business’s legal obligation. Don’t make it a factor in your customer’s buying decision by showing them an additional cost at checkout for taxes.
Note: We are not saying you should not charge your customers for tax or pay tax. Far from it, actually. What we are saying is that you shouldn’t let your customers feel like they need to pay taxes at the checkout of your online store.
One way that you can achieve this effect is by adding taxes to the display prices of items in your store. That way when someone adds to the cart and goes to checkout they will see the price for taxes already included.
They won’t feel like that $90 sweatshirt isn’t actually $90 but now $108 due to taxes. Instead, they will see that their $108 sweatshirt also includes a tax price of $18.
They don’t have to pay anything more than the $108 they expected to pay at checkout and they get their item.
In the previous section, we highlighted the fact that higher costs than expected are a leading factor for cart abandonments and we believe that adding taxes at checkout is one of these costs.
This step is to help you reduce your abandoned carts by adding the tax to the product listing price.
Now we know that there are countries that have to pay a sales tax and a Value Added Tax (V.A.T) that can only be calculated at checkout because it depends on the location of the customer making the purchase.
It depends on the customer adding their address for the system to calculate this tax. In these instances, we urge you not to worry and let your website handle the heavy lifting of calculating these taxes.
Shoppers living in these areas would already be familiar with this tax and setup so it shouldn’t be a huge motivating factor in them completing their checkout process.
No. 3 Make Checkout Fast – Use As Few Steps As Possible
Another way to reduce your abandoned carts and improve your eCommerce conversion rates is by making your checkout process as fast as possible.
There are some simple ways that you can do this like by making your checkout process have as few steps as possible. If you reduce the number of fields for the customer to fill in, they will have an easier time and it won’t take as long.
In addition, if you reduce the steps at checkout then people may be more likely to complete their purchase.
If there are only a few steps, this means that they don’t have much reason to abandon their cart since they can easily finish checking out without having had any complications arise along the way.
This is especially true when talking about usability – making sure something is easy enough for most people with no special training or skills necessary (like programming).
By reducing both the number of fields and the total number of steps then we know that our abandoned carts will also reduce because these two things work together in tandem like a horse and carriage.
If you would like to have any additional steps in your checkout process such as upselling from a sales funnel or asking for feedback, review, or sharing a referral link then we recommend you add these steps after the shopper has completed the checkout process.
This will ensure that the additional steps don’t cause your customers to abandon their carts because they would’ve already completed the checkout process.
No. 4 Make Checkout Simple – Don’t Mark Too Many Fields As Required
A required field is a field that the customer must fill in to complete their checkout process and make a purchase.
It is important not to mark too many fields as required because this will reduce your conversion rates at checkout, which we know are high on eCommerce stores due to abandoned carts being such an issue.
When you reduce the number of required fields in your online checkout process then it’s like giving customers the ability to quickly progress through their checkout process by not entering information that they don’t this is required for them.
This can be as simple as not requiring them to enter three different address lines but only 2 or not requiring they enter both an email address and telephone number.
Little things like this can have a major impact on your conversion rates because it makes it as easy as possible for your shopper to checkout from your eCommerce store.
Another way that this reduces your customer experience and increases your abandoned carts is that having too many fields required also can cause customers to reach out because of confusion about what needs to be filled or a field that is marked as required when it doesn’t apply to them.
One such field is the ‘Zip Code’ field since zip codes are only used in the United States.
By not marking these fields as required you give your customers the opportunity to have an easier checkout process.
No. 5 Ensure Your Website Loads Fast
A slow-loading website is one of the leading causes of poor website conversions.
A slow-loading website can reduce your conversion rates at checkout significantly because customers are more likely to abandon their carts if they have to wait too long for the page load.
This is true whether you’re an eCommerce store, a blog post with lots of images, or any other type of website that has many pages full of content.
We know from experience and research that having a fast loading site will reduce abandoned carts on websites due to waiting times being so high in comparison to when it’s not as fast.
To help you better understand how website load time affects your conversion rates we would like you to take a look at the image below that shows the relationship between website load time and conversion rates.
As you can see, as website load time increases the conversion rate of the same website decreases. If you take this in terms of your eCommerce website then you realize two things:
- The first thing you realize is that a slow-loading website is killing your online business because it is contributing to a high website bounce rate.
In other words, because your website is taking too long to load more people are leaving before the website fully loads or after visiting only a single page. That means that your website is losing traffic that could be converted to customers.
A high bounce rate also leads to a decrease in your website rankings in the Google Search Engine Results Pages which results in less traffic coming to your website which then leads to a lower website rank since your bounce rate is so high.
Before you know it your website is not on the first page anymore. - The second thing that you notice is that a slow load time is directly contributing to the abandoned carts in your store. This is the second way that a slow website causes you to lose revenues.
Nobody loves or uses a slow website. To help you increase the speed of your website there are a few things you can do:
- Use a better, faster website host like Lite Phoenix or Aurora Cloud
- Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) like Aurora Cloud’s CDN to increase your website speed
- Optimize your website’s images
- Add caching
- Use page speed tools like Google’s Pagespeed Insight and GT Metrix to calculate your website speed
You can also hire a professional team like ours at CyberDream Developers to optimize your website or online store for speed and also for conversion.
You can set up a free consultation with our team here.
No. 6 Ensure Checkout Works Well
Another way to reduce your customer abandonment rates is by ensuring that the checkout process works smoothly.
This means giving customers a smooth and seamless experience moving from one step of the purchase process to another.
A broken checkout page can be a major cause of high cart abandonment.
You can avoid this by doing enough tests on your website’s checkout process under different conditions to ensure everything works smoothly and seamlessly from one step to the other.
Some of the things you should check to ensure works well on your website’s checkout process are:
- You should also ensure that there are no broken fields in your checkout process
- Ensure that all buttons are functional and are doing everything they should do
- Ensure that your coupons and discounts are being applied under the conditions you need them to
- Do a test checkout process to ensure that the process is smooth and seamless as it moves from one step to the next
- Ensure that taxes, shipping rates (or free shipping) are working properly
- You should ensure that your checkout pages are responsive. That means that it displays properly and in a visually appealing way while retaining its functionality when displayed on screens of different sizes
- Ensure that there isn’t broken code in your website’s checkout pages that could lead to broken functionalities
A smooth and easy-to-follow and understand checkout process can make the difference between an abandoned cart and a successful checkout with many shoppers in your store.
No. 7 Ensure Checkout Page loads fast
Another way to reduce your abandoned carts is by reducing the page load speed for your checkout pages. You should also ensure that your website loads fast from one checkout step to the next.
This should also apply to any additional steps you might add to your checkout process including downloading receipts and invoices, sending a tweet of their recent purchase, or even leaving a review of their experience shopping with you.
Having a fast checkout page means not letting customers wait for long periods of time before they can reach the next step in the purchase process or even worse, let them leave their cart because they’ve had enough waiting and gave up on the page loading properly.
This also reduces abandoned carts which makes a lot of sense when you consider how much websites benefit from faster load speeds.
We talked in the previous sections about how important it was to have a fast-loading website and how your website loading speed affects your website’s bounce rate, conversion rate, and abandoned cart.
By ensuring that your website’s checkout pages are loading fast you would’ve completed one on-page conversion optimization for your website on a critical website page.
No. 8 Add SSL Certificate To Your Website
An SSL certificate is a type of certificate issued to the owner of a website that encrypts all data transmitted between your customer and you.
This means protecting your customer’s information including their credit card numbers, address, name, phone number as well as other personal details from hackers who might want this sensitive information for malicious purposes.
An SSL certificate is a requirement for eCommerce websites today because most card processors won’t allow you to use their software unless you have an SSL certificate installed on your website.
An SSL certificate is represented by the ‘Green Lock’ you see next to the browser bar and is sometimes displayed by the word ‘Secure’ in the same position.
The security of the data transmission from a consumer’s browser to the server hosting your store can be compromised in many different ways even if you have all of the latest encryption technologies installed on both ends.
In fact, there are so many possibilities that some experts say that up 90% of internet users won’t trust any kind of unencrypted communications at all today because we know too well that such data is not safe.
Fortunately, an SSL certificate does the job of encryption for you and your customer’s sensitive information remains as private as possible while it travels to its destination on your website.
By installing a free SSL certificate onto your website with Lite Phoenix or Aurora Cloud all of this changes automatically without any cost or effort from yourself whatsoever!
We’ve previously discussed how important it was for consumers to feel safe when shopping online, particularly on websites where they enter sensitive information like their credit card numbers or other personal details.
We’ve also shown that 17% of abandoned carts happen because the shopper didn’t trust the website.
Trust will be a critical part of the transaction that takes place between you and your customer because without it they will not buy from you.
Credit card fraud and scams are rampant online these days and no one wants to take the risk of getting their banking and credit card details in the wrong hands.
Adding an SSL certificate is one quick and easy way to fix this problem. You will get a free SSL certificate for every website you host with Lite Phoenix and Aurora Cloud so you don’t have to worry about paying a large sum to secure one for your online store.
Just sign up with Lite Phoenix or Aurora Cloud and their support team will help you get your SSL certificate set up and installed on your website if you experience any issues getting it done.
If you require additional website security then you can get a complete website protection plan from Digital Pyxi for only $25 per month. You can learn more by visiting Digital Pyxi’s pricing and features pages.
No. 9 Add A Security Badge To Your Online Store
A security badge will help reduce the number of abandoned carts for shoppers visiting your website.
Security badges are designed to show off a company’s commitment to keeping customer data safe and secure.
This is achieved by displaying an ‘S’ icon within a green circle which means that it satisfies all requirements for PCI DSS compliance, something necessary in order to be able to process any credit card transactions online today.
Many websites have started including this on their site because they know how important it is for consumers shopping online these days.
We’ve seen some sites even display them right at the top of their homepage so that visitors can see straight away just how interested they are in protecting sensitive information like credit card numbers, banking information, and other sensitive information when they shop on your website.
The idea here is that displaying a security badge from a reputable security company like Mcafee, Sucuri, or Digital Pyxi helps to increase confidence in your shoppers and website visitors that their data is safe with you.
In this day and age where big tech is spying on their users and there are numerous data breaches and scandals where user’s data gets abused it is absolutely critical to building up a layer of trust with your customers by showing them how you will handle their data.
Another security message worth displaying is that you don’t save the credit card information of your customers on your website.
This is especially helpful in letting your shoppers know that once they have done business with you there is no way for their data to be used again in the future unless they manually enter it.
No. 10 Add High-Resolution And High-Quality Product Photos
One of the best ways to reduce abandoned carts in your online store is by using high-quality, high-resolution photos to display your products.
When someone comes to your store the quality of your photos will make a big impression on them and how they view your store and brand.
Additionally, it is the product photos that your store displays that will grab and hold the attention of your shopper, and build up interest in them to buy your product.
360-degree product photos are one of the biggest drivers for eCommerce sales. According to a study, it can increase conversion rates by as much as 30%.
When you use high-quality photos in your store to display your products it helps in the decision-making process of your shopper because a higher resolution photo will display the quality of your products better to your customers.
They cannot physically touch and inspect the products you sell online so they will rely on your product photos to help them determine the quality of your products, build interest in buying your products, and decide if you have what they are looking for.
Having a high-resolution photo also helps reduce customer complaints about the quality of their product.
This will also reduce your number of returns and exchanges, which is a major problem for eCommerce business owners because they have to pay more money on shipping costs in order to send out items that customers are unhappy with or want refunds for due to dissatisfaction over the quality of what was received.
Adding images from different angles can help shoppers get a better idea as well – not just one up-close view but rather many close-up views at all sides so they can see if there are any defects or flaws before making a purchase decision.
It already takes time and resources to find and produce quality product photos but the hard part is that they need to be done in high resolution because different devices like computer screens, mobile screens, tablets, etc. all have different resolutions.
To reduce customer complaints about poor resolution on their products and get them buying your items more quickly you need to start taking product pictures in high resolution.
In general, the higher the resolution, the better because it will make your shop look more professional to shoppers browsing through your store right now.
This is just one of many small changes you can have a massive impact on your conversion and checkout rates which will also help to reduce your cart abandonment rate.
No. 11 Add Product Thumbnail To Checkout Page
In the previous section, we spoke about the importance of using high-resolution photos to display your products.
In this section, we are going to profit off the hard work done to get high-resolution photos of your products by using these photos to improve your checkout rates.
The way we will do this is by displaying thumbnails of the products your shopper has ordered on the checkout page of your store.
This is a tactic that will improve your cart abandonment rate because people shop with emotions and then justify the purchase with logic and reason later.
In other words, you need to ensure you play on your customer’s emotional side during the entire sales process.
One simple way of doing this is by building interest in the product they are looking to purchase by using high-quality photos to represent your products then displaying these photos on the checkout page.
By displaying these photos on the checkout page you will ensure that you keep reminding your shopper of the value they are about to receive by purchasing this product from you.
Visual appeal is powerful in evoking strong emotions in your shoppers and this is one way of taking advantage of this powerful tool for driving conversions and reducing abandoned carts.
No. 12 Add Video Reviews Of Products To Your Store
Another powerful tool in your arsenal that you can use to reduce cart abandonment in your eCommerce store is using product reviews to show more immersive, higher-quality, and more engaging reviews of your products.
There are two ways you can use this tactic to improve conversions in your online store.
The first and easiest way to do this is by adding a video review section on your product page where you can have other customers leave a review about the product they have bought from you.
Think about how many product review videos you’ve watched before making a big purchase.
For example, there’s a certain truck that I really love and I’m considering buying -a Ford Ranger Raptor, but I didn’t know if it was what I really needed.
So what did I do?
I went to Youtube and searched for product review videos and I must say I’m even more in love with the truck now than ever! There’s no way I’m not getting that truck now and you can forget about me returning it too!
That is, of course, unless there’s a newer and more epic model available.
My deep love for the truck aside, the point I want to bring out is that this interest was validated and heightened by watching review videos of the truck I want.
It can be as simple as asking your customers to send you a video of them enjoying the product they bought from you and sharing their experience and thoughts on the product.
Having another human comment on how well your product works and how helpful it has been for them adds a human element that can’t be replaced and also helps to reduce your customer’s concerns over buying from unknown brands or stores, and reduce customer complaints.
Video reviews are more immersive because it’s like having another human being present in front of them showing off how compelling their argument for purchasing one of your items really is.
This will help convert browsers into buyers who won’t abandon carts any time soon.
The second way that this can be used is by you adding a video of your personal thoughts and views on the product itself.
It can be as simple as using your smartphone to record a video of you talking about the product and showing the product in different situations or environments.
Then you can add this video to the gallery of high-resolution photos on your product page for customers to watch.
Adding videos also shows higher quality than just static photos which we spoke about earlier.
The emotion conveyed through video content makes people feel better connected with what they’re looking at so that emotional connection becomes stronger and shoppers become less likely to abandon their cart or leave your store without purchasing anything.
Adding video reviews is a simple way to reduce cart abandonment in your store without having to do much extra work.
Additionally, the Return On Investment (ROI) is huge given how many people don’t buy after reaching checkout because they feel unsure about buying from you again or are scared of making another mistake.
No. 13 Add Customer Reviews Of Products To Your Store
Another way to reduce abandoned carts and improve conversions in your eCommerce store is by adding reviews from customers of your products to your store.
Product reviews are a massive driver of conversions on eCommerce websites because they act as a form of social proof.
The reviews can reduce any doubts a customer might have about whether or not to complete an online purchase.
Product reviews also show potential customers how other people rate the product, which is important for them because it reduces their risk of purchasing something that they don’t like and then finding out after spending money on it.
The ability to show your shoppers how your products have helped and are helping customers like them with similar problems and needs like theirs is a powerful conversion driver for any shopper.
Adding customer reviews will reduce your abandoned cart rates by increasing conversions in your store, building trust with your shoppers, and helping them to see how you’ve helped other customers just like them.
Here are some important facts to help you understand how helpful product reviews are for your online store:
- Product reviews and ratings are the ultimate forms of consumer transparency
- When you get a product that has no reviews, it can be difficult to determine if the seller is providing accurate descriptions of their products
- A review system gives customers peace of mind when they purchase an item from your store because other people who have purchased this item can tell them what to expect
- Reviews reduce customer anxiety about buying online so you should always make sure that you employ some sort of review system on your eCommerce store
No. 14 Use A Sales Funnel
A sales funnel is a process of conversion that takes customers from the first time they visit your website, to them purchasing something.
Sales Funnels reduce cart abandonment rates by giving people an easy and painless way to make purchases on their eCommerce store without any hassles or barriers in-between considering buying and actually making the purchase.
Sales funnels are also powerful because they can help reduce customer confusion about what products are for sale at your online store.
The better you get with this, the more frictionless your shopping experience will be for shoppers who reach checkout but don’t complete a transaction which will reduce abandoned carts across all stages of your sales funnel.
A sales funnel helps you to optimize your customer’s buying experience at each stage of the buying journey to boost conversions.
It allows you to offer the best product to the right customer at the right time. It also allows you to give each customer the best complimentary product that they need for all their troubles.
By using a sales funnel you will be able to connect more deeply with your shoppers and give them an optimized buying experience.
This buying experience will serve as a strong determining factor in how many of your customers complete their buying journey.
It can help to reduce your abandoned cart simply by boosting your conversions.
It can also help to solve the abandoned carts headache by not only optimizing your checkout experience but also by improving the customer’s experience as they move through each stage of the buyer’s journey on your store.
An improved user experience (UX) on your website for your customers will lead to an increase in your conversions.
You can learn more about sales funnels by using the free resources listed below: Sales Funnels: All You Need To Know In 2021 Plus Effective Strategies
No. 15 Higher Than Expected Checkout Costs
One of the major reasons we discussed earlier that caused high cart abandonment rates were higher than expected checkout costs.
These costs could be attributed to adding taxes at checkout or high shipping costs.
In this section, we will look at some other ways that you can reduce your checkout costs to boost conversions.
If an eCommerce store doesn’t reduce the cost of checkout, they will have people abandon their carts.
There are many different ways to reduce your cart abandonment rates by reducing checkout costs for customers at your online store.
One way is to use a sales funnel which we already talked about earlier in this blog post but there are also other ways you can reduce these costs as well like:
No. 1 Offering Incentives For Spending More Money
Offering incentives like free shipping or expedited delivery (USPS Priority Mail) when a customer spends more than a certain amount on your store.
For example, if a shopper spends more than $50 with the purchase of one or more products from your store then they will be added to this incentive like free shipping or expedited delivery.
This offer should be available during all stages of the buying journey and not just only at checkout.
This will help to raise awareness in your customers so they try to take advantage of the offer before even getting to your checkout page where they could be surprised by the additional charges in any way.
No. 2 Purchase Completion Incentives
Offer some kind of incentive if a customer completes a purchase in a specific amount of time.
For example, if someone completes the checkout process with your store within five minutes you can send them an email thanking them for their purchase and then give them 50% off on one product from your store only when they buy that item today.
No. 3 Free Returns
You could also offer free returns so long as items are returned before a certain date/time after they have been purchased. We will discuss this point in further detail below.
No. 4 Third-Party Payment Gateways
Consider using a third-party payment gateway like Stripe because it’s free to set up and offers some of the lowest credit card processing fees in the industry.
This is great for customers who are on a budget or if you have international shoppers since they charge no cross-country transaction fees which can be costly when dealing with other providers.
We will discuss this in deeper detail below.
No. 5 Offer Coupon Codes
Offer coupon codes as incentives during every stage of the buying journey so that people know about your discounts upfront without having to reach checkout where they might not find them anymore.
These are just a few ways that you can reduce the checkout cost your customers will pay that will also reduce cart abandonment on your eCommerce store.
No. 16 Use Scarcity
In marketing, scarcity can be defined as a situation where there is less of something than people would like and as a result, they want it more.
Marketers can use this to their advantage by putting limits on certain offers that are available only when a customer reaches checkout or while supplies last so then the customers will feel inclined at least to place an order if not make one before time runs out.
One company that has used scarcity to perfection to build a multibillion-dollar brand is the Jordan brand by Nike.
One of the secrets to the Jordan brand growing over the past nearly 3 decades has been using scarcity in their product lines.
They have continued to produce fewer shoes than the market demands since they started producing the Jordan shoes back in 1984.
This allowed them to maintain a high perceived value for their shoes that has led to hungry fans waiting for the chance to get their hands on their shoes.
This allowed them to charge a higher price than the normal price.
It also puts a certain level of fear into the customers that if they don’t checkout immediately and complete their purchase they might have to buy again at a higher price or not get the chance to buy ever again.
Another brand that is using this to a great degree of success today is the Supreme brand.
The way you can use this in your store to improve checkouts and reduce cart abandonments is by offering a limited amount of products to your customers.
By offering a limited amount of products that are less than the demand of your product you have the opportunity to induce fear of missing out on your customers.
Another way that you can improve conversions and reduce cart abandonment is by offering a limited amount of products at a certain reduced price point that will urge your customers to make a purchase before they miss out on an awesome deal.
This could be used with coupons codes that you offer for every stage in your buying journey but also during checkout specifically.
This way, any coupon code applied will reduce cart abandonment rates because those shoppers know about the discounts upfront without having to browse through your online store anymore (which might take up valuable time). Scarcity works best when marketers create urgency which aligns well with our next point.
No. 17 Use Urgency
The next weapon that we can use in the battle to reduce cart abandonment is urgency.
What marketers have learned from studies over the years is that when they use urgency in their offers, they reduce the likelihood of the customer abandoning their cart.
It’s important though to use this technique carefully and in strategic places so you don’t push customers away by making them feel like they are being rushed into a decision.
Urgency is a tactic that involves using language to make customers feel like they need to buy something (now!) because there’s only a certain amount of products left or the offer expires soon.
This creates anxiety in the customer which can reduce their patience and cause them to become more impulsive when it comes time for making purchases.
Urgency plays a major role in reducing abandoned carts because people are more likely to place an order or buy something when there is a limited-time offer.
For example, when we reduce our prices by 50% for a limited time or offer an exclusive product in this week’s flash sale.
This creates an urgency that is designed to compel customers to make their purchases now before they miss out on the opportunity.
Another way you can use urgency is during checkout specifically where shoppers are about to complete their order and there may be some other offers applied such as free shipping or maybe even a coupon code being used.
You could create a popup message just at that moment which would give them one last chance of saving money with these additional promotions notifying it will only work until they click “submit”.
Urgency works best when marketers create deadlines so aligns well with the previous tip.
Another simple way that you can add urgency to your checkout process is by using the word ‘Now’ on your checkout page and button.
Just having this word will create a sense of acting now and acting immediately in your shopper and nudge them to make a purchase now.
No. 18 Use Email Retargeting
A way that you can reduce cart abandonment is by using email retargeting.
This tactic involves following up with potential customers who have abandoned their carts and sending them emails reminding them to make a purchase.
The benefit of this technique is that it’s very easy to set up on your eCommerce store, the only thing you’ll need is some list-building tools like Mailchimp or AWeber.
This email marketing software will allow you to send follow-up emails to your customers who didn’t complete their checkout.
To make use of this tactic you will need to capture your customer’s email addresses before they abandon their carts. Then you would use this email address to communicate with your customers and remind them about their order that they have not completed.
It is an effective way to recover some of your abandoned carts. It is also quite effective if you combine it with a tactic like adding a discount code to shoppers who abandoned their carts on your store that is only available if they checkout in the next 30 minutes or an hour.
This will add urgency and scarcity to their orders which are powerful incentives to checkout and are traditionally powerful conversion drivers.
If you have a WordPress website one way that you can get this set up in your WooCommerce website is by using popular sales funnel and cart abandonment software Cartflows.
You can learn more about using Cartflows to create retargeting emails to boost conversions and reduce cart abandonment by watching the video below.
You can order Cartflows and get started by using this link.
No. 19 Use Retargeting Ads With Google Ads And Facebook Ads
You can regain a lot of lost revenues due to abandoned carts by using retargeting ads to show ads to customers who didn’t complete the checkout process that reminds them of their order in your store.
These ads can be set up on Google and Facebook quite easily.
The way that retargeting ads help with reducing cart abandonment is by showing ads to people who have abandoned their cart and letting them know that they’re one click away from completing the purchase.
Retargeting ads are an effective way of reducing your eCommerce abandon carts because, when you reduce your abandonment rate, you reduce the number of customers who don’t complete a transaction with you.
The Google Ads retargeting feature is quite easy to set up and it’s worth looking into if any other form of marketing isn’t working for you.
It doesn’t cost much to run these types of campaigns at all so it’s well worth considering as part of your digital strategy in order to help drive more sales through this channel.
You can learn more about Google retargeting ads by watching the video we have linked below:
No. 20 Allow Customers To Checkout Without Creating An Account
Customers may abandon the checkout process on their cart if they find it too challenging to create a user account or don’t want to have an account created for them.
You can reduce this by allowing customers to check out without having to create an account during the checkout process, which makes things simpler and more streamlined for your customers.
Many shoppers will opt to not make a purchase if it means they have to do additional work like creating an account. In fact, in the statistics we listed above there was one case where 24% of customers abandoned their carts because the website wanted them to create an account.
By allowing customers to checkout without having to create an account you reduce this number and increase the chances that they’ll complete their purchase.
This is also helpful because you’ll reduce abandoned carts that come from people who are not ready to commit when first making a purchase from your business but instead they only want to checkout as quickly as possible with as little friction as possible.
This also supports the previous points where you need to make your checkout process as fast as possible with as few required fields as possible.
No. 22 Send An Email Reminder Drip Campaign
A drip campaign is a type of email marketing campaign where you send out emails to your prospects and customers over a period of time.
Drip campaigns are great because they reduce cart abandonment by reminding people about their abandoned carts, which in turn encourages them to complete the checkout process.
A drip campaign can be as simple or complex as you want it to be.
It could involve sending an occasional reminder email with reminders that will come at certain intervals after someone abandons their cart on your store.
Another way that you can use an email marketing drip campaign to reduce abandoned carts is you can send an email reminder to your customer immediately after they abandoned their cart with a link to them to complete their purchase.
Then you could send a second email 12 hours later with a discount code of say 5% if they check out by the next 24 hours.
Then after 3 days, you could send a third email with a bigger discount code of say 10% or 15% that is valid only for 24 hours after the email has been sent.
These emails will serve as a powerful tool in motivating your shopper to checkout and complete their purchase.
As you can see it makes use of several helpful tips we’ve discussed to provide an advanced and extremely helpful solution to solving your cart abandonment issues.
No. 23 Use A Progress Bar On Your Checkout Steps
We previously discussed how important a fast and easy to complete checkout process is to improve your cart abandonment rates.
We also discussed the importance of having an excellent User Interface/User Experience (UI/UX) is to improve your checkout rate.
In this step, we will build on those two strategies to reduce your eCommerce cart abandonment rate where we suggest that you add a progress bar to each step of your checkout process.
A progress bar at each step of your checkout process will tell your shoppers how near they are to completing the checkout process which will act as an incentive for them to go the whole way.
We also recommend that your checkout process be no longer than 4 steps so that with each step completed your shopper will feel like they have moved far closer to completing their purchase.
If they are close to completing the checkout process but then have to leave your website, you can reduce cart abandonment by adding a progress bar that shows them how much of the checkout process is left.
When they see that there’s not too far until their purchase will be complete this may encourage them to stay and finish off their order instead of abandoning it halfway through.
The first step in utilizing a progress bar would be the homepage where we show our shoppers what percentage of steps on our checkout has been completed so far.
Then as they go through the different pages for each individual page (e.g., billing address) we’ll also add a little meter showing what percentage has been completed which will provide some motivation for people who might feel overwhelmed with the number of steps they need to go through.
When someone abandons their cart at any point during the checkout process, we then show a little notification that pops up telling them what percentage has been completed and how much more there is left to complete in order for them to successfully check out with the purchase.
This will reduce your eCommerce abandonment rates by reminding people about how close they are to completing their purchase which will also reduce friction as it will motivate shoppers who might feel like giving up halfway through.
No. 24 Use One Clear Call To Action
A call to action is something that tells the shopper exactly what they need to do next in order for them to complete their purchase. It should also be placed prominently on your website so it doesn’t get lost or overlooked by potential customers.
We recommend you have a clear and concise call-to-action which will reduce abandoned carts because it’s not enough just to show people what they need to do, but they must know specifically how to do this as well (e.g., the “Add To Cart” button).
You can reduce cart abandonment rates with an effective call-to-action by making sure that there are directions for shoppers who might not know where certain features are located on your sites such as shipping information, billing information, and the like.
For example, you may want to provide a quick-jump feature from one of these pages so that customers don’t have to go back through all their steps in order to find them again or look for buttons elsewhere on your website.
In addition, you should also offer clear and detailed instructions when asking shoppers about any necessary special instructions such as gift-wrapping or delivery date requests.
The effectiveness of your Call To Action is effective in driving conversions not only in your checkout process but everywhere on your website. We recommend that you take some time to split test and optimize your call to action to get the best conversion rates.
Don’t know what a split test is or how to do one?
Don’t worry! We’ll cover that in an upcoming section.
No. 25 Add A Website Tutorial
Adding a tutorial or walkthrough to your website that tells your shoppers how easy it is to use your website and to checkout is one quick and simple way of turning your conversions around and reducing your cart abandonment rates.
The more confident customers feel about your website and the checkout process, the less likely they are to abandon their carts.
This will also be improved when shoppers know how to use your website to do things like:
- How to checkout
- How to place an order
- How to request a refund
- How to check the shipping and delivery status of their order
- How to return an item they are not happy with
We recommend you split test or A/B test different types of walkthroughs to see which ones get better conversion rates for your eCommerce store.
As we stated earlier we will discuss what split tests are and how to do them in the next section
Some examples might be a tutorial that takes shoppers through all features on your site before asking them to finish up with their purchase versus one which starts by showing how easy it is to add items in a cart and then finishes with giving instructions on where things like billing information can be found later on in the shopping experience.
It’s important that whatever type of walkthrough you choose should reduce friction because anything that will reduce frustration helps reduces abandoned carts as well (e.g., easily accessible FAQs, live chat services)
No. 26 Split Test Your Checkout Process And Design
We have alluded several times to using split tests to increase conversions on your eCommerce store as well as to reduce cart abandonment but what is split testing and how can it help you reduce cart abandonment and increase eCommerce conversions?
A split test or A/B test is a method of comparing two versions of a web page to see which one performs better.
You have two different options for the same thing and you’re going to show each option at random on your website and then monitor their performance over time in order to determine which one is more effective.
The easiest way to do this would be with Google Analytics by creating an experiment that has both pages being tested as part of it (e.g., A/B test) by assigning them randomly, adding traffic from another source such as Facebook ads, or sending out emails when someone subscribes.
You would run the tests for about 12-24 hours before shutting down the experiment and analyzing what happened during those hours.
This will give you all the information you need so you can make decisions based on data instead of guessing or making assumptions about which checkout page design and the process will give the best results.
When the split test is completed you will be able to decide without doubt and based on statistics which checkout process and design lead to the lowest amounts of abandoned carts.
We recommend that as you split test you don’t make many changes at once and instead focus on one element or page of your checkout process.
For example, you might try running a split test for the way that live chat is integrated with the help button to reduce friction or how easy it is to find shipping information when someone first visits your site.
We also recommend you split test everything in your online store over the long run to see which design, product options, and even call to action gives you the best results.
By doing this you would’ve successfully removed the guesswork out of your eCommerce store success.
No. 27 Optimize Your Unique Value Proposition
In marketing, a Unique Value Proposition is the one thing that sets your brand apart from the competition.
It is what makes people want to buy from you and not someone else.
Many eCommerce stores have a Unique Value Proposition but it’s important for you, as the owner of a business, to know which one yours is so that you can capitalize on it better when marketing your online store and products.
So how do you come up with the best Unique Value Proposition?
The first way would be by knowing who your target customer profile is going to be because this will influence everything in terms of what they care about most.
Secondly, figure out why our customers coming back again and again even if there are other options available – these two factors should help answer the question about what your Unique Value Proposition should be.
The second way is to think about what you would want in a product if you were the customer and then compare it with what everyone else has been doing.
This will help reduce cart abandonment because now instead of being just another store on the internet, you’re one that stands out from the rest by taking care of things customers have been needing for years but no other company has done anything about yet.
We hope these tips helped show how important it is to know who your target audience is so that they’ll find something extra valuable when browsing through your eCommerce site or shopping at an offline location.
You can learn more about identifying your Ideal Customer Profile by reading this section of our detailed guide on Lead Generation for your business.
It’s also very important not only to stand out from competitors but also to give people exactly what they need when they’re on your site.
For example, if you sell toys and games for kids then it would be wise to either reduce the number of products displayed when someone first visits or have a “Recommended” section where items are grouped into categories based on what type of toy or game they are best suited for children at different ages.
Your UVP should also be focused on speaking to the customer who would be buying the toys you sell. For example, you’d use a different UVP if you’re selling barbie dolls and dollhouses versus if you’re selling ATVs for young boys and X-box game consoles.
You can learn more about writing a UVP by checking out this helpful article we found by CXL.
No. 28 Improve Your Branding
Improving your branding is about making sure that the way people see and feel when they think of you matches up with what you want them to envision.
This includes everything from how people perceive your company logo, social media channels, blog posts, promotions, or any other thing related to who you are as a brand overall.
Your current customers should be able to recognize and understand who you are just by looking at an email or Twitter post.
This makes it easier for them in terms of where they can find more information on your products if they were interested in learning more but also helps reduce cart abandonment.
This is because now instead of being just another store online that may have used flashy marketing techniques like coupons and discounts right off the bat, yours stands out because it’s a company with something to say that people want to hear.
Therefore, branding is about getting the right message across as quickly and easily as possible so that your customers are able to reduce cart abandonment rates because they feel like you’re on their side from day one.
They will know you’re not just another store trying to get them in the door for some quick impulse purchase before moving onto the next customer who will provide more revenue than those who are already loyal.
It should also be noted here that this doesn’t only apply if you have an offline eCommerce location; it applies online too when someone sees what your brand represents by visiting any of your social media channels or blog posts.
With a powerful brand, a shopper will feel right at home when they come to your website. They will feel like they are at a place where they belong and that has their best interest at heart.
This increased trust and confidence in the shopping platform will contribute to higher conversion rates in your online store as well as reduced abandoned carts.
Branding takes time to perfect and to make an impact but is a powerful way to grow your business online and in the long run.
To get a properly branded online store we recommend you talk to and hire a professional to help you over this hurdle.
You can set up a free consultation with our team and will handle improving your branding and reducing cart abandonment on your online store.
Set up a free consultation with our team here.
No. 29 Offer Free Returns
This is perhaps the simplest, and cheapest way to reduce your cart abandonment rate.
A lot of people will abandon a purchase if they’re not sure how much it would cost them in shipping fees for returns on something that doesn’t fit or isn’t what they were expecting.
By offering free returns, you reduce this risk dramatically which should reduce the number of customers who are thinking about abandoning their carts when it comes time to check out.
Offering free returns is a way of showing your shopper that you have so much faith in the quality of the product that you are selling that if it doesn’t meet their expectations or live up to the standards you’ve promoted you will pay for them to return it.
This goes a far way in breaking down any doubts your customer would have in making a purchase on your store and is one of the best ways to reduce abandoned cart rates.
Offering free returns also comes with some other benefits too, including:
- A reduced time commitment for your customer because they know that if anything goes wrong or doesn’t work out it’s easier on them and you can reduce their stress levels and uncertainty by offering this option.
- Only a small percentage of shoppers will ever take advantage of this benefit while it will drastically increase your sales and conversions.
Fewer items being returned means an overall lower cost for you in terms of shipping costs which will reduce overhead expenses such as warehouse space and staffing hours spent packing orders etc.
This saves money in the long run so it should be considered when calculating how much revenue was lost due to these types of transactions.
Start offering free returns to your customers to help them feel more at ease and comfortable making a purchase on your website.
No. 30 Use An Audacious And Hard-To-Believe Guarantee
This next point builds on our previous point of offering free returns to your customers.
A guarantee is a statement that you are making to your customer which guarantees a certain result in the case of an event or circumstance.
Offering free returns is one way to reduce abandoned carts, but it’s not enough on its own for some people and maybe too little too late before they’ve already left their cart behind.
So we recommend using an audacious guarantee as well when reducing your cart abandonment rates.
A hard-to-believe guarantee will reduce the number of customers who abandon their carts because they will know that they have protection in the event that something goes wrong or their product is damaged or of low quality.
A good guarantee is one where you feel uncomfortable offering it to your customers because it gives them such a huge benefit for no risk.
In addition, it also places a massive risk on you.
Some of the most successful companies have used guarantees just like this to catapult their businesses to success.
For example, many companies use a ’30-day money-back guarantee’ where you will get all your money back if the product you bought is broken, not as advertised or doesn’t work as well as it is supposed to within 30 days of purchase.
To learn more about guarantees that companies have used successfully to boost sales you can take a look at this article on 5 companies that are using guarantees to grow their business.
No. 31 Offer A Warranty
One good way to reduce your eCommerce abandoned carts is by offering a warranty.
Now you might be wondering what the difference is between a warranty and a guarantee. Let us explain below.
What Is The Difference Between A Guarantee And A Warranty?
The difference between a warranty and a guarantee is that a guarantee is a statement that you are making to your customer which guarantees a certain result in the case of an event or circumstance.
Whereas with a warranty it’s more like getting insurance for something and then if anything does go wrong they will be covered by this protection plan.
Some stores offer both, but either one can reduce abandonment rates as long as there is some type of coverage offered for customers who purchase from your store.
This goes without saying but having high-quality and expensive products on your site also makes reducing abandoned carts high up on your list of priorities.
We have to keep this in mind because shoppers don’t want to risk purchasing low-quality items (this might seem counterintuitive considering how many companies claim their new product is revolutionary) or spend a lot of money with no protection for their investment.
A lot of people will abandon their shopping cart because they’re afraid that the product they buy won’t have any kind of coverage or guarantee in case there are any damages when it arrives at its destination.
By reassuring them with a warranty, you reduce this risk which should reduce how many customers decide to leave before checking out.
For example, if someone buys an expensive laptop and they don’t want the hassle of arranging for a return themselves through customer service or physically mailing it back (especially if they live overseas).
By providing some sort of protection against potential damage while shipping like insurance, accidental breaking during the transfer from one place to another, etc., you can reduce concerns about purchasing the laptop from you and incentivize them to make the purchase.
That is why car companies offer a warranty on every purchase or electronics companies offers a warranty to their customers.
The products are expensive and without a warranty, far fewer people would bother making a purchase.
No. 32 Allow Quick Checkout
One function that you can add to your eCommerce website to improve conversion rates and reduce abandoned carts is a Quick Checkout option.
The way Quick Checkout works is that you would allow shoppers to check out from your store when they are on the product page.
The way eCommerce websites normally work is that you would visit the cart page to initiate the checkout process.
This process would then take you to the checkout pages where you would then follow the steps presented to you to complete your checkout.
Instead of following this normal process the way Quick Checkout would work is that it would allow you to checkout from the product page.
You would simply click the ‘Checkout Now’ button and a simple window would pop up that would allow you to enter your name, address and contact information in step 1 then your credit card information in step 2 to complete checkout.
This can be especially effective with flash sales, limited-time offers, and offers where the shopper might be acting on impulse to get their purchase over the line quickly.
It would also be effective in normal eCommerce stores and would go a far way in reducing abandoned carts.
No. 33 Make Cart Editing Easy
One way you can reduce abandoned carts and improve your conversion rates is by making cart editing easy.
One of the reasons why people abandon their shopping carts before checking out is due to difficulty in locating items or products that they want to purchase later on.
An inability to remove items they no longer want to purchase at checkout can also be a sore point and a major source of frustration that could end in an abandoned cart and an upset shopper that might never use your store again.
By allowing your customers to add and remove products from their carts quickly and seamlessly you reduce the chances of them abandoning their carts before checking out.
It will also allow them greater and more fluid control over their order that will improve satisfaction as they use your website.
Make sure that your website offers a way for customers to review and edit items in their cart at any time from the shopping cart and checkout pages as well.
This allows shoppers to remove or add products without having to be redirected away from where they are on your site which could reduce abandoned carts.
This is also important for stores that don’t offer free shipping because this would reduce the number of people who decide not to purchase anything after placing an item in their shopping cart due to a high shipping cost, especially if it’s calculated based on weight rather than price per product.
No. 34 Add Live Chat To Your Website
One solution that you could use to reduce abandoned carts is by adding live chat to your website.
This can be especially effective if you sell a product or service where there are many variations and complicated details that could lead to a lot of questions being asked by shoppers.
Using live chat on your eCommerce website can reduce the abandonment of shopping carts before checkout and provide another avenue for contact with customers outside of email.
By having a way for customers to have an instantaneous way of getting help with problems they are faced with they will have the opportunity to get immediate help with their problems.
Imagine you walked into your local BMW car dealer and decided to purchase the latest model of their luxury SUV – the BMW X6 but upon getting to the dealer and deciding on the model you noticed they have another model – the X6 M.
What does ‘M’ even mean? Is it a better solution for your needs or do you still get the X6? Which trim level is right for you?
Better yet, how do you start the buying process so you can get your new car in as little time as possible?
So you look around to get some answers and your new car but all the customer service agents are absent.
The building is empty and you’re alone with the cars and security cameras.
How would you feel?
It’s the same scenario when a shopper comes to your website but doesn’t have a way of talking to a human who can solve the problems they have or questions they might want to ask.
Adding live chat is a powerful eCommerce conversion booster and surefire way to reduce abandoned carts on your website.
You might do well in using some sort of tools like Tidio Chat or Help Scout which specializes in customer care tools such as live chat where shoppers would not have any problems reaching out for help from an agent during their visit on your site who handles queries quickly and efficiently.
This way they will never need to abandon their cart because they’re unable to find what they want or don’t know how to use your website.
No. 34B Add a Live Chat Button to Your Checkout Page
Adding a live chat button to your checkout page is another way that you can reduce abandonment rates because it gives customers direct contact with someone who might be able to answer their questions or help them complete their order!
This customer service feature should always appear above all other information so that shoppers know where they need to go if there’s any confusion about our policies or what we’re selling, etc – this means no social media links unless those are below the ‘Contact Us’ link as well!
If not every member on staff has access in real-time for questions like these (and most shopping sites don’t), you can reduce abandoned carts by having your employees contact shoppers via this live chat feature.
If a customer has any questions that need to be answered before they complete their order, this is the place for it!
Add live chat buttons to reduce abandonment rates and increase conversions at checkout with a little help from our friendly staff members!
No. 35 Initiate Contact With Shoppers
We will build on our previous point about adding live chat to your website in this section by recommending that you initiate contact with your shoppers when they are on your online store.
The way this would work is similar to the way a store clerk or attendant would walk over to you in a physical store and ask if you need help with anything while you shop.
You can initiate the conversation with the live chat software on your website.
When they realize that there is a human on the website who is ready and waiting to help them get the best shopping experience possible and answer any questions they might have it will serve as a major boost to their shopping experience and trust with your business.
It also helps them during the checkout process since they know that they are in good hands from the warm hospitality you’ve given them while they visit your website.
This will reduce abandoned carts by reducing the number of shoppers who leave because they are unable to find what they want.
The more information we have about our customers before reaching out to them the better chance we’ll be able to reduce their abandonment rate which means less lost revenue!
By being proactive in initiating contact with people using live chat software both online and on mobile devices – combined we can ensure that we reach a large number of our shoppers and help them on their shopping journey on our website.
No. 36 Add Your Business Contact Information
Adding your business contact information is a core strategy in the reduce abandoned carts process.
The more options you give your shoppers to reach out for help or get in touch with customer support if they have trouble, the better chance you’ll be able to reduce cart abandonment rates and win over new customers who might not know anything about your company yet!
So how do we add our contact information?
Easy – we just put it on our website’s homepage so that people can find us easily (and make sure that this page doesn’t link anywhere else except back to itself).
We could also include it at each point of conversion where someone reaches their desired goal such as when they purchase an item, sign up for a newsletter subscription form, etc.
Some valuable information to add to the online store of your business include
- Your address
- Your contact information such as email address and telephone number
- Contact information of the owner such as name, email address, and telephone number
- Support hours
- Mailing address
- Any other relevant information that will make your shopper feel more comfortable and trust you more
This will reduce abandoned carts by giving shoppers an easy way of contacting you with any issues or questions they might have before leaving your online store.
It also makes them feel more confident about shopping on your website because they know that if anything goes wrong we’ll be there to help them!
Also, it helps reduce the abandonment rate for those who are still browsing around on our site and can’t find what they’re looking for in a certain section of the website – without this information how would they contact you?!
They need something as basic as their address so that we can point them to where the item is located.
No. 37 Add Your Shipping And Delivery Policies
Adding your shipping and delivery policies on your checkout page and website will help to reduce abandoned carts as well as increase conversions in much the same way that warranties and guarantees work.
Many people who abandon their cart do so because they don’t want to wait for the item.
The more information we can give them about how long it will take and any other details that might reduce this fear of abandonment, the better chance we’ll have at converting these shoppers into customers!
We should also let our visitors know if there are any restrictions such as shipping costs or delivery times for certain items.
This is important information for those with tight budgets or a deadline like Christmas morning when they need an item in time!
Shipping policies may include:
- Shipping prices (delivery charges)
- Tracking number provided Details on what happens after you purchase something (shipping confirmation email sent out?)
- When your order will be shipped?
- How quickly do orders take to be filled before shipping?
- Any shipping and delivery rules, regulations, or benefits that the customer might find helpful
- Your commitment to returns and lost packages, and absent recipients to receive a delivery, etc
Include these details in your shipping and delivery policies to reduce abandoned carts.
The more we can do to reduce the customer’s fears of making a purchase, the better chance they’ll have at completing their order!
You might also want to include links on this page that offer services such as expedited or guaranteed shipping for those who need them.
This will reduce abandonment rates because you’re giving them options if they are worried about waiting too long – which is why people abandon their cart in the first place!
No. 38 Add Social Proof
Social proof is a term that refers to the idea of using testimonials and reviews on your site as a form of trust-building.
Social Proof is meant to reduce customers’ risk when buying something new, by increasing their perceived value for what they might buy – think about how much more likely you are to purchase an item if it has 50 amazing reviews versus one!
The best way to add social proof onto your checkout page is with customer testimonials or pictures.
You can also include ratings such as the number of stars from different review sites like Yelp or Google Local Reviews.
This will reduce abandoned carts because shoppers who are hesitant often feel better knowing that other people have bought this product before them and rated it positively!
Adding these details into our cart process will reduce the risk of abandonment and increase conversions.
The more information we can show customers, the better chance they’ll have at making a purchase!
Testimonials are one way to do this, but you might also want to consider including pictures or video reviews as well!
Adding reviews and social proof to your online store adds to the credibility of your store and will reduce the number of abandoned carts on your site.
No. 39 Add Multiple Payment Options
Adding a variety of payment options to your checkout process, such as Visa, Amex, Mastercard, PayPal, Amazon Pay, and Coin Base, will reduce abandoned carts by allowing shoppers with different needs and preferences the ability to purchase from you.
Shoppers who want to use an external credit card may not be able to do so if they only have access to their checking account for example – this is because many online stores require that all transactions go through them rather than using another third-party like PayPal.
We can reduce cart abandonment rates by offering other forms of payments in addition!
If we’re serious about reducing abandoned carts and increasing conversions on our site then it’s time that we include some additional methods for making purchases.
Offering these varieties gives customers more choices when buying something from us, and includes options for people who might not be able to use their credit cards.
This is one of the best ways to reduce abandoned carts without having your visitors leave!
Adding a variety of payment methods will reduce cart abandonment rates by including more choices for customers – and making it easier for them to complete an order on our site.
It’s important that we give shoppers with different needs the ability to purchase from us so they’ll feel confident about completing their orders on time!
Now you’ve seen how these strategies can reduce abandoned carts in eCommerce stores!
One way that you can get multiple payment methods on your website is by using an online payment processor like Stripe that gives your shoppers access to payment methods such as Visa, Mastercard, and Amex among others.
No. 40 Accept Multiple Currencies
Accepting multiple currencies is an important strategy for reducing abandoned carts on your site.
Many customers want to use their local currency, and they’ll abandon the cart if you don’t allow them that choice!
It’s critical that we reduce our abandonment rates by including more payment options – which means accepting other types of money as well!
One way to do this would be with Stripe or Shopify POS – both can accept different currencies in addition to credit cards from all over the world.
This will reduce the number of abandoned carts because people who live outside of the US may not have access to American dollars and might feel they aren’t able to make a purchase on your website because of this.
They might also not have access to Visa or Mastercard card, but they might still need to make a purchase from your online store.
If you’re serious about improving your online store conversion rates and reducing abandoned carts then you must ensure that you make it as easy as possible for your customers to shop from your store. By allowing them to shop using many different currencies you will be doing just that.
A lot of credit card processors also allow customers to make a purchase with their local currencies when they use a popular card such as Visa and Mastercard.
This makes it even more important for you to get an online payment processor like Stripe or 2Checkout that will allow your customers to use these cards on your online store.
No. 41 Allow Payment By Bank Transfer
Another way to reduce abandoned carts on your site is by including the option for customers to pay with bank transfers.
This can reduce abandonment rates because it will give people who don’t have access to a debit or credit card – such as those in developing countries, the chance to purchase from you without having any problems at all!
Some stores are only able to accept payments through their online store and not other means of payment like bank transfers and cash payment upon delivery, but they still need a way for these shoppers who want an alternative method of paying them money.
It’s important that we reduce our abandonment rates by including more payment options – and this is one way to do it.
There are many free online payment processors (such as Stripe) which will make the process of accepting bank transfers very easy for you!
This will reduce your cart abandonment rate because people in countries where credit cards aren’t used extensively don’t have access to these types of payments methods, they may not be able to use a debit card, or their country might not even allow them to easily get a Visa or American Express card.
By adding Bank Transfers to your website as a payment option you will be catering to even more customers and reducing the abandoned carts on your online store.
No. 42 Ship As Fast As Possible
One of the most important things you can do to reduce your abandoned carts is ship as quickly as possible. The faster your shipping times the higher your conversion rates will be and the lower your abandoned cart rates.
Do you doubt this will work?
Take a look at how well Amazon’s same-day shipping option, Amazon Prime Now, is helping them dominate online commerce. It is so awesome I’m pretty sure you have used it too.
A lot of times people will abandon their cart because they don’t feel like it’s worth ordering from a website that takes weeks and weeks for them to receive what they’ve purchased – or worse if they won’t get it at all!
Most of the time this is because they are ordering something that’s not urgent – but when it comes to things like clothing, people might need to buy these items as soon as possible.
That’s why Amazon Prime Now has been so successful for them and continues to reduce their abandonment rates on their eCommerce site. It also helps reduce your cart abandonment rate by shipping out orders more quickly!
Shipping too slowly will reduce customer satisfaction with your store and lead to increased abandoned carts.
Always make sure you’re shipping in a timely manner or else customers may feel like they’ll never receive what they order from you!
If you want to reduce abandoned carts then ship faster than ever before using methods such as same-day delivery, next-day delivery, and even same-hour delivery.
Your abandoned cart rate will reduce if you ship faster than ever before! This can also add to your UVP and your branding and help to separate your business from the competition.
Conclusion – 42 Powerful Ways To Reduce Abandoned Carts And Explode Sales
In this article we have taken a deep-dive approach to the topic of abandoned carts, reducing your abandoned carts, and improving the conversion rates on your eCommerce website.
We hope that you’ve found this article helpful in helping you solve the conversion and cart abandonment issues you face on your eCommerce website.
If you need help developing an online presence or online store that grows your business, gets sales, leads, and new customers and clients then reach out to our team at CyberDream Developers.
You can get a free consultation where we will explore your business’s pain points and possible solutions to grow your business online.
If you have any concerns or questions about anything we’ve written in this article please feel free to leave a comment below.
We try to answer all our comments so we can help as many of our readers on their journey to online success as possible.