Just because a user makes it to the cart page, or adds many items to the cart, does not mean you have made a sale.
In fact, over half of your consumers are abandoning their carts. But what are the reasons for this? There are many, but it can be summarized into two.
There are also several minor reasons such as unexpected costs, distractions, or finding something cheaper on another website. But let’s take a moment and focus on the biggest one, TRUST!
When you think of trust, you need to think of security. Everywhere on the news, you hear about private information being stolen, hacked, or sold. You want to make sure that your customers feel safe putting in personal information on your website. The moment they feel something is off or shady, they will leave. By using secure systems and software, you are also able to put the company’s logo, along with a quick line like “security is power by IronShield.” Keep your website professional, modern, and responsive.
Some sites ask for prospects to register or create an account before they buy. Some are even asking for information before they are allowed to browse. If you are a new business without a history, that is a BIG ask. Users understand that their information will be used to send them ads or newsletters. If you must create a mailing list, offer a discount or a gift card for new members.
Consider also a guest checkout. This way, while you cannot gather info, you are still able to make a sale. It shortens the buying process.
A satisfied customer will more likely return, create an account, and opt into newsletters for future deals.
Allow your customers to save their cart or create a wishlist. Not only does it remind them of what they wanted to buy, but it also gives you the data you need when you want to do some retargeting.
Once you manage to get past the trust factor, hidden costs are the next big reason for car abandonment. Shipping costs, delivery fees, taxes, other random hidden fees will drive up the price, and users will have second thoughts.
Avoid this by being upfront. Show the estimated shipping costs on the product/service page, or offer free shipping with minimum orders or bulk orders. Also, consider having some form of assurance, such as money back guaranteed or 3-day shipping. The idea is to put them at ease and in a buying mood.
Keep things very simple and very optimized. Optimization is very technical. Work with an engineer that can get your site to load quickly and be very responsive. It should be just 3 easy steps.
Make sure you keep your cart and the number of items visible at all times; don’t make your users search high and low to find their cart to checkout.
Have user reviews displayed right on the product page. The messaging here is important, so try not to leave it to automation. Review the testimonials that are shown here and, of course, don’t fake it.
This is also where you want social proof depending on the product or service you are selling. For a higher-end product or service, ask for reviews, video reviews and feature them. Show how you have helped your existing customers. For cheaper mass products, show what other customers are looking at or buying. You can even create urgency by showing the number of people viewing a certain product.
People have questions, feedback and they want to ask or talk to a person at your company. Make sure getting in touch with you is easy. Live chat, phone calls, or emails should be readily available.
Focus your efforts on low hanging fruit, target those who abandoned their cart. If there were a problem they ran into, they would appreciate the personal outreach. You can also leverage chatbots to take care of the common questions.
If you got this all perfect in one go, reach out to me and teach me how. Chances are you need to massage and tweak each step to reduce cart abandonment. Trends change, customers’ buying habits evolve, so your products and services and the process must adapt.
Even when the numbers look amazing, don’t pause the tweaks; keep in mind constantly improving it. The Dan Lok Shop is an excellent example that uses the above principles. Have a look to see if you can learn more about creating a better shopping experience for consumers.
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