If you’ve experienced the frustration of shoppers leaving their carts behind before completing a purchase, you’re not alone. Cart abandonment is a prevalent issue in the world of ecommerce.
To ensure a smooth path to purchase, it’s crucial to understand why shoppers abandon their carts and take proactive measures to keep their interest intact. First, let’s start with the basics.
What is Cart Abandonment?
Cart abandonment is when shoppers add items to their cart on an ecommerce site, but leave without completing their purchase. These common missed opportunities can impact a retailer’s sales and revenue.
There can be various reasons that shoppers abandon their carts, including changing their minds, getting frustrated, or being unsure about committing to the purchase.
In this blog, we’ll cover 4 reasons for cart abandonment and how you can prevent it to improve your bottom line.
Why Does Cart Abandonment Need to be Addressed?
The average cart abandonment rate is as high as 69.9%. That means for every ten shoppers, seven don’t complete their orders.
Additionally, research shows that the average store loses over 75% of sales through cart abandonment, with some industries experiencing even higher losses of up to 83.6%.
A lost customer is potential revenue lost. By converting first-time visitors, you are investing in lifetime customers. UpSellit’s LTV report shows how recovered shoppers provide a 20.5% boost to revenue, highlighting how important it is to identify why drop-offs occur and develop strategies to reduce those issues.
Let’s dive into the top reasons for cart abandonment and how to increase your chances of acquiring and retaining new customers.
Top 4 Reasons for Cart Abandonment:
1. Unexpected High Additional Costs
One reason for cart abandonment is unexpectedly high additional costs. 49% of shoppers said high extra costs were the primary reason they abandoned. The most commonly cited additional cost is shipping costs.
Consumer psychology explains why the convenience of free shipping encourages shoppers to make purchases.
To encourage sales, let shoppers know from the start if you offer free shipping on certain thresholds. If you’re not offering free shipping, be transparent about shipping costs upfront. Surprising shoppers with unexpected shipping costs can turn them away.
Overall, transparency is key. Disclose all additional costs to prevent shoppers from abandoning because they aren’t expecting the price tag at checkout.
2. Forced Mandatory Account Creation
Another reason shoppers will abandon is when they are forced to create an account before completing a purchase. Shoppers expect convenience and creating an account can be a hassle that slows down the checkout process. Adding an extra step to the checkout process breaks the purchase cycle. In some cases, it’s a non-negotiable deterrent that ultimately leads customers to abandon their carts altogether.
While you can encourage guests to create an account, always have an option for shoppers to checkout as a guest. Many times, they’ll create accounts after they finish checking out if given an opportunity. You’ll have better results encouraging account creation without forcing it.
3. Complicated Checkout Process
Shoppers might also abandon their carts because of a complicated checkout process. As shoppers are looking for a simple and seamless process, any additional steps or form fields can negatively affect their user experience. 28% of shoppers abandon their carts due to long or complicated checkout processes.
To simplify the checkout process, reduce the number of form fields you have. Shoppers might get distracted or overwhelmed if they’re asked to enter lots of information to finally make their purchase. Reduce the chance that shoppers abandon because the checkout process is too long and only ask for information that’s necessary to complete the sale.
4. Window Shoppers
Shoppers often add items to their shopping carts while browsing and researching products, only to abandon their carts. This practice called window shopping is a common reason for cart abandonment.
Window shoppers will create carts and abandon them if they’re searching for more information about the sale or creating a wishlist. They can also add items to their cart as a reference, with the full intent of returning later. Shoppers may even browse out of boredom and abandon their carts due to a lack of initial purchase intention.
Ultimately, if a shopper is just browsing, it’s difficult to convince them to make a purchase. However, ecommerce stores can remind window shoppers of products they were interested in to draw back the shoppers who might make a later purchase. Allowing shoppers to save their carts and sending product reminders can retain window shoppers’ interest and draw them back when they’re ready.
Key Solutions To Cart Abandonment
Address the top 4 reasons for cart abandonment to get rid of friction points that keep shoppers from making a quick purchase. By implementing simple strategies such as providing all costs upfront, offering guest checkout, reducing checkout steps, and remarketing to lost shoppers, you can reduce cart abandonment rates and improve conversion rates.
Taking these steps to reduce cart abandonment can help you build stronger relationships with customers, improve customer satisfaction, and increase customer loyalty. Reap the benefits of a more streamlined and efficient user experience that keeps shoppers on the path to purchase.
Prevent Ecommerce Abandonment at Every Stage
Don’t just stop at cart abandonment. Keep shoppers from abandoning your site at every stage of the customer journey. Learn about the different types of site abandonment, what causes it, and how you can prevent it. Download our site abandonment infographic to find out how to turn site abandonment into a match made in heaven and give your conversion rates a boost.