How to Improve E-commerce Cart Abandonment

Cart abandonment is something that only happens online, and it’s so annoying. Imagine walking around a physical shop, filling your trolley with items, then just abandoning it and leaving the store without buying them.

Cart abandonment is when a shopper enters your e-commerce website either organically or through a paid ad, they put something in their basket with all intentions of purchasing (or not) and then leave the site without completing the final transaction. Unfortunately, it’s a problem that we can’t eliminate completely, however, we can definitely put measures in place to reduce it – it’s all about creating the simplest user experience.

Step one: Fast checkout process

If consumers are aware of how long the checkout process is going to take, they are more likely to continue. One way to overcome this is to display a progress indicator. Instilling gamification into the checkout process as well, which makes it a more enjoyable and clear experience for the user.

Step two: No surprises

How much is your postage and packaging and how fast will your product be delivered?

One of the greatest expectations from consumers online is same/next day delivery at no additional cost. With many of the large fashion retailers offering consumers a one-off £10 payment for next day delivery over the whole year. Making it hard to compete and raising consumer expectations for smaller online businesses. However, minimising the postage costs can definitely be the difference between a purchase or not, with 62% of consumers always choosing the cheapest shipping option, followed by 39% who purchase enough to qualify for the free shipping.

Step three: Recapture emails

Ok, so someone puts something in their basket and leaves the site, so why not send them an email with the same item(s), reminding them to checkout, or offering a discount code? Or, utilise Facebook’s re-marketing tool, so when consumers are on social media they are reminded of the item they had previously left in their basket.

Obviously the first suggestion here is only achievable if the email address is captured, so some websites ask for that first / as items are added to the basket. For example:

Please enter your email address, if you should get disconnected or have to leave the website, we can send you your basket details.

Step four: Personalise the checkout process

For previous customers who have logged in to your site before, this is simple, just by using their name throughout the process will make the consumer feel more valued and therefore more likely to complete a purchase.

Personalisation is huge now, with the likes of Amazon maximising the functionality to ensure shopping with them becomes easier and easier – products you’ve purchased or viewed are on the home page, quick links appear to place repeat orders and so on. There is a lot that can be done to personalise a shopping experience online, and this could be a very worthwhile investment.

At Wish, we specialise in user experience, website creation and Digital Marketing. With our combined experience we can help you with struggles of cart abandonment and implement the strategies to encourage consumer purchasing.