Cart abandonment is a common occurrence for eCommerce stores. Each customer has a different reason for abandoning their carts. It’s up to businesses to find patterns in site visitor behavior to reduce abandonment. Identifying why browsers are abandoning their carts allows you to make changes and convert customers.

What is Cart Abandonment?

Cart abandonment is when eCommerce customers add products to their cart but don’t proceed with their orders.

Businesses may be scratching their heads when they see that visitors spend a long time on their website without finishing a purchase.

There are many reasons for cart abandonment. Merchants with the proper insight into their analytics and data can combat these issues with the right tools.

Why Does Cart Abandonment Happen?

1. Difficult or Long Checkout Process

A long or complex checkout process can deter customers from completing their orders. This could look like requiring customers to create an account to proceed.

A guest checkout option can make ordering easy and swift. Additionally, third-party payment platforms such as Paypal allow customers to use their accounts. This saves them time as required forms populate automatically. Basic information like email, phone number, address, and payment information can be inputted with no effort.

There may be many prompts in place for security measures – the more info you have on a client, the lower your interchange rates and fraud risk. To streamline this, consider allowing third-party check out options.

2. Lack of Payment Options

Using a credit or debit card is the most popular form of payment. However, some customers would rather pay from their bank account.

Some are more comfortable purchasing high-ticket items or services from their account. Other times, it may just be a general preference.

Offering as many payment options as possible can move clients to order. ACH and eCheck payment processing accounts can help reduce cart abandonment.

Additionally, third-party transaction services such as Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) platforms offer flexible ways to pay. BNPL works well for businesses with high-ticket products like luxury goods or furniture. Standard storefronts such as clothing or bookshops can use BNPL as well.

This can attract a younger demographic who prefer paying over time rather than at once. The easier for them to purchase, the less likely they’ll abandon their order.

3. Shipping Prices and Fees

Shipping costs can sway a client from purchasing. Giving a transparent view into estimated shipping costs before checkout can give customers an idea of how much their total will be.

If you suspect that your shipping prices deter customers, you can reduce the cost through a few different methods. This may look like reducing package weight or switching to flat-rate shipping.

Businesses with a physical storefront have pick-up options that cut costs. Even if an item is not in a store’s inventory, online orders can be shipped to the store. This is a faster and more inexpensive way to deliver to your customers.

Other unexpected fees such as credit card processing fees can rack up an order total. Be upfront about any additional prices required. Customers can become disappointed when their checkout amount is not what they expect.

4. Inability to Find the Right Products

Your eCommerce set-up affects how and what appears on a client’s screen. The right keywords and formatting make the products most relevant to a search.

Additionally, businesses that utilize upsell and cross-sell methods see less cart abandonment. Integrations are a powerful way to customize upselling and cross-selling on eCommerce sites.

Cross-selling shows items related to an advertised product. This could look like advertising a raincoat to go with a pair of rain boots. Or, a sketch pad to go with a set of pens. This is effective in prompting customers to purchase from one store and prevents the hassle of having to go through multiple stores.

On the other hand, upselling displays similar items that are higher in value or more recent. For example, a page for a set of pens might also show an alternative product that is a more recent version of the set.

These methods work best with the right technology, formatting, and customization. Upselling and cross-selling creates a personalized experience for visitors and encourage orders.

5. Competitors’ Products

Unfortunately, clients may go to competitor products due to price or quality. SEO methods can help your products rank higher in searches. Keywords and descriptions play a vital role in gaining exposure.

For example, somebody searching for a “sleeveless spaghetti strap blue sequin maxi dress” may type in those exact words. Several eCommerce stores can sell the same blue dress. However, a store that uses as many descriptive terms as possible will rank higher in this search. If a storefront has “blue sequin dress” as their only descriptor for the same product, then it is harder for a client to find.

6. “Just Browsing”

It’s common to browse an online store with no intention to purchase. This could be to plan for a future purchase or just see what a store has available.

Enticing advertisements and specials can convert browsers into customers. An effective example can be a banner with a countdown to when a sale ends.This creates a sense of urgency that can prompt visitors to buy.

Reducing Cart Abandonment

The first step to reducing cart abandonment is to identify which of these 6 reasons apply to your customers. There are a few ways to research cart abandonment patterns.

Analytics

Analytics plug-ins and software allow insight into why customers abandon their carts.

Such tools can show you at which page visitors drop off, at which point of checkout they leave, and how long they stay on your website. Some can even tell you the number or percentage of customers who added items to cart, abandoned carts, and fulfilled purchases.

Finding your cart abandonment rate is crucial to tracking which changes will make a difference over time.

A/B Testing

A/B testing and analytics can be used together to find what tactics work best. An online store’s ultimate goal is to convert visitors into customers. A/B testing compares multiple versions of your website to find the best format.This is done by sending an equal number of visitors to each website version.

A/B testing can be as simple as changing the amount of promotions showing on a page.

This is an intensive process that will take time and patience. The effort is worth it in the long run when you use insights to optimize your online store.

Retargeting

Cart abandonment retargeting or remarketing reaches back out to previous site visitors. This can look like sending an email or displaying ads.

Sometimes, customers go as far to create an account or use an email to sign up for specials. Emails can remind them of items that they had in their cart or exclusive deals.

Certain cookies allow pixel-based remarketing, which is using visitor information to advertise. Store ads can show up on social media platforms or Google when users visit either.

Let’s Reduce Cart Abandonment Together

RevitPay’s top solution to converting customers is by offering a wide range of payment options. Credit card, ACH, and eCheck processing can be made available to all merchants, including high risk businesses. We also offer Buy Now Pay Later options and more.