How To Boost Shopping Cart Conversions On Ecommerce Website?

When you maintain an eCommerce website your primary goal is to attract as many as possible visitors and to boost shopping cart conversions. When you get people on the website, you want to keep them there.

If you take a look at the big players, such as Amazon, you’ll quickly notice the strategies that work. Amazon offers related products and product packages. These suggestions will keep you browsing even if the product on the particular page is not what you’re looking for.

But what happens when the visitors add products to the cart and then leave? How to reduce shopping cart abandonment?

 

Why Do People Abandon Carts?

There are a few potential reasons for cart abandonment.

1. They add several products in the cart because they want to see a summed price.

Some online stores will offer items to complete the look with each product. If a woman wants to buy a sweater, she’ll see a skirt that goes perfectly well with it. So she’ll add all these products in the cart just to see how much she’d had to pay for the outfit. If she’s not ready to pay that full price, she’ll simply leave.

 

 

2. They don’t know how to add products on the wish list.

They might like several items, but they are still not ready to buy. If they don’t know how to mark them as wanted items, they will add them in the cart to keep them there. Maybe the website doesn’t have the wish list option at all.

 

3. They see a big or unclear shipping fee.

People plan their budget when shopping online. If they plan to spend $70 on jeans, they will get the best jeans that fit in that budget. But when they see that shipping adds up to that sum, they will quickly give up. And if the shipping fee is not clear, they won’t even bother doing the research.

 

4. They are not convinced.

Let’s say someone wants to buy an eBook from your online store. We’re talking about someone with a very limited budget. They want that eBook, but they also want to save money. They will add it in the cart, and they will keep the tab open forever.

In the meantime, they will browse the net for similar, but free solutions. As time goes by, this person is less and less convinced that they should spend money on your product.

 

5. They simply changed their mind.

It’s possible. They like your products, but by the time they get to the checkout, they decide not to proceed.

 

How To Prevent Abandoning Shopping Carts?

There are several ways you can utilize to prevent buyers in abandoning shopping carts.

1. Invest in Pay-Per-Click Ads

Pay-per-click advertising is a very effective way to remind your audience what they liked on your website. This is a great strategy to bring people back after they decided not to convert. They checked out products at your website, and they put them in the cart but stopped there.

 

 

Let’s say you checked out a website, for example, The Hut, but you bounced off. As you browse the net throughout the next days or even weeks, you’ll see ads like in picture above. When you bring visitors back to your website, the chances for conversion will be greater.

 

2. Facebook Ads Are Important

These work in a similar way as pay-per-click ads. But the platform is different. A recent report by Pew Research Center showed that 68% of U.S. adults use Facebook online or on their phones.

That’s a massive percentage. Your target audience is there. In case someone abandoned a cart, you’re likely to target them on Facebook.

 

 

The products they checked out will appear as a list as they browse through their feeds. This strategy works as a gentle reminder. If the prices dropped in the meantime, you’d have even higher chances of getting these people back at your website.

 

3. Offer Proper Navigation on Mobile Devices

Statistics show that the number of mobile shoppers is continually increasing. In 2018, 198.8 million people used their mobile devices to shop, in the U.S. alone.

Your website should be easy to use on any kind of device. Once the visitors get to the checkout process, all buttons and the entire text should be visible on a small screen. Whatever platform you use to build your website, you must make sure it shows up well on any device. You can use WooCommerce checkout field editor plugin for customizing appearence of checkout form.

 

4. Offer Custom Product Boxes

If you’re using WooCommerce to build your online store, you can make it more effective by using the right plugins. Did you know about the option to add custom product boxes? We already mentioned that Amazon relied on this strategy.

Why leave it to big eCommerce websites when you can use it, too? The idea is to offer a bundle of products based on the interests of the reader. WISDM Custom Product Bundles (Boxes) is a excellent WooCommerce plugin that enables you to allow customers create their own bundles.

With this plugin, you can sell a variety of product bundles, and you can even set dynamic pricing for them.

 

5. Convince Them that They Need These Products

Another important aspect of your website is content. When people add items to the shopping cart, they do it because they like the products. However, they also do it because the seller convinced them they needed those products.

Amazon is known for very detailed, factual descriptions. If you want to buy a book, you’ll see a description that tells you why that book is worth paying for.

 

 

They offer details about the product and the brand, as well as info about sizing and maintenance. When you convince the visitors that the products are precisely what they need in their life, you’ll see a massive difference in the conversion rates. The content has to be convincing. If you need talented writers, you can hire writers.

 

6. Include a Surprise at the Checkout

This may come in the form of a discount at the checkout, a special code for specific products, or a gift for loyal users. This is a huge factor of attraction for your website visitors. It convinces them that they are getting extreme value on your site.

So they don’t just come to check out your offer. They fall for it. They add products in the cart, and they convert. Provide the opportunity for your visitors to use discount codes at the checkout. This is an important rule in eCommerce. You have to give, so you’ll get something in return.

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

 

7. Create the Sense of Urgency

You can put a time limit to offers. Like daily deals. Once someone realizes how cool these deals are, they start checking out the website daily. These daily deals are not where the time-sensitive offers stop. All campaigns have a deadline on them.

If someone is interested in getting a product, but they don’t do it ASAP, they will lose the opportunity to get it at a reduced price.

Why does this strategy work? When you convince the potential customer that today is the best day for them to buy the product, they will convert. If they delay the decision for tomorrow, they won’t get the reduced price. The sense of urgency pushes them to take action. You can achieve this using WooCommerce sheduled sales plugin.

 

8. Make the Shipping Free

Offering free shipping in WooCommerce or any store is something you should consider. Shipping fees are guilty of many cart abandonment. If you offer international shipping, the visitors will expect to see a clear fee. If you give them a statement like “Shipping fees will vary depending on the country,” you’ll lose your potential customers.

They will expect a huge unexpected fee when the package arrives. They are not ready to take such a risk. Is it possible for you to ship the products for free? If it is, you’ll convert the visitors more efficiently. You should promote the free shipping across all channels.

And if you have to add a shipping fee, make it reasonable. What’s more important, you have to make it transparent. Each customer should know precisely what they will pay for shipping.

No additional charges should take place when the package arrives unless the customs service from their country adds a fee. If that’s the case, you have to mention that at the checkout.

 

9. Add Multiple Payment Gateways

Offering multiple payment gateways in store is highly recommended. As a critical part of your customers’ purchase journey, payment gateways do more than receive, store, and transmit your customers’ data.

They say something about your website. When choosing one, name brands matter. If customers don’t recognize your gateway, they’re less likely to trust it, and you.

Therefore, payment gateways are a part of your branding. They communicate something about your company, how you treat your customers, what you value.

 

Boost Shopping Cart Conversions Final Thoughts

E-commerce is not just about building a website and offering products. It’s about the way you offer those products. It’s about the way you attract visitors, and you convince them to finalize the purchase.

It takes a lot of work, and you have to do things right. The above-listed tips will help you boost the shopping cart conversions. You only need to take action.

If you are not sure which eCommerce solution to use for you online store, then I highly recommend WooCommerce for selling physical items and Easy Digital Downloads for selling digital items.