Shopping cart abandonment is the worst nightmare of every eCommerce business owner. In fact, there is nothing more frustrating for an eCommerce business owner than losing customers who were about to place their orders.
Ask any eCommerce store owner and they’ll definitely tell you the same thing – a tragic scenario where a potential customer visits their store, adds products in their shopping cart, but at the end, abandons the cart altogether.
According to 41 different studies conducted by industry leaders, today the shopping cart abandonment rate varies from 56% to as high as 80%, while the average is 69.57% in the eCommerce industry.
Now, there are multiple reasons why consumers abandon their shopping carts and we’ll address them in some time, first let’s go over the basics first.
What is Shopping Cart Abandonment?
Shopping cart abandonment is basically when visitors browse your online store, add a product or products to their shopping cart, and in the end, decide to leave your website without placing their order.
Unfortunately, there is no way to completely eliminate shopping cart abandonment as there will always be window shoppers who take pleasure in browsing products on online stores.
But what about the real customers who actually wanted to purchase something but still abandoned their shopping carts? Turns out, there are many reasons why customers abandon their shopping carts on an online store. Below, we’ve explained the 5 most common reasons why customers abandon their shopping carts.
5 Reasons Why Customers Abandon Their Shopping Carts
There are many actions you can take to reduce your cart abandonment rate. But, in order to reduce the shopping cart abandonment rate for your eCommerce store, first, you must understand why customers are leaving before placing their order.
Here are the most common reasons why your customers might be abandoning their shopping carts.
Competitive Pricing on Other Online Stores
It’s a universal fact that when it comes to shopping for anything, customers always do their own research. And in the case of online shopping, customers always check prices on competitors’ stores and compare them before making a purchase.
Now, if they find a better deal on a different site, then in most cases they’ll definitely make a purchase from your competitor.
So, to avoid this, you need to provide the best deal among your competitors to ensure customers don’t get diverted from your eCommerce store.
Unexpected Costs for Shipping
Shipping cost is another common reason why customers leave their shopping carts.
Though most customers are okay with paying a reasonable shipping fee for an item, but if the price is too high, they’ll instantly feel like it’s not worth it and abandon their shopping cart.
This is especially true when you charge a certain amount of shipping fee and the shipping time is too long. In fact, this combination of long shipping time and high shipping costs is the biggest turn off for customers who actually wanted to place an order.
So, make sure that there are no unexpected or hidden shipping costs and show it right at each product page so that customers don’t abandon their carts at the checkout page.
This brings us to the next reason why customers abandon their shopping carts…
Long Checkout Process
A long and confusing checkout process often turns customers away from making a purchase. In other words, the more information you ask your customers to place their order, the less interest your customer will show for completing the checkout process.
It just gives them enough reason to abandon their shopping cart and purchase from your competitor. Therefore, it is extremely important to keep your checkout process as short as possible.
It’ll not just help you reduce your shopping cart abandonment rate, but it will also improve overall customer satisfaction.
Limited Payment Options
Apart from the long checkout process, having limited payment options to place an order can also turn many customers away.
Just think about it. – When you don’t see the payment option you regularly use, would you really put in extra efforts to place your order?
The same goes for your customers.
So, it’s critical to offer a variety of payment options on your eCommerce store. There are already dozens of options available such as Credit cards, Debit cards, Stripe, Paypal, Amazon Pay – the list goes on.
Apart from these standard payment options, you should also consider adding mobile payment options such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Google Pay, which are highly popular among the younger generation.
Compulsory to Create an Account before Placing Order
Today, the majority of online shoppers get irritated when they’re forced to create their account before making a purchase.
In fact, when they see that they need to compulsorily create an account, they often leave shopping carts and move on, affecting your sales as a result. One of the reasons behind this is because many online shoppers just don’t feel comfortable about providing their personal data or just fill out a form for buying a single product.
Some of them just think it’s not worth sharing personal information to buy a product, while others simply hate the obligatory registration process for making a purchase.
So, these are the main reasons why shoppers abandon their carts. If you can solve these issues, you’ll definitely unlock the great conversion potential on your eCommerce store.
Fortunately for you, we’ve already found solutions for each of these problems so that you can easily overcome them and increase your sales.
So, without any further ado, let’s check out the solutions below.
5 Ways to Decrease Cart Abandonment on Your Magento Store
Here are the most effective solutions to reduce cart abandonment rates in your online store.
Show Related Products
Due to the high competition in the eCommerce industry today, it’s crucial for new eCommerce businesses to decrease a potential customer’s decision-making time. One way to achieve this is by showing related products on your products page.
For example, if a customer is browsing through “high-end laptops“, then he or she will be surely interested in other laptop related products.
And by showing related products such as laptop bags, wireless mouse, etc. will help you make more sales.
Not only that but showing related products also gives an opportunity to showcase more products that customers might need.
Show Shipping Charges Upfront
Usually, the shipping fee is the only entity that remains unknown until the customer reaches the checkout page.
But, adding extra shipping fees at the end of the purchase process is not only unfair to your customers but it also increases your shopping cart abandonment rate.
Just think about it. When a customer browses through your products and finalizes his or her shopping cart, it is because he or she has given a positive nod to spend a specific amount of money.
But, when the same customer notices an unexpected shipping charge added at the time of checkout, it immediately affects the customer’s decision.
In fact, in many cases, it also drives customers away. Therefore, it’s extremely important to display shipping charges upfront to keep everything transparent and clear.
So, make sure that your product price and any other extra costs including the shipping charges are displayed right on your products page. And if you think that showing all extra costs upfront will prevent customers from placing their orders, then you’re wrong.
The truth is, your customers will appreciate it if they see no surprises at the checkout process. This is basically called “What you see is what you get” sales tactic and it’s a proven strategy to win customers’ trust and make more sales.
Incorporate One Step Checkout
There is a reason why One Step Checkout is the hottest trend in the eCommerce industry. It’s not only convenient for your customers, but it can also dramatically reduce your shopping cart abandonment rate.
You see, A long checkout process is not something customers look for when they’re shopping online. Moreover, A recent study also revealed that 28% of all shopping cart abandonment happens due to the long checkout process.
So, in order to decrease your cart abandonment rate, you must consider integrating One Step Checkout extension on your Magento eCommerce store.
Allow Checking out as a Guest
Most first-time eCommerce entrepreneurs see the checkout process as the best way to collect information about their target audience.
But the truth is, asking customers to fill the registration form at the checkout not only annoys them, but it often drives them away.
Therefore, it’s critical to provide an option to checkout as a guest. It will not just help your customers complete the checkout process a lot faster, but it will also add to the user experience of your eCommerce store.
Set Automated Cart Abandonment Emails
Many times, customers often get caught up in other things and forget about completing the shopping, which ultimately leads to shopping cart abandonment.
The best way to tackle this problem is by sending automated email reminders about products in their cart. Cart abandonment email reminders will greatly help you in persuading customers to go back to their shopping cart and finish the checkout.
All you need to do is, integrate abandoned cart email extension for Magento 2, and set up automated email reminders. In fact, you can also personalize your abandonment emails using the above extension to give your customers assurance of your services.
Conclusion
Shopping cart abandonment is inevitable as many times customers leave their shopping carts for reasons that are beyond your control.
So, the best way to fight against it is by keeping your customers above everything else and try recovering as much as possible.
Hopefully, the above 5 solutions will help you decrease cart abandonment rate on your eCommerce store and drive more sales.
