10 Ways to Overcome Cart Abandonment This Holiday Season
Now that October has officially come to an end, it’s time to start prepping your online store for the major upcoming shopping holidays: Black Friday and Boxing Day. And considering that a majority of shoppers will spend a fair portion of their time browsing online in the next coming weeks, retailers need to be prepared for the inevitable cart abandonment.
The holidays bring a lot of window shoppers. To help you get prepped, we’ve compiled a list of the fastest and easiest ways you can improve cart abandonment this holiday season. Try to implement one of these changes this year and you’ll notice a significant improvement and you’ll notice you’ll be able to convert more shoppers into buyers.
State All Prices Up Front
One of the main reasons for shoppers to abandon their online carts is because shipping prices were much higher than expected. Retailers need to be upfront and transparent about all costs as early as possible during the shopping process so shoppers are fully aware of what they are expected to pay. This will cut down cart abandonment because shoppers are able to weigh the cost-benefit for shipping the item — opposed to buying in store or from online from a competitor.
Make Forms Simple
Considering how much time consumers spend on their mobile devices, retailers need to ensure that their sites are mobile optimized, most importantly that it’s easy to fill out any mobile forms. There’s nothing more frustrating than struggling to fill out a form or to fill out a form and have your phone crash. Eliminate any unnecessary questions so visitors can get through the shopping process quickly and painlessly.
Use Customer Testimonials
Seeking out online reviews has become a standard part of the buying process for today’s consumers, which is why retailers need to include them. A positive customer review can become the powerful social proof that shoppers are looking for when making an online purchase, and considering 70% of customers consult reviews or ratings before making a final purchase this needs to be a feature that’s added to all eCommerce sites.
Provide and Display a Satisfaction Guarantee
Satisfaction Guarantees reassures site visitors that you are willing to return and exchange items that decide they don’t want to keep. Display this badge where your customers can see it on every page and include a link to your return policy so customers are fully aware of the return process. In turn, this will help you build trust with your customers — even if they decide to return their purchased item.
Have Customer Service Representatives Available Online
There’s nothing more frustrating than having a question about an item, but no resource available to assist you. Retailers should consider adding a live chat feature so time sensitive questions can be answered immediately.
Don’t Push Registration
Forcing your customers to fill out a series of login pages just to browse online will not only irritate them but it could push them to leave the site. Let site visitors checkout as a guest and make the online shopping experience just as easy as it would be in store. A shopper wouldn’t be asked to fill out paperwork and create a username and password to purchase a pair of shoes in store so they shouldn’t be expected to online.
Reassure Shoppers With Trust Symbols
Another factor for online cart abandonment is payment security. Shoppers need to feel safe when making an online payment and the best way to achieve this by showing that your site is secure with trust symbols. Trust symbols are essential for showing your customers that they are being properly taken care of and won’t be taken advantage of, which will most likely leave them feeling confident in completing their purchase.
Shorten The Checkout Process
If your checkout process requires the shopper complete eight different pages in a row, chances are you’ll lose them before they reach the end. Make your checkout process clean and simple with one page to fill out. Get all of the required shipping and payment details on the same page along with the submit button. This is a faster and easier experience for the shopper and gives them one less reason to abandon their cart.
Save The Cart
To improve conversion, make it effortless for users to return to their carts to continue shopping whenever they want. Humans are easily distracted and it doesn’t take much for them to get migrate away from their shopping cart. This is why it’s crucial to allow shoppers to return to their carts later to complete their purchase at a time that’s convenient for them.
Abandoned Checkout Emails
Finally, a great way to overcome cart abandonment is to send visitors abandoned checkout emails. Spently helps retailers turn their transactional emails into marketing opportunities with product recommendations, discounts and more follow-up emails after every purchase, which will encourage shoppers to return to a site once they’ve left. With Spently, you can recover an abandoned cart, offer shoppers a discount, and ask for feedback.
While cart abandonment is a frustrating aspect of the eCommerce industry, there definitely are a number of solutions that can improve this scenario. With the tactics listed in this post, you can get to work and make some changes to your eCommerce store so you can decrease your cart abandonment and in turn increase your conversions this holiday season.
About the author:
Ainsley Smith is the social media and content coordinator for Nextopia, a partner of Spently. When she’s not writing about eCommerce trends she can be found eating her way through Toronto’s restaurant scene.
