All You Need to Know About Cart Abandonment

You’re putting so much effort into keeping users on your site and growing the base of loyal customers. But they still come and go or abandon their cart in the last step of the purchasing process. So what are the main reasons for cart abandonment, and what you can do to keep customers on your site?

For most visitors it’s easy to leave the site because of anonymity. They can change their mind any time they want, but most of them wouldn’t even think of doing the same in a brick-and-mortar store.

The travel sector has one of the highest abandonment rates (81%), this is generally because consumers are not yet ready to book and they just want to do some research (see more in SaleCycle’s infographic). According to Baymard Institute, the average online shopping cart abandonment rate is 68.63% which means that for every 100 potential customers, 68 of them leave without buying anything. That’s too much, don’t you think?

There are many reasons why shoppers leave without paying, and the most common (according to Statisa’s metrics) were ‘Decided I didn’t need it’ and ‘Wanted to do more research’, but also ‘Found it cheaper elsewhere’. It shows how online buyers act when they visit an ecommerce store and it’s a chance for you to display a better offer, or incentives to convince customers they need your product.

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Many customers don’t have time to spend hours shopping online. When visiting your online store, they probably already know what they are looking for, so they want to buy it fast and without any distractions. A complicated process with too many steps will frustrate them and may result in an abandoned cart and lost revenue.

Some people who just want to buy one thing (and want to do it quickly), are not satisfied when you force them to sign up. It Works’s research shows that the need to create an account before buying anything is an obstacle for 23% of customers.

Unexpected surprises are great, as long as they are good ones. But, when it comes with an extra cost you can be sure that most users will put off the purchase.

Even if a customer is determined to buy something he may resign and abandon his shopping cart if the shipping cost is too high. That’s another reason to display all shipping costs on one page before the checkout process.

When customers see the Coupon Code box, they assume there is a special offer and start to search for it. They might even leave your site to search for the code and there is a big risk that they won’t return. Invalid codes also cause this problem.

According to Statista, the reason why 36% of consumers abandon their cart is because they find a better price somewhere else. Online shoppers look for the lowest prices. So if your prices aren’t competitive they’ll go buy somewhere else, and probably won’t come back to your shop.

Customers want to be sure that they are getting the best deal out there. So imagine their frustration when they find the same product with a lower price on another website.

If you’re accepting international orders, you should provide payment options in the customer’s local currency or make it possible to choose their currency from a list. Shoppers from other countries shouldn’t have to wonder what the exchange rate is and how much they will pay. This saves them time.

If a customer finds out after the entire purchasing process that he simply can’t pay (because there’s no payment option he uses), he’ll probably click the Close button. 25% U.S. online shoppers abandon their shopping cart because their preferred payment option was not offered.

Customers who visit your site for the first time, are usually just browsing stuff, so you need to face up the fact they probably won’t buy anything. They not only browse, but also click, or even place an item in the cart, but it usually ends with “just looking.”

A strong call-to-action matters, it tells users what they should do. It is especially important in the final step, because this is where customers typically make last-second decisions on whether to buy or abandon the cart.

Sometimes when you shop online ordered items don’t fit and you need to return them. So customers feel better when the return policy is clear. If they need to pay for return shipping, or if the return process takes too long, they probably won’t buy anything.

Customers are usually worried about payment security, especially on relatively unknown sites, or when they buy on mobile. They simply don’t want to share their personal information and card details with others, and they understand the risk of fraud.

Online shoppers like to have options when they choose the delivery method, especially if you sell globally.

Slow shipping and a lack of shipping options can also be obstacles for customers. Speed of delivery really matters for online shoppers, who are usually impatient and want to receive their order as fast as possible.

When visitors on your site can’t find any information about your products, they usually go away and never come back.

It’s important for customers to feel comfortable enough to purchase. This is not only about security issues, but also good customer support.

When you need another size or can’t find the shirt in your favorite color in a brick and mortar shop, you just simply go and ask the staff for help. But what about when there is no one to give you a hand? You probably leave the store. This is the same with online buyers.

Online users are usually impatient and don’t like waiting too long, just like nobody likes to stand in a long line.

Online shopping needs to be a hassle-free and smooth process. Confusing navigation comes with customer frustration and may lead to cart abandonment.

More and more people are tending to browse on their mobile devices, even if they buy on desktop. Research shows that just 14% of customers using smartphones buy on mobile devices. And one of the reasons is poor usability.

You may not think of this as a reason for cart abandonment, but you need to remember that the shopping experience on desktop is much different than it is on mobile. Whereas you can use extra information, pop-ups, and others on desktop – it’s not a good idea to use them on mobile.

Reviews help customers to make purchasing decisions, they help customers to know if the product is suitable for them or not. According to PeopleClaim, 63% of consumers are more likely to buy from a site that has reviews and product ratings.

Remember that sometimes people want to change the size or color of their selected product, or add more items before they push the Buy button. What if they can’t find the edit option?

Sometimes when customers spend a lot of time on your site and add some items to the cart in the meantime, they don’t remember which items they chose.

Visitors should see their cart on every page and have the possibility to simply go to the shopping cart page with a click.

The more links on the checkout site, the bigger the chance that you’ll lose the customer before he reaches the checkout page.

People sometimes make mistakes when filling in forms, and they have to know what they did wrong. They need clear messages, otherwise they won’t complete the checkout process.

Sometimes people don’t complete the purchasing process because of not having enough knowledge about the product. It’s hard for them to guess why one item is better than another.

Traffic on ecommerce sites (on desktops as well as on mobile) is still increasing, but people need more incentives to buy. See what actions are taken by online shoppers after abandoning a shopping cart.

For online store owners there is nothing worse than a customer who just browses, adds an item to the cart, and then goes away. Sometimes buyers just resign, even though you did everything right. But, you need to understand that it’s a normal behavior of online shoppers. The good news is that you are sometimes able to convince them to go back to you and close the deal.

How can you know what elements in your checkout process give the worst results? Use A/B testing – make another version of your checkout and monitor the analytics. Remember to test one element at a time, otherwise, you won’t know what works and what doesn’t. Also, use some applications, such as Hotjar to find out how your customers behave based on the movements of their cursor.

Loyalty Bay

Loyalty Bay lets you offer customers a number of options when they are about to abandon their cart or leave the site. With this tool you can offer discounts, 3rd party rewards or your own content.

Picreel

Picreel helps you convert abandoning visitors into leads by analyzing their overall mouse movement. When a user is just about to leave the page, the tool triggers an event to stop them. You can use ready-made templates, or create your own offers.

OptiMonk

This tool works in a similar way as Loyalty Bay and Picreel. It tracks your visitor’s behavior and when they are ready to leave the site, OptiMonk displays a targeted offer.

AbandonAid

With this tool you can schedule and send automatically triggered messages, and also segment customers based on their behavior. It lets you see the analytics and track your ecommerce performance for better optimization. To start, you need to add a single snippet of code to your site.

Rejoiner

Rejoiner is a great tool to automate remarketing email campaigns. You can use it to follow up with customers in real time or schedule personalized email sequences to cart abandoners.

UpSellit

UpSellit was made to recover abandoned carts not only with on-site marketing and remarketing emails, but also with automated chat. It comes with full customization and it also provides the metrics marketers needs to analyze visitor behavior and optimize marketing efforts.

SaleCycle

SaleCycle, as well as tools mentioned above, helps you identify and reach users who leave your website. It comes with on-site marketing, email features, and SMS remarketing.

There are many reasons why online shoppers abandon their carts, and you should be prepared for this. Unfinished purchases don’t mean that the sale is lost. Now it’s up to you to convince the potential customer to come back and complete the process. Use one of the marketing automation tools to re-engage visitors (see what you can do to write better abandonment cart emails). Keep in mind that personalized messages increase the chances to bring customers back again and buy some products on your website.

Do you have anything to add? Let me know in the comments section.