There are many reasons why people abandon their carts in an ecommerce store. Some just aren’t sure what they want, and others get distracted or lose interest in a product. Regardless of the reason for shopping cart abandonment, it’s critical for ecommerce stores to combat this phenomenon. Otherwise, your business will miss out on potential sales and revenue opportunities.
To help you combat shopping cart abandonment as effectively as possible, we have put together this list of techniques that can be used by any ecommerce store owner.
What is Shopping Cart Abandonment?
Shopping cart abandonment is a problem that ecommerce stores face every day. It’s when a customer adds products to their shopping cart but doesn’t complete the checkout process for some reason.
The average ecommerce store loses about 68% of sales due to shopping cart abandonment, which means it’s crucial to understand why this happens and how you can reduce it as much as possible to increase:
- Sales
- Customer satisfaction
- Customer Lifetime Value
- Conversion rates
Tricks to Defeat Ecommerce Shopping Cart Abandonment
1 – Personalize your abandoned cart emails.
The first step in winning back customers who have abandoned their carts is to personalize their email experience by using their names, the product that was abandoned, and even a question that helps you learn more about what they were looking for in your store.
Ask them what they were looking for in your store and if they need help with anything else. Sometimes it’s hard to remember everything we want when we are shopping online. So why not ask? This will also make them feel like an important customer who deserves special treatment.
2 – Use live chat to recover carts and boost sales.
Live chat is an effective way to recover abandoned carts and boost sales. It can help you convert more customers, build trust with your customers, and increase sales.
This is a cost-effective way of increasing your conversion rates by providing real-time customer service while they are in the buying process. Live chat is also a great way to build relationships with your customers so that when they need assistance in the future, they are more likely to turn to you for help because of how well you treated them during their last interaction.
Using a trusted resource like our WooCommerce Customer Support app is an excellent place to start.
3 – Use social proof to build trust.
Social proof is a powerful tool for building trust. It can give your audience the confidence they need to take the leap and make a purchase from you.
There are many ways to use social proof effectively in your store, and one of the simplest is to add reviews of products or services on your website. This will help encourage customers to buy from you because it shows that other people have had success with your products or services.
It also helps build trust between a customer and seller by showing transparency into what previous customers thought about their experience purchasing from your site, which makes them more comfortable buying again in the future.
4 – Reduce checkout friction.
The fewer steps your customers have to take, the more likely they are to complete checkout. Some ways you can reduce the number of steps:
- Use a single-page checkout– This allows customers to complete their purchase in just one screen instead of having multiple pages.
- Reduce the number of forms– Ask only for information that’s absolutely necessary and make it easy for them to select from pre-filled drop-down options.
- Make sure your checkout is secure– Ensure that all payment methods you offer are secure and trustworthy, and add our Security for WooCommerce app.
5 – Automate the email follow-up process.
Now that you’ve laid the groundwork to reduce cart abandonment, it’s time to automate follow-up emails. This will help you get back on track with your customers and increase sales.
Here are a few tools that can help:
- MailChimp (best for beginners)
- Klaviyo (best for mid-sized businesses)
- Drip (best for advanced users)
The great thing about these platforms is they allow you to set up automated email campaigns using email templates as well as integrate with other apps like Google Analytics, Facebook Ads Manager, HubSpot CRM, Zendesk Support & Helpdesk, and more.
6 – Increase the types of payment you accept.
It’s no secret that more payment options mean more sales. While this may seem like a no-brainer, accepting different types of payments can help you boost your sales even more!
For example, if your store accepts PayPal but not Apple Pay or Android Pay, you could potentially be missing out on potential customers who have their wallets only because they don’t have cards in them (or simply don’t want to use them).
This is especially true for buyers in other territories. Integrating something like our Alipay Cross Border Payment Gateway for WooCommerce opens up your business to a broader audience, so you can overcome the abandoned shopping cart issue.
7 – Create a sense of urgency.
Urgency is your best friend when it comes to winning the battle against shopping cart abandonment. If you can create a sense of urgency in the minds of your customers, they’re more likely to buy and complete their purchase.
Urgency can do wonders at checkout by encouraging them to make faster decisions about whether or not they want to proceed with their order.
The checkout process should be designed to allow customers to move through it quickly and efficiently while shortening the time to consider their options before finalizing the transaction.
One trick is to include “take action now!” calls-to-action on each page of your checkout flow.
8 – Offer a deal to target users.
You can use a discount offer to target users who have abandoned their carts and make them revisit your store. Target those who have not made a purchase in the last few months.
Run retargeting ads that show up on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms if they are not returning to your site after abandoning their cart. These ads will be shown as soon as they log in again with an offer that is relevant to them based on what they were looking at prior to abandonment.
9 – Improve your site speed and overall user experience.
You may have heard that website speed is a ranking factor in search engines. It’s true, but what’s more important is the fact that a slow site can have a devastating impact on your WooCommerce business.
The faster customers can get what they want while enjoying a rewarding ecommerce experience, the more likely they will spread the word about your brand to friends, family, co-workers, and through their social media profiles.
Improve Conversion Rates by Lowering Sales Cart Abandonment
Cart abandonment happens because customers don’t feel like they have enough information to make a purchase decision or feel like too many steps are involved in completing their purchase.
You have to find a way to increase the value of customers’ shopping experience with your brand to ensure they no longer abandon their carts.
That can begin with automation through various online plugins offered by our team at OPMC, but at the end of the day, it is all about thinking like your target audience.
Walk yourself through the stages of finding your business online and making a purchase. Do everything you can to streamline this operation so the fewest number of clicks from landing on your WooCommerce site to checking out is possible.
Wrapping it Up
We hope this article has been able to help you become more aware of the problem that is cart abandonment and what you can do about it. With a little bit of research, planning, and testing, we are confident that your store will start to see an increase in sales as a result of reducing shopping cart abandonment.
