6 Tips for Reducing Shopping Cart Abandonment
Did you know that the average shopping cart abandonment rate is 69 percent? This means that for every 100 people who visit your website, 69 leave without buying anything. There are many reasons why people decide not to complete their purchase, such as unexpected shipping costs and poor navigation.
While you can’t win every customer, there are simple fixes you can make to assure customers of their purchase and increase conversions and sales. Below are six ways to reduce shopping cart abandonment on your site.
- Let customers know their payments are secure.
Online fraud happens all the time, and it understandably makes consumers wary about the companies they share information with. If customers feel that your payment process is not secure, they’ll leave your site for someone else. To prevent this from happening, be sure that you have a secure payment process in place, and let customers know of this. Here is how you can do this.
- Use an SSL certificate. If your site isn’t secure, it will show “Not Secure” next to your domain.
- Post security badges. Seeing badges gives shoppers a level of assurance that your site is safe.
- Be clear about all costs upfront.
Buyers don’t like surprise fees when they’re ready to check out. To them, it looks like the company is trying to sneak in a few extra fees right before they click the “Buy” button. To avoid this, be clear about all possible costs, including shipping fees and taxes. For the most accurate pricing, include a shipping calculator that determines shipping costs based on the person’s zip code.
- Include live chat on your pages.
If a customer has a quick question that can’t be answered with the information on your website (or they don’t have the patience to look for it), live chat can prove extremely helpful. Shoppers can clear up any last minute confusion and proceed with their purchase.
As a bonus, live chat software reduces expenses. Most chat agents can handle multiple chats at one time, and some conversations can be automated.
- Allow guest checkout.
To reduce shopping cart abandonment, the checkout process must be fast and easy. Forcing customers to create an account can cause them to leave your page. Instead, allow shoppers to use guest checkout.
After making the sale, you can ask the customer to open an account. Be sure to share the benefits, such as faster checkouts, accurate product recommendations and special offers.
- Make website navigation simple.
People expect to complete an action in as few steps as possible. If they have to go through many pages to checkout, they are more likely to leave and not return. Ensure navigation is simple and intuitive. The rule of thumb is that customers should go through no more than three pages to complete their purchase.
- Include supporting visuals.
The more visuals, the better. Shoppers need confidence before buying a product, so upload high-resolution images of your products. Also allow for customers to share their own photos, as user-generated content is perceived as more trustworthy. If you have a video marketing strategy, you can use product videos as well to share the features and benefits of your products.
If shopping cart abandonment is an issue for your website, contact WSI Star Web Solutions. Our digital marketing agency in New Orleans has creative ways to reduce these rates and ensure more conversions and sales for your company.