In our earlier post we looked at different solutions available in the market that can help you curb cart abandonment and recover sales. Likewise, there are many tools and plugins available which online shop owners are well versed with and they also take heed of them to target cart abandoners. Therefore recovering of lost sales is not a huge problem in recent times.
In this post, we will elaborate on what solutions are found by online retailers for putting a stop to cart abandonment. It is proved that these practices have helped them reduce the burden of decrease in revenue for online businesses. Click here to know in detail why online customers abandon carts.
Below you will get a close look at 15 different methods used by ecommerce business owners to circumvent this problem of cart abandonment:
1. Email Retargeting:
This practice involves dropping a cookie in the visitor’s browser through email which then shows up your ads as he browses through. The quick process is as follows:
This shows that when you send an email to the customer and he opens it, a cookie will be set in his browser. Once this happens, customer will see your ads as they browse through. This is a perfect way to slay cart abandonment in a more effective manner across multiple channels by reminding him about the product he left behind.
2. Transparency About Extra Costs:
As per the statistics below, major problem for cart to get abandoned is showing up unexpected costs for selected items.
Providing transparency of all costs related to products is a simple and easy way to solve this issue. Online retailers know that adding any extra cost for the selected items is a bad practice but in case of compulsion, they inform the customers about shipping costs, taxes or any other fees which are involved additionally.
Thus by giving buyers a complete scenario of total cost of the selected items right from the start of the buying process will help them make the right choice and avoid disappointment during checkout.
3. Full Disclosure On Shipping Costs:
This has been yet another major concern for online retailers as there is a huge competition for online businesses in regards to providing free shipping of products. Due to many companies’ policy of not charging customers for shipping of goods, there is a difficulty in retaining customers for certain online businesses which cannot afford that.
The practice of Free Shipping is a boon for online shopping but online shop owners have realised that if you cannot offer that facility to customers then its a must to provide them with complete information about shipping costs.
Also its a good practice to provide a calculator that determines estimated cost for shipping depending on the weight and quantity of items. This creates a sense of surety in minds of customers that there is a reason for the shipping charges that are put on their purchase.
4. Cart Abandonment Reminder Emails:
Cart abandonment reminder emails are emails sent to lost customers so as to recover them to complete their incomplete transaction. It is proved that a few hours after cart abandonment works as the best window to reel back customers to the site.
As per the conversion’s data, below is the stats of how customers purchase their abandoned products after receiving reminder emails:
- 30% purchase in less than 20 minutes
- 50% purchase in 20 minutes to an hour
- 60% purchase in 1 to 3 hours
- 65% purchase in 3 to 12 hours
Thus this implies that a few hours post abandonment is the perfect time for online retailers to capitalize on the opportunity to regain lost customers.
5. Avoid Sign-In Barriers:
Many sites have compulsory sign-in for purchasing products online. This actually prevents customers from buying the selected items and thus have a huge impact on the overall online sales.
The practice of using social sign-in serves as an alternative for avoiding such clunky sign-up process. In recent times, social sign-in has been widely used by online shop owners to make the sign-in process easy and convenient.
6. Shorter Check-Out Process:
This implies having a checkout process which is as short as 3-5 steps. This method is more preferred because if the process is too lengthy and complicated, customers are less likely to complete it.
Thus it is proved that shorter the checkout process, better it is for the customers to make a seamless purchase. Online shop owners know and also bear in mind that while making the process shorter, they do not make a single step cluttered with too many fields.
7. Appropriate Usage Of Call To Action:
Using simple and prominent Call to Action buttons on the site has proved to be successful in keeping the customers engaged to the site. This is because customers want to know exactly what they have to do next and they want us to guide them to do so.
Therefore online retailers highlight key phases of the checkout process which creates an engaging element and persuades customers to click on it, in turn helping them to proceed towards completion.
8. Providing Wishlist Facility:
The freedom of saving the items for later purchase has become a common practice of online shoppers. It is proved that instead of funneling the customers to shopping cart, providing a facility of wishlist with an easy and convenient option to buy later has reduced cart abandonment to a great extent.
9. Engaging Product Pages & Seamless Checkout Process:
Creating an engaging and powerful product pages is a good method to curb cart abandonment even before customer reaches the cart page. Online shop owners display high-quality and interactive product images on the product page to attract visitors and gently guides them to checkout page.
Also it is important to have a seamless continuity between what customer has chosen and what appears on the shopping cart. Keeping product thumbnails on checkout page is one of the things that online retailers do to ensure completion of transaction.
10. Boost Site Speed:
Site speed and conversion rates are tightly correlated which means faster website leads to faster conversion of visitors to buyers. Customers nowadays are extremely tech-savvy and a small delay in performance of the site would result in them leaving your online shop. This in turn affects the overall online sales.
Therefore its very crucial to boost site speed especially the shopping cart process and refrain visitors from abandoning the carts.
11. Displaying Security Symbols:
It is most vital to make skittish customers feel secured while making an online purchase. This sense of security can be achieved by providing SSL certificate on the site which recently has been a standard part of web development.
Online retailers have very well understood that if you lack security indications on the site especially on the checkout page, customers would not feel safe to transact. Even if many precautionary measures are observed on the site to avoid cart abandonment, if security has not been taken seriously then all other efforts would go in vain.
The benefits of SSL certification is shown in the below image:
Thus ecommerce business owners can authenticate their website’s identity through SSL certificate which can keep hackers away and also create a trust factor for online users. This would help them drive more potential customers to their site to make safe transactions.
12. Chat or Phone Support Option:
Customers face various issues during the entire shopping process or they might have some queries on certain products etc. In such cases, if they are not provided with any support, they would simply leave the site.
Hence having a chat option to resolve problems immediately when customer is online and in between the purchase process, holds them to the current scenario rather than they leaving the site.
Online shop owners also provide phone support if chat option is not available. This is because phone support can play the same role for customers who are willing to buy the product from the site but only after they have got clarity of thoughts. It is essential for your business to implement a proper phone system to maintain this support channel.
13. Highlight Return Policy:
Many a times customers make a purchase but then remorse. The main reason for them to do so is in anticipation of remorse before the purchase. Therefore it is important to prevent such a scenario and for that online retailers display clear and easy return policy on the site.
Return policy and steps associated to it are highlighted on the site so that buyers feel that a simple procedure will be involved in returning the purchased product. Below is an example of a clear display of ’30 Day Money-Back Guarantee’ for the product which helps online shoppers to make appropriate decisions.
Thus buying more items than required could be an outcome to this practice which in return would be advantageous to the business.
14. Add Testimonials:
Testimonials on the site has brought about a major difference in how customers buy online. You can say that testimonials actually influence the buyers and having them on the site can be a boon for online sales.
The technique of placing testimonials is also very important. Online shop owners ideally place them on all pages in a way that it does not hamper the online shopping experience of users. Checkout page is a devoted of all pages on the site where testimonials are a must as it can keep the motivation level of customers very high while completing the transaction.
15. Allow Multiple Payment Methods & Any Currency:
There are wide range of payment methods available now in the market which can be used by customers to make online purchase. Online retailers are aware of the necessity of opening the gates and allowing buyers to use any Credit or Debit cards, PayPal or Paytm option or simply Cash on Delivery for making payment.
Thus such an expansion of payment methods can in turn attract customers to the site for making a purchase.
Also, online shop owners allow transactions in different currencies as per the location of the customer which has boosted online sales drastically. They provide clear currency conversion information for international sales in order to attract international customers.
Conclusion:
The above points clearly states how online retailers have changed their way of approach towards online shopping to help them slay away the problem of cart abandonment. They have thoroughly acquainted themselves with the best practices which in turn have helped them increase their overall online revenue.
The online shop owners therefore do not fear recovering of lost sales any more as they have learnt the skills to reduce cart abandonment & capitalise on abandoned users!
