9 Tips How To Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment?

It is essential to reduce shopping cart abandonment, so potential number of shoppers who add items to their cart and leave your e-commerce site before a purchase is decreased as much possible. Sometimes you are so close to making a sale, that it makes you wonder what you could have done to win that customer over.

The feeling is even worse if you’re a new business waiting on your first official sale. It’s safe to say this is a feeling any online shop owner can empathize with. There are a plethora of reasons for shoppers to abandon carts and not make a purchase.

Maybe they were distracted by their crying child in the background. Perhaps they didn’t have time to go through your checkout process and create an account on your website.

Shipping costs are another factor that can drive away buyers. If it’s too high along with the price, that’s another common reason that shoppers abandon their carts. Maybe they’re just researching the best products and deals before deciding on where to finalize their purchase.

But a buyer which adds to cart, whether or not they purchase, is still a victory. Getting customers to want to shop through your site is half the battle, and you’ve just won it by getting their interest in what you’re selling. Now, all you have to do is address the factors that may be keeping them from converting.

With some perseverance, marketing know-how, and a little bit of tinkering on your site, you can go from stressing over abandoned carts to smiling at the knowledge that your tactics have converted customers.

How To Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment?

Boosting shopping cart conversions for your store should be number one priority. Here are tips that you can implement to help you reduce cart abandonment on your e-commerce store and improve user experience.

Check You Checkout Process

One of those most common things that can put off any buyer is the checkout process. Put yourself in the shoes of your audience, and ask yourself: “would I like to go through this checkout process?”

Is the UI intuitive? Is it easy for users to navigate? Do you have to input a ton of information that takes away from time you could be spending finalizing your purchase?

The last one is especially important. While realistically, it doesn’t take long to input all of this information, it’s very inconvenient and off-putting for customers to have to do this if the site requires them to make an account at checkout.

The solution to this problem is shifting your focus from getting as much customer info as possible to streamlining the buying process. You don’t want to be inconvenienced when you shop then why inconvenience your customers?

Remove unnecessary pages and fields from your info-grabbing pages like, “How did you find us?” One of the best ways to reduce shopping cart abandonment is to eliminate unnecessary pages and streamline the process.

Do your customers need to click through six different pages to complete a purchase? The more you can simplify the process and reduce the number of hoops a customer has to go through, the better. You can use WooCommerce checkout manager plugin to customize checkout page.

You can even add WooCommerce cart notice on cart and checkout page. You can use them to encourage customers to buy related items, spend more to qualify for free shipping or other special offers.

Add Various Payment Methods

The key to avoiding cart abandonment is to make shopping as convenient as possible so you can generate sales quickly and more efficiently.

Another factor that often affects sales is when a customer wants to purchase, but can’t because that shop doesn’t take Paypal, Stripe or some other preferred payment gateway that he prefers.

When you have an online shop, you need to ready to accept purchases from customers all around the world. With an audience that large, it is vital to vary up your payment methods.

• PAYMENT GATEWAY
• AVAILABLE COUNTRIES

  In which countries it is available
• MONTHLY FEE
• TRANSACTION FEES
• KEEP BUYER ON SITE
• SSL CERTIFICATE REQUIRED
• RECURRING BILLING SUPPORT
• REFUND FEE
• CHARGEBACK FEE
• ACCEPTED PAYMENT OPTIONS

• PAYPAL PRO
• US, UK, and Canada

  For more countries check PayPal standard and PayPal express gateway
• $30
• 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
• $0.3

  For all refunds, except refunds of Direct Payments or Virtual Terminal Payments where the buyer used an American Express Card. It also depends on currency
• $20

  Amount is charged in the currency of the transaction. There is no chargeback fee while using PayPal Standard
• PayPal and credit cards

• BRAINTREE
• 46 countries
• 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction

  It varies based on country
• $15

  In changes depending on country. It is mostly 30 EUR for Europe
• PayPal all major credit cards, Apple Pay, Android Pay, Venmo, and even Coinbase

• STRIPE
• 25

  can accept payments from anywhere in the world
• 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
• $15
• All major credit cards and debit cards, Bitcoin, Alipay, ACH Debits

• AUTHORIZE.NET
• United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe and Australia
• $20 + $49 setup fee
• 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
• N/A
• $25
• All major credit cards and debit cards, and PayPal

• 2CHECKOUT
• Most countries

  Over 200 countries
• 2.4% + $0.30 per transaction

  Depending from which country is buyer this fee may differ
• N/A
• $25

  Always the same no matter from which country was buyer.
• Accept credit cards, debit cards and PayPal

Not only does adding multiple payment options help you accommodate a variety of purchasing needs, but it makes customers more likely to come back to you because you accept payment methods that not all stores take into account. These third-party payment processors are also highly secure and take both purchasers and shop security into account.

Using WooCommerce payment gateway plugin which provides integration with popular payment gateways used worldwide will help your customers to trust in your store, as they’re already familiar with these tools.

If needed it is also good to have recurring payments plugin that will help when you need to collect payments on the monthly, weekly, annual, etc. basis. You could even add WooCommerce wallet plugin so that customers can add funds to their accounts.

Shipping & Tax

Half of shopping cart abandonment is related to shipping costs. Whether transportation is expensive, there’s no free shipping, shipping takes time, or there’s no indication of shipping expenses until checkout. Any of these reasons are enough for customers to consider taking their business elsewhere.

You can probably think of times where shipping time or cost, or a lack of transparency about shipping expenses put you off of shopping at a particular store. However, there are steps you can take to avoid this pitfall and keep converting customers.

Buyers love free shipping, so offer it. Especially if you know your shipping and tax costs up front. Present those costs up front, so customers know how much they’re spending. No one wants to be surprised with additional charges when they hit the checkout button. If you are interested how to offer free shipping in WooCommerce, check my post where I explain that in detail.

If there are other fees you need to consider such as handling fees, sales tax, product customization fees, or anything else that can drive up the price, make those fees very clear on the product pages. In this way, you will avoid customers to be negatively surprised and put them into a position where they consider trying a different store.

Exit Offers

Exit offers provide stores with one more chance to convert your customers before they click off of your site. These popups can be put on any page, including customer shopping carts and checkout, and trigger when a user is about to leave that page.

Offering a deal or more information to encourage customers to reconsider leaving is a great way to convert. For example, offering a coupon as an exit offer may be just the thing a buyer needs to decide on purchasing through your store.

You can also customize these offers to apply specifically to items in a customer’s cart, or providing information based on what pages that visitor has looked at on your site.

OptinMonster’s exit-intent technology is an excellent way to make the most of implementing exit offers on your website.

An estimated 70% of shoppers abandon their carts and never come back to complete the purchase.

Coupon Wheels is a proven method to boost your conversion rates. With exit intent, you can detect the precise moment that the user is about to leave, and show them an irresistible offer to complete their purchase.

Gamification is a psychological trick that smart marketers use to multiply their conversions instantly. You can utilize plugin like Wisdm Games for WordPress.

Shoppers feel a sense of accomplishment when they’re rewarded for participation with coupons, and the dopamine rush from earning a high score or getting a worthwhile prize can encourage them to make the leap and check out through your site.

Great plugins you can use to create exit offers are OptinMonster (check OptinMonster benefits), Convert Pro (see Convert Pro review), and Thrive Leads (see Thrive Leads pros & cons).

Live Chat

Whether shopping, browsing or checking out, customers often have questions about the product or about details they find on your site. And it’s vital to ensure that visitors are as well-informed as possible about what you have to offer. You can use product inquiry plugin to make it easier for buyers to ask questions about products.

You can also direct them to an FAQ page, for example, or give them the tools to reach out to you directly and expect immediate response through a service like live chat. Having fast, straightforward answers to customer questions builds trusts and conversion rates.

Not only does this help customers when shopping, but it enables you to optimize your pages to address common questions that you receive while speaking with customers.

If live chat isn’t an option for your business, a customer service phone number will also do the trick. The important thing is giving customers a means of getting in touch with you.

Guest Checkout

One of the most significant factors that can contribute to cart abandonment is making your customers make an account before checkout. It slows down the shopping experience and makes it inconvenient.

Inputting information, confirming an email address, and then returning to the shopping cart is a lot to ask of a customer who likely has other online options to choose from.

It’s not a smart idea to require customers to create an account before checkout. Not only does this slow down the process, but most customers will bounce.

Tear down the sign-in barrier by enabling a guest checkout. You can always ask them to sign up for an account at the end after they’ve already made their purchase.

Importance Of Security Badges

Many website visitors have concerns about misused data and interception of personal information while they’re online. Having security measures implemented is something that needs to be on your WordPress store.

When a customer shops with you, they’re trusting you with sensitive information like billing info and addresses.

A great way to keep that trust is by adding a security badge like the SSL seal from Norton. Not only does this let customers know that your shop is safe, but it helps convert customers who have concerns about the use of private information. Also having an SSL certificate installed is a must (see how to add free SSL certificate to WordPress site).

Scarcity Marketing

Sometimes, to complete a shopper conversion, you need to provide a little more motivation to purchase. Scarcity marketing capitalizes on this need to motivate potential customers by using tactics like displaying the remaining units of a given item, especially if stock is low.

Scarcity creates a fear of missing out that drives sales because customers don’t want to pass up a limited opportunity.

Countdown clocks are another effective means of generating FOMO that drives sales. You can use WooCommerce scheduled sales plugin to run flash sales and exclusive deals.

For example, with OptinMonster’s countdown timer campaigns, you can create intelligent, scarcity-based campaigns that effectively convert hesitant buyers. OptinMonster’s countdown timer campaigns are available as static or dynamic modes.

Static timers set a universal deadline for all visitors chosen by you, while dynamic timers create an “evergreen” clock that is customized by each visitor to your site.

Instead of a universal deadline for your campaign, a dynamic timer lets you choose a certain amount of days, hours, minutes, or seconds.

Abandoned Cart Follow Up Emails

One secret weapon that shop owners have at their disposal is the abandoned cart email. The ability to send a timely email to your visitors who have left behind shopping carts can be your big chance to convert them to paying customers.

A couple of tips with your follow up cart emails: be timely, and send them within 24 hours of abandonment to maintain relevancy and keep your shop fresh in a shopper’s memory.

For more clarity, show an image of the product they have in their cart and provide a direct link. And, of course, be courteous and friendly.

After all, this is your last chance to convert a potential customer, and you want to keep them coming back to you for their needs. You can’t have a store without customers, after all.

OptinMonster’s OnSite Follow Up Campaigns help you create eye-catching followup emails for customers that can help convert them based on smart technologies that take into account how your site visitors interact with offers on your site.

This allows shop owners a new means of running drip marketing campaigns to optimize conversion rates.

Both eCommerce retailers and content publishers can use this feature to run drip marketing campaigns on their websites to turn uncommitted visitors into revenue-generating leads and customers.

Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment Summary

Reducing form abandonment and cart abandonment in your website should be top priority. You can even utilize coupons for reducing abandonment. Smart Coupons plugin allows you to create coupons targeted at new customers, existing ones, people in a specific region/country, using specific payment methods, and more.

Now that you have everything you need to covert more sales remember to keep trying new tactics to make shopping on your site convenient for your customers.

Some other bits of advice to monitor, maintain and improve your store would be using reporting and analytics plugin, use proven tactics to simplify store management, create upsells and funnels which are excellent for increasing sales, makes possible for customers to bundle products, and use tools for inventory management more effortless.

Always be open to adapting to new trends and technologies that can streamline shopping so you can maximize your customer conversion rates.