Shopping Cart Abandonment
Shopping Cart Abandonment
Shopping Cart Abandonment

10 Reasons Behind Shopping Cart Abandonment, and What You Can Do To Stop It

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Like any other retail medium, the ultimate goal at eCommerce is to make the sale. However, many factors may lead customers to shopping cart abandonment. We’ve compiled a list of some of the most common reasons your visitors don’t become customers.

eCommerce stores lose a lot of business to car abandonment, so it’s no surprise experts perform studies on the subject. And, of course, the only way to fight shopping cart abandonment is knowing what’s prompting it.

While these are some of the most common reasons for this practice, the order may vary in your specific website. Bright Vessel can audit your checkout process to find out your particular needs and fix them accordingly!

Reasons for Shopping Cart Abandonment

1. Surprise Shipping Costs

Most visitors who engage in shopping cart abandonment do so because there are unforeseen extra costs. Usually, it’s not until checkout that customers find out about shipping costs and taxes.

What you can do about it:

  • Specify extra costs on the listing. If you’re transparent from the get-go, your visitors won’t feel “tricked” into paying extra.
  • Add taxes and shipping costs to your final expenses, and then add “free shipping.”
  • Consider paying for some extra costs yourself. Run your numbers and see if you can afford to spend at least some of these extras.

 2. Having to Register

Another primary reason for shopping cart abandonment is discovering upon checkout that you need to register on the site. This can be a cumbersome experience for customers, who might just choose to buy elsewhere.

What you can do about it:

  • Offer guest checkout. Don’t force first-time buyers to register on your site; they might anyway if you create a great experience.
  • Take some extra time to find out if there are other hiccups on checkout. Get friends or even returning customers to tell you what they’d improve on your process.

 3. Uncertainty About Payment Security

While it’s unlikely that security issues will arise from eCommerce shopping, customers are understandably wary of the possibility. Not trusting a website they’ve just discovered is one of the primary reasons for shopping cart abandonment.

What you can do about it:

  • Focus on making your eCommerce site look as trustworthy as it is. Keep an updated layout, have a seamless design with proper images. Most importantly, have an SSL certificate that assures visitors that they’re in a safe area.
  • Add customer testimonials. Ask regular customers to write a few lines about their eCommerce experience with you.
  • Provide full contact information so that customers can get in touch with you from everywhere, including phone.
  • Generally speaking, make it evident that there are real people behind your website. Provide the safety of human interaction in every step of the way.

 4. Researching to Buy Later

A lot of customers don’t buy right away, rather saving for later. They’ll be looking into several sites at the same time, maybe adding to the cart so it’s easier to calculate costs or compare products.

What you can do about it:

This is a somewhat unavoidable reason for shopping cart abandonment, but you can still make things easier for your visitors.

  • If the comparison between products is your issue, implement a price match guarantee. Other guarantees may apply as well.
  • Create a platform to compare between similar products, so your customers have it easier to see between them.

 5. Difficulty Finding Coupon Info

New customers may have entered your site after receiving a coupon or hearing about a big sale. They might become discouraged from buying on your site if they can’t find a way to put their coupon to use.

What you can do about it:

  • Auto-apply coupon codes whenever possible.
  • Add the coupon code search bar early on the shopping process, so it’s less discouraging.

 6. Unpleasant Checkout Process

Once again, customers want a seamless buying experience, and anything less than that can be a turnoff. Remember that there may be hundreds of websites offering the same thing you are, only more comfortable.

What you can do about it:

  • Eliminate any unnecessary forms on your checkout.
  • Have as few pages as possible. A multiple-step checkout process can become too long and encourage fear of missing out.

 7. Website Errors

Slow and crash-prone websites can easily halt a purchase from happening. This is also a quick way to get visitors to leave because they may feel their information isn’t safe.

What you can do about it:

  • Stay on the lookout for errors of any sort on your site.
  • Make sure the website is always running smoothly, or invest in a website management service.
  • See that your site runs well on all platforms, whether desktop or mobile.
  • Check site speed through an online tool like Google PageSpeed Insights or Pingdom.

 8. Lack of Fast Shipping

Online shoppers are looking for a quick experience, and that includes having their new item in their hands as fast as possible. Fast shipping is essential, and you could be missing out on customers by not having it.

What you can do about it:

Simply add express shipping to your checkout. Customers are willing to spend more on getting their items quicker.

 9. Hard-to-reach Customer Support

For customers, a seamless experience also includes having their questions answered promptly. Online shoppers want someone to guide them through the process, not unlike how it goes on a brick-and-mortar location.

What you can do about it:

  • Add a live chat to your website.
  • Have a social media person or team in charge of answering doubts quickly.
  • Make your channels of communication very clear from your homepage, so visitors can reach out without wasting time.

 10. Unenticing Returns Policy

For many shoppers, not being able to return items easily can be a significant cause for shopping cart abandonment. Online shopping comes with issues, for example, users can’t try out clothing items when buying online. Being able to return something in case there was a mistake can be a significant upside.

What you can do about it:

  • Review your returns policy. Maybe get in touch with usual customers and ask them about what they would change about your current one.
  • Make sure you can track the number of returns and all costs associated with them.
  • Try a 30-day return policy for a while, and check if it’s profitable.

We Can Help You Fix Shopping Cart Abandonment Issues!

These are some of the main reasons visitors leave websites without spending, but there are nearly endless other factors. Remember that Bright Vessel can do a shopping cart abandonment audit for your website. Our team of experts can analyze any potential hiccups on your eCommerce site and making it reach its ultimate potential. Get in touch with us and let’s do great things together!

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