Shopping Cart Abandonment is one of the most talked-about topics in the eCommerce community. Still, it is one of the potential areas that retailers fail to tap into.
HubSpot has found that 73.9% of carts get abandoned at some point in time during the shopping journey. This is often the result of competitive pricing, uncertainty about store credibility and general forgetfulness.
So let’s take a closer look at some of the proven strategies used to nurture potential buyers and help them convert into long-term customers.
Automated Email Workflows
An abandoned cart is the consequence of multiple reasons, some of which might not be under your control. For example, the customer was about to complete the payment but a technical error from his bank stopped it.
The key here is to send follow-up emails to customers so that they can return to your store and complete the checkout process. But, this is not as easy as it sounds, if done manually.
Automated abandoned cart recovery workflow will do the trick! You can set it and forget it. Some brands use algorithms that calculate the time between cart abandonment and receiving of email. They will also determine what type of promotional offers should be given to these customers.
Advanced email templates also include a purchase URL that users can click to proceed to the cart directly.
On a side note, you will usually be offered a CRM solution as part of the website development project when you approach an eCommerce development company in USA. Take advantage of it to get a more personalized omnichannel experience.
Display Incentives Clearly
Incentives attract buyers and incorporating them into your eCommerce strategy can prove beneficial for your business. There are two main types of promotions that motivate buyers to complete their purchases.
Free Shipping
The shipping charge is something that attracts the attention of most buyers when they first see any product. Their thought process is something like this:
“Will I get this same thing at the same or a lower price devoid of shipping charges?”
Customers find free shipping attractive and will usually end up buying products that offer this added advantage.
However, every retailer cannot afford free shipping. If you belong to this category, don’t worry! We recommend the below strategies to still incorporate the concept and reduce abandoned carts.
- Instead of showing the shipping price separately, include it in the final price of the product.
- Offer free shipping when customers make a higher purchase, over a pre-defined amount.
- Up-sell by giving consumers free shipping when they purchase two or more items
- Offer a sale or limited period offer with free shipping.
Offer Discounts and Promotions
Discounts and promotions work like magic when dealing with abandoned carts. But make sure that you are striking the right balance between offering discounts and maintaining your profitability.
Customer loyalty and customer acquisition will improve gradually when you implement discounts properly. Overall, you should build custom promotional offers based on your business, customers, and goals.
One-Page Checkout
Modern buyers love to explore and buy their favorite products online, but the long checkout process bothers them. Brands should work on reducing the friction and roadblocks encountered in the checkout process.
The optimized one-page checkout helps users to understand their purchase progress and toggle through the checkout stages easily. This approach also reduces the page loading time, thus avoiding the incidences of cart abandonment.
The button size on your checkout page should be compatible with the mobile version of your site. They should not be smaller than 44 pixels by 44 pixels. These things improve the overall shopping experience of your users dramatically.
Depending on the theme of your website, you may also add a progress bar at the top. It will help buyers to a great extent.
Assured Security
Even though eCommerce platforms are known to adopt good security practices, consumers are still concerned about their valuable money getting lost in the deep ocean of online scams. Providing security assurances and badges on your site will address most of their fears.
Use SSL encryption to secure all your online transactions from hackers. Running a security audit of your eCommerce store periodically will help to keep cybercrimes at bay.
Use Live Chat & Chat Bots
Lack of product-related or other necessary information can lead to cart abandonment. One way to avoid this scenario is to employ live chats and chatbots in your eCommerce business.
Live chat is a straightforward method to establish communication with your customers and prospects. Your live support professional will answer the queries of customers and guide them properly. But not all companies can afford this system. Maintaining a live support team 24/7 is not a viable option for most companies. This is where chatbots come into the picture.
Chatbots use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to answer customer queries based on pre-defined inputs. They leave little to no room for error and can work without any human interference. If the doubts are complicated, then a support representative can take control to carry on the conversation further.
On An Ending Note
Try to recognize the underlying causes of abandonment and fix them with the five tips that you just read in this blog. If not taken care of in the early stages, you will end up losing more revenue than you can even think of.
Author Bio :
Bharat Patel, who heads the digital marketing team at Brainvire Infotech, is armed with over 12 years of experience in the fields of online marketing and project management. He is extremely proactive in implementing the latest technological innovations in his projects. Bharat’s core expertise lies in search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, and conversion rate optimization, among other things. His immense flare of writing encourages him to consistently pen down words revolving around current trends and innovations that relate to his fields of interest.
