Is your e-commerce store having trouble with shopping cart abandonment? While it might be easier for customers to shop for your store’s goods online, it’s also much easier for them to leave your store as well. According to the Baymard Institute, the average online shopping cart abandonment rate is nearly 70%. This was the number calculated by 37 different case studies that took a look at the issue.
Obviously, e-commerce retailers don’t want to lose out on the purchases of 70% of their visitors, but is there anything they can really do to prevent shopping cart abandonment. The answer to that question is yes. Let’s take a look at why customers abandon their shopping carts in the first place to determine what e-commerce retailers can do to rectify the problem.
Customers Don’t Trust Buying Things Online: Although more people are getting comfortable shopping online, the truth is that some are very concerned about their data security, especially when you consider the number of data breaches that have occurred in 2017 and 2018. The best thing a retailer can do is integrate a payment gateway solution into their shopping cart and checkout process that is PCI DSS compliant and will protect customer data from ever getting in the wrong hands. A retailer can then point to these security features and showcase customer testimonials to gain customer trust. In addition to that, an online merchant should include business information, like contact information and images, to show it’s a legitimate company.
Customers Don’t Want to Sign Up for an Account: This goes to the idea of convenience. Customers are shopping online because they want a convenient solution for getting their favorite goods. If they are frustrated with the checkout process or have to sign up for an account just to buy something, they’ll be more likely to abandon the store altogether. Retailers should focus on improving navigation and simplifying the checkout process. And please give customers the option to do a guest checkout if they so desire.
Customers Don’t Want to Be Surprised by Shipping Costs: Finally, we would be remiss if we didn’t talk about shipping for a second. One of the easiest ways to scare a customer is by surprising them with an unexpectedly high shipping fee. The easiest thing to do is offer a free shipping promotion. If not, a retailer should try to be as transparent as possible about shipping costs and other fees before the customer clicks “Add to Shopping Cart.” By informing customers of the total cost of an item before they check out, there won’t be any surprises that could cause them to abandon the purchase.