According to independent Web research, abandoned shopping carts are as high as 67.75%. Think about that for a second. All your effort spent after optimizing the landing pages, perfecting your informative style and pricing strategies are in vain as 7 out of every 10 people will definitely stop at the finish line.
Isn’t that quite depressing?
Consider a few facts:
- 99% of first-time visitors will never make a purchase
- 75% of visitors who abandon their carts actually make the purchase at the end.
The truth is, you can actually recover the loss if you are willing to develop the right strategies.
It is not simply because customers change their mind at the last minute and then leave their shopping cart. There’s something more to it. Let’s explore those issues.
Customers Encounter Unexpected Costs
Imagine this: You have spent time at the grocery store picking up items for a party you’re hosting. When you approach the checkout, the assistant announces the total including taxes, bag fees, packaging fees and card processing fees. Would you continue your purchase at this particular grocery store or try another one?
These unexpected costs increase the risk of cart abandonment. When it comes to your online store, free shipping and transparent transactions are important to increase online spending.
The “Just Browsing†Attitude
Ecommerce research indicates that 99% of first time visitors won’t buy on their first visit and 75% who initially abandoned their shopping cart return to ultimately buy it.
The following is the complete breakdown of ‘time-to-purchase’ data:
- 30 percent purchase in less than 20 minutes.
- 50 percent purchase in 20 minutes to one hour.
- 60 percent purchase in 1 to 3 hours.
- 65 percent purchase in 3 to 12 hours.
- 72 percent purchase in 12 to 24 hours.
- 80 percent purchase in 3 to 7 days.
- 95 percent purchase in 1 to 2 weeks.
- 100 percent purchase in more than 2 weeks.
You need to be presentable as much as possible while they continue their search. More importantly, know that the more a person abandons their cart and the more they return to your site - the more likely they are to convert.
Customers Found a Better Price Elsewhere
Studies show that ‘time and price’ are the two important factors regarding why shoppers abandon their carts. If you want to understand the role of pricing in cart abandonment, you need to understand that all cart values are not created equally. Lower shopping carts contain higher amounts of product goods, therefore, visitors abandon their shopping cart specifically to find a better price elsewhere.
When a customer abandons their shopping cart, below are few important strategies you can utilize to recover and convert them:
Save Their Wishlists or Cart for Later
As we’ve discussed, research indicates that the majority of the online shoppers do not make a purchase the first time they visit your website.  But many do return to eventually purchase the product later.
Encourage them to return to the checkout process and allow them save their wishlists. Remind them of their saved items and make them believe that you are a trustworthy and helpful resource to buy from.
Retarget Them to Get Their Attention Back
The more frequently the shopper sees your ads and your marketing after abandoning their shopping cart, the more likely they are to return to buy from you. But pay special attention to recency. Â Overdoing it can be annoying and can actually make them completely discard your site.
It is better to test and measure to find the ideal mix of frequency and recency to retarget them successfully and turn them into buyers.
Try To Be More Creative
Try out triggering certain types of messages and offers depending on what’s in the cart. For instance, high-priced items can absorb free-shipping rather than low-priced items. On the other hand, there are a few product categories that involve longer time frames to make the decision to purchase.
In such cases, instead of any discount offers, a reminder will be effective without knocking your profit. Most importantly, the more exclusive your products are, the less you need to entice your customers with discounts and other lucrative offers.
Integrate Images of Abandoned Items
If someone searchs for exercise pants then sets one in their shopping cart and abandons it to look for other designs, there’s a good chance that the shopper does not remember that exact pants they saw on your site earlier. They get overwhelmed with choices.
When you send an email with an image of the pants, you can include some reviews from other customers regarding that product, ratings and images of other similar pants. Don’t forget to add a call-to-action that leads the buyer back to their original cart.
If they have to start over from the beginning, there’s a chance that they’ll run away again.
Don’t Force Visitors to Register to Checkout
Do not make customers sign up for an account and fill out a form just to checkout. It has been estimated that 14% of shopping cart abandonment happens because visitors do not find a proper checkout option.
Give your guests the option to sign up for an account or continue on as a guest. If you want them to register, you have to let them know the benefits they receive from doing so.
Don’t Leave Tasks for Later
If people have questions regarding a product they want to buy from your site, have your company’s telephone numbers ready for them to call. If their questions are not answered as soon as possible, they are most likely to abandon their shopping cart. In addition to your company’s customer service phone number, an email address can also immensely help a customer.
Last but not the least, consider developing a retargeting email program and making use of abandoned shopping cart apps that can help you recover the loss through mobile push notifications to win back the customer by sending a customized notification with a reminder of what they have left behind their cart.
Learning more about how to recover abandoned shopping carts can help you drive revenue to enhance your bottom line.
Shopping Cart Photo via Shutterstock
