(Newswire.net — October 16, 2018) — According to Baymard’s latest research, the current cart abandonment rate stands at 69.89%. And, surprisingly the majority of these cart abandonments happen for no good reasons. In fact, 58.6% of the U.S. online shoppers abandon a cart because they are going through “I was just browsing/ I am not ready to buy” sentiments. And you can do nothing about such cart abandonment.
The other reasons that are leading to rising cart abandonment rates are listed below.
Sure, there’s no remedy for the “just browsing” segment. Even so, other issues can be resolved through simple design changes.
For instance, 28% of the shoppers have abandoned the cart because of the long and complicated checkout process. According to a recent research, the average checkout flow contains 23.48 elements, while the actual form should consist of only 12-14 form elements.
Unsurprisingly, 1 of the 4 shoppers abandons the cart due to too long and complicated checkout process.
When done right, check out optimizations could result in recoveries worth $260 billion.
Here I walk you through 13 checkout optimizations tips to reduce cart abandonment rates and accelerate conversions:
#1. Keep your Cart Page Processes Simple
The key to quick conversions on eCommerce cart pages is to keep them simple and to the point. Keep only those fields that are utmost necessary. This will automatically remove shopper friction. The ideal thing to do here is to help customers get to their order confirmation pages as quickly as possible. However, make sure the customer finds all the relevant information.
Additionally, make sure the CTA buttons are loud and clear. And, that things are self-explanatory. If possible, provide a progress indicator too. This will give them a fair idea as to how far things have progressed so far.
#2. Avoid Multi-Column Form Layouts
As per a recent survey, 13% of sites are using multi-column form layout. This is not good because multi-column form layout is prone to misinterpretation. Users skip fields, including data in the wrong fields and sometimes stop themselves from filling the fields thinking how to input the data in the first place.
#3. Capture User’s Email Address
As it turns out, it’s almost impossible to convert 100% of the users who reach your checkout page. Even so, you should be able to get hold of their email addresses before they leave.
So, your first step should be to prompt the user to enter the email address even before he or she decides whether or not to opt for guest check out or create an account for later use. In fact, the cart page should automatically lookup to see if the email address already exists or not?
Such captured email address could be instrumental in running shopping cart abandonment campaigns.
One can even try systems such as DotMailer and Ometria, which requires a user to enter their email address in keeping with their behavior. This helps in sending personalized emails. To know more about such systems you could consult top eCommerce development companies.
#4. Leverage Exit-Intent Pop-ups
This is one of the most effective methods to recover abandoned carts. Companies such as Wild Water Adventures have recovered a whopping $61,000 in sales by displaying the exit-intent pop-up in the checkout page. In fact, you could think of combining exit-intent pop-ups with page-level targeting by:
- Asking a question
- Requesting them to sign up so you could email them a coupon
#5. Be Upfront About Shipping Costs
As shown in the graph above, extra shipping costs lead to 60% of cart abandonment. Meaning, this is a crucial area that needs to be addressed, first and foremost. Not surprisingly, so many eCommerce sites willingly offer free shipping and make sure the customers are aware of it the moment they start interacting with the site. Customers actually love free shipping.
In case free shipping is not possible, let the customers know about at it the moment they make the purchases and not at the checkout stages.
Simply put, if you are into offering free shipping and returns, let the customers know about it on every page of your site.
#6. Offer More Than One Payment Option
Nearly 8% of people abandon the checkout page because of the unavailability of different payment option. Almost 4% leave if their credit card gets declined. This is bad. After all, you’ve succeeded in making your customers reach the final stages of their customer journey and suddenly they seem to call it quits.
So, how do you make the customers stay and make the purchases? Offer Multiple Payment options. In fact, according to BigCommerce, including digital payment not only helps the customer stay, but it also triples conversions.
Some of the most popular payment options that you could think of embedding in your eCommerce site include credit cards, Paypal, debit cards, and cash.
#7. Offer Live Chat Support
Live Chat is being recognized as an indispensable customer service tool these days. And why not? It helps accelerate conversions. Live chat allows customers to seek clarifications to their queries, then and there. This automatically increases the trust of the customers toward the brand and the product, which, in turn, translates into sales.
Further, the chat system could be used to collect different types of questions customers tend to ask before they make the purchases and then include them in the product pages. This will make your product pages more effective, which, in turn, could prompt the customers to buy.
#8. Optimize for Mobile
Don’t take the mobile optimization part lightly. If you haven’t optimized for mobile and if the user reaches the checkout page and somehow finds his thumb too big for the input fields, their patience might run out and might abandon the site in no time.
#9. Display Security icons
It’s not easy for customers to disclose their credit and debit card details. However, by displaying security icons on the check out pages, you can offer them a sense of security.
If anything, use https and padlocks wherever possible. And if you are holding all the card details, you could inform the same to your customers by offering them encryption and security information.
#10. Creation of Account after Checking Out
This can be really annoying: Making users register even before they have made a purchase. In fact, removing it led one of the retailers to increase their sales by $300 million. So, rather than asking the users to register beforehand, prompt them to create one after the order has been made. Tell them, entering the email address would help them track their order.
#11. Installation and Setup
If you are into selling electronic items, you could easily persuade your customers to make purchases, if you offer help with installation and set-up.
#12. Offer Financing Options for More Expensive Items
Many eCommerce stores offer Paypal’s “ Bill me Later” function. And then there are others that accept payment in installments. Chalk out different financing options to move your expensive merchandise.
#13. Offer Complimentary Samples with Orders
You could bet on this strategy to find repeat orders. For example, along with a clothing order, you could offer free jewelry. Freeman Beauty sites offer sample travel beauty product with each item added to the cart.
Wrapping Up
There you are! The 13 checkout page optimization strategies to reduce cart abandonment rates. Sure, there are several more strategies that help customers with hassle-free checkout process and, in turn, cut down the cart abandonment rates. Share your experiences below!