5 tips for avoiding shopping cart abandonment

While it’s easy for your customers to browse your site and add items to their cart, a growing number of customers actually abandon their shopping cart and never return to complete their orders. According to a recent report from the Baymard Institute, approximately 68% of online shoppers are abandoning their carts before checkout.  

 There are a few major reasons for this and a few ways that you can go about ensuring that you reduce shopping cart abandonment and maximize your sales. Here are my tips for reducing this issue and ensuring you get more completed orders.

1 – simplify the process

According to Baymard’s research, 14% of online shoppers can’t be bothered creating an account with a business just so they can complete their order. 11% of them complain that a business’s cart is too confusing and convoluted to use easily. In other words, if you make it a complicated hassle to complete an order, the odds are that your customers won’t be bothered with completing it at all. Nobody wants to jump through hoops to buy something from you, and internet shopping is supposed to be about simplicity. Be sure you keep it that way.

2 – keep shipping low

A large number of shoppers actually abandon their cart once they realize that shipping costs are more than they expected. Nothing’s worse than finding a great deal and then realizing that it’s not so great thanks to huge shipping costs. If you’ll make an effort to keep shipping costs low, you’ll avoid losing customers when they’re ready to checkout. Don’t hide your shipping costs, either, assuming that customers won’t care once they’ve gone through the trouble of choosing their items. They care. If you can’t offer free shipping, at least be sure to offer early estimates so that customers know what they’re going to be paying in the end.

3 – maximize payment choices

You may prefer credit card payments, but not everyone does. Letting your customers pay with as many different methods as possible will help you avoid abandonment. For instance, many customers actually cancel their order when they realize they can’t use PayPal or their Google wallet. It may seem like a hassle to set up accounts with other payment companies, but the more ways you allow customers to pay, the better.

4 – save features

There are actually numerous cart abandonments that occur accidentally. A customer who accidentally closes their browser or needs to step away from the computer for a few minutes could find that their shopping cart has been emptied. Instead of going back through the process, they may just give up. Allow the option to save the cart and you’ll improve your sales.

5 – stay secure

Finally, be sure that you let customers know that their shopping cart and order form is secure. Place security logos prominently and use the appropriate security companies to keep yourself and your customers safe. Savvy internet shoppers won’t use a checkout system that isn’t secure and safe.

 Samantha Hurst has built up and sold several online businesses, and now runs a business consultancy Click Start Digital.