How to Save Your Ecommerce Store from Cart Abandonment Woes

Customers want to be able to find what they're looking for quickly and easily, without any hassle. Unfortunately, many online stores are plagued by high cart abandonment rates. In fact, the average cart abandonment rate is a staggering 70%. 

This indicates that businesses need to ensure a smooth and seamless ecommerce experience at every possible touchpoint in the buying journey. If you make it a priority to give shoppers an unforgettable, intuitive, and smooth-sailing buying experience, they will most likely go through the checkout process (and maybe even spend more). 

Effective ways to ensure low cart abandonment on your ecommerce store

1. Be transparent about costs from the get-go 

48% of users abandoned their cart because of extra costs being too high. This is why businesses need to be upfront and honest with your customers from the start. Don't try to hide the true cost of shipping or product until the last minute – this will only result in abandoned carts and frustrated customers. Be clear about any additional charges that may apply, such as taxes or duties, so there are no surprises at checkout. This will help build trust with your customers and encourage them to complete their purchase.

2. Make the checkout experience fast and hassle-free 

If your customers have to jump through hoops just to complete their purchase, they're likely to abandon their shopping carts and never come back. Checkout optimization, on the other hand, can increase your conversions by as much as 35.62%!

That's why it's important to make the checkout experience fast and hassle-free. Here are a few tips:

• Don't make customers create an account before they checkout. Unless you're selling sensitive or high-value items, there's no need to force customers to create an account just to buy something from you.

• Offer multiple payment options. The more payment options you offer, the more likely it is that customers will find one that works for them.

• Make sure your checkout page is secure. Customers should feel confident that their personal and financial information is safe when they're inputting it into your checkout page. Include security badges or seals from third-party organizations to help build trust.

• Provide clear instructions and a progress indicator. Customers should always know where they are in the checkout process, and what they need to do next. Use clear and concise instructions, and include a progress indicator (e.g., a progress bar) so customers can see how close they are to completing the process.

3. Offer free shipping

One simple way to do this is to offer free shipping. The reason is simple - shoppers appreciate (and are willing to spend more) when brands offer free shipping above a certain order value. In fact, 93% of online buyers are encouraged to buy more products if free shipping options are available whereas 58% of consumers add more items to cart to qualify for free shipping.

If you're not currently offering free shipping, now is the time to start. It's an easy way to boost sales and make your customers happy. Not to mention, it's a great way to stand out from the competition.

4. Make shoppers feel secure while sharing their credit card information

Around 18% of users abandoned their cart because they trust the site with their credit card information. Here are a few tips to ease this concern -

• Use a SSL certificate: This will encrypt sensitive information like credit card numbers and protect it from being intercepted by hackers. You can tell if a website has a SSL certificate if the URL starts with “https” instead of just “http.”

• Display trust symbols: Customers will be more likely to enter their credit card information if they see that your website is trusted by other organizations. Look for badges or seals from companies like VeriSign, McAfee, and BBB.

• Have a clear privacy policy: Let shoppers know that you take their privacy seriously by having a detailed privacy policy available on your website. This should include how you collect, use, and protect customer data.

5. Offer relevant product recommendations throughout the buying process

If users can't find what they're looking for, they're likely to abandon their shopping carts and never come back. So, how do you keep your customers from leaving in a huff? By offering product recommendations throughout the buying process! Here are a few tips on how to do that:

• Use exit-intent popups to offer relevant products: If a customer is about to leave your site without buying anything, an exit-intent popup can be a lifesaver. Offer relevant (and targeted) product recommendations to encourage users to stay or find something that catches their eye. 

• Send abandoned cart emails with personalized recommendations: If a customer does abandon their cart, all is not lost! You can reach out to them with an abandoned cart email and include personalized recommendations of products they might like based on what's in their cart. This could be just the thing to convince them to come back and complete their purchase.

• Display related products on product pages: On each product page, be sure to display a few related products that may also interest the customer. This is a fantastic opportunity to upsell, cross-sell or direct users to products that interest them more. 

Make every step of the buying process delightful to reduce abandonment

Online retailers lose a whopping $18 billion in sales revenue every year because of cart abandonment. Suffice to say, it is a burning issue that ecommerce companies must address and the best way to do this is to focus on delivering a superior buying experience at every step. 

Offering an intuitive product search and discovery experience on your ecommerce site is one of the best ways to approach this. With AI-powered platforms like Zevi, companies can implement advanced search functionality to offer relevant search results and intelligent product recommendations personalized to each user. 

Experience Zevi today by booking a free trial.