How to recover abandoned carts in your online store
One of the problems that an E-commerce owner faces is the high rate of abandoned carts .
According to the latest update from Baymard.com, in 2023, the average rate resulting from 44 studies on abandoned carts was 70.19% , which means that seven out of ten people do not make an online purchase .
Today’s guide focuses on how to recover abandoned carts , the reasons that lead a user to abandon an online store, and tips to help your customers overcome the obstacle and convert.
What is an abandoned cart?
The abandoned cart is used in Ecommerce to refer to those users who have saved products in their basket and completed the purchase process, but who ultimately have not made the purchase.
Whether you use Shopify , Woocommerce , PrestaShop or another CMS platform, it is important to know why you are losing sales and how to recover abandoned carts.
Let’s see below the most common causes why the cart abandonment rate can increase.
1. High or unexpected shipping costs
One of the biggest culprits of shopping cart abandonment is high or unexpected shipping costs .
Imagine that a user has spent time adding products to their shopping cart and is ready to buy.
You begin the purchasing process and find that the cost of the order has doubled due to shipping costs. Most likely, the user will feel annoyed and leave the online store at that very moment.
Be transparent
Make sure your online store indicates shipping costs somewhere accessible to the visitor.
Being transparent not only allows shoppers to make informed decisions, but also helps build trust in your brand and convert abandoned shopping carts.
Adjust shipping costs
If high shipping costs are preventing users from purchasing, explore ways to adjust shipping. It is worth the effort to find the best offer for the users of your online store.
If it is not possible to reduce shipping costs, you can assume a part of the costs in the prices of the products. Generally, people are willing to pay more for the same products and not have to pay an additional shipping fee.
Lastly, the shipping cost will be related to delivery times, so you need to find the optimal cost that is reasonable without having to wait forever to receive the product.
2. Shopping comparison
Today’s online buyer is smart and does his or her research before buying. They typically fill their shopping cart and begin the checkout process to see what the final cost of their order will be, once shipping and additional charges are applied.
They will then do the same in similar stores and compare prices before deciding which online store to buy from.
Popups to keep your attention
Capturing your visitors’ attention with an incentive is one way to increase conversion.
An exit pop-up with a discount coupon, free shipping or a gift with purchase, activated when the buyer leaves the checkout page, will help you recover abandoned carts.
3. Concern about web security
Online shoppers need to trust the online store they order from. Make your customers feel secure and that their personal and payment information is safe.
Includes security badges
Having SSL certificates and quality seals (for example, Trust Online) near the shopping cart visually shows that your online store is trustworthy.
SSL certificates prove that a store’s domain is verified and that the data being shared is encrypted. It is also good practice to include logos of the different online payment methods available in your online store and indicating that it is a “ Secure Purchase ”.
4. Confusing or slow purchasing process
Even if a user wants to buy your product, if they don’t know how to complete the order or have to make an additional effort to make the purchase, they probably won’t convert.
Check the purchasing process for yourself, how many clicks and how long it takes, to know where there may be problems.
You can ask a friend or family member who doesn’t understand much to do it for you. The journey from when the user enters your website, goes through the cart and arrives at the shipment of the order, must be as fluid and fast as possible.
Add CTAS to each page
The call to action, or CTA , during the purchasing process is the purchase button itself. It has to be instantly recognizable and impossible for your visitors to miss. Include an attractive payment button, large and in a color that contrasts with the design of your website.
If the checkout process has obstacles like creating an account or signing up for Newstletter before completing the purchase, consider including these CTAs on other pages of your website or offering a guest checkout option to make it easier for buyers to convert. .
5. Not offering enough payment options
Each user chooses the best payment gateway according to their needs. Offering just one, like PayPal, will drive away buyers who don’t use or trust that service.
Offers a combination of credit, debit and PayPal cards. You can even consider financing purchases (“Buy now, pay later”) if your product is high-cost.
Among the payment methods most used by English consumers are PayPal (around 45% of those surveyed) and in second position the debit card, with 30% of the responses, according to Statista .
The online buyer is still reluctant to buy online, so offering traditional payment options such as bank transfer or cash on delivery can also help generate confidence in consumers less familiar with the online world.
Conclusion
That’s it for our guide on how to recover abandoned carts.
The best thing about each of these solutions is that you can implement them over time and see if the cart abandonment rate decreases.
Remember to imagine your online store and the purchasing process from the customers’ perspective and make the process of converting abandoned shopping carts simple and fast.
And you? What strategies do you use to recover abandoned carts in your online store? Tell us in comments!