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If there’s one thing that ecommerce site owners hate, it’s dealing with high cart abandonment rates. And unfortunately, they experience it very often.
The average shopping cart abandonment rate is a shocking 66.5%. This means that almost 7 out of 10 people will ditch your site without buying what’s in their cart.
So what can you do to prevent this?
In this article, we’ll show you 16 advanced ways to guide your website visitors towards the checkout process.
Let’s explore some tips on reducing cart abandonment!
1. Show security badges on the checkout page
People like to know that they’re buying from a reputable source. To increase conversions, add risk reducers to your site. Risk reducers are any ‘signs’ that help reduce anxiety and a sense of risk around buying.
For example, you can build trust with your customers by showing trusted 3rd party security badges.
Check out how The Oodie does this:
Security badges contribute to a positive customer journey by building trust and reducing anxiety.
2. Show customer support contact info during the checkout process
Displaying your support phone number shows customers that you’re always there for them, especially when they face issues arising from a complicated checkout process.
Many ecommerce site owners worry that they’ll get too many phone calls. But the biggest problem with too many phone calls is too many online sales…and that’s a good problem to have!
So do what your competitors won’t and make yourself available to support your customers when they need your help.
See how Sephora does it on their cart page:
3. Display the estimated delivery date during the checkout process
Customers want to know when they’ll receive their products. Providing clear details on available delivery options and times will reduce anxiety and up your conversions.
Don’t leave your website visitors guessing or searching for delivery costs and timeframes. Be like Converse:
4. Show stock availability to create a sense of urgency
When something is in demand, people are more interested in it. They believe that a product must be good if others think it is. This is known as social proof, and you can use it to keep people from leaving their carts.
You can assure shoppers that an item is in stock by telling them to act soon while supplies last. This creates a sense of urgency that encourages them to buy now.
Check out how The Oodie does this:
5. Allow people to move products to their wish lists instead of deleting them from their carts
Sometimes your customers may want to buy, just not straight away. Or maybe they put too many products in their online shopping cart and they don’t want to buy it all at once.
Give your visitors the option to move products to their wish list. This is a more positive interaction than a delete button and allows your online shoppers to come back later and buy those products easily.
Here’s how Lululemon does it on their cart page:
6. Use a currency converter for international shoppers
International shopping has taken over the internet. But your new global visitors might be ditching their carts if they need to grab a calculator or head to Google and manually convert the rates. Example: 23,035.00 Vietnamese Dong = 1 USD.
This step isn’t always practical or possible for international site visitors (especially if they’re on the go).
You can combat “currency-exchange-rate-fatigue” by adding an auto-currency-converter to your store.
Once you remove these obstacles, customers can breeze right toward the checkout page and click: “Submit order.”
Lunya uses a popup that allows visitors to choose their shipping country and currency:
7. Feature PayPal or Afterpay as a payment method
Everyone’s experienced digging through their jacket to find their credit or debit card. It can be annoying. And most people don’t remember their card details off the top of their heads.
So adding the option to pay by PayPal or Afterpay can reduce cart abandonment because it makes the checkout process faster and easier. If you already offer it, be sure to highlight your payment options clearly on your website.
Take a look at how Gymshark promotes it on the product pages:
8. Show shipping costs on a sticky bar
High shipping costs shown at the last minute can be a big buying barrier for online shoppers.
Be upfront. Show shipping costs clearly before shoppers click ‘pay now’ to reduce cart abandonment.
The best way to highlight your shipping costs is with a sticky bar that appears on every page of your site while people browse.
If you offer free shipping above a certain price, don’t forget to promote that as well. This is a killer tactic for boosting your average order value.
Take a look at this example from Partake Foods. They offer free shipping with a sleek sticky bar:
Use this template to create a shipping bar for your site.
9. Communicate international delivery if you sell internationally
The more countries you ship to, the more customers you will have.
You’ll want to have the infrastructure and carrier connections to make international shipping work seamlessly for your customers.
And don’t forget to clearly promote it on each page of your website so your international customers know that you ship to them.
See how ColourPop promotes international shipping on their sticky bar:
10. Show discounts in your cart view
Display any deals, applied discounts, or sale prices in your visitors’ cart. This helps build the excitement around making a purchase—while getting a great discount!
Just take a look at this example from Best Buy:
11. Promote your loyalty system
If you’re an online store that offers a reward points system or loyalty program, you’ll want to promote it on your website. Be sure to make it clear that a purchase equals rewards.
Not every online store offers bonuses or rewards. If you do, it can help you stand out among a sea of “15% off” and “BOGO.”
Check out this Sephora example:
12. Allow customers to save their cart
People don’t always ditch their carts because they don’t want to buy. Perhaps someone who’s shopping on your site gets an urgent phone call just as they’re trying to check out.
Give them a chance to save their cart, so they can return to it later and complete their purchase when it works for them.
They’ll experience a sense of freedom and control over the entire checkout process.
This will also save your visitors lots of time because they won’t have to hunt for their products again.
Here’s how Forever21 nailed this “Save for Later” example:
13. Communicate a fair warranty and return policy
Customers always want to know whether there’s a warranty or refund policy in case something goes wrong.
So you can build trust with your visitors by clearly showing your warranty information and return policy in the cart view. This also helps to reduce cart abandonment.
Your shoppers won’t need to scroll for this information because it’s immediately visible on your site. This way they can move to your checkout page with confidence.
14. Use exit-intent popups to motivate your visitors
Popup tools like OptiMonk, are great for keeping people on your cart page and reducing shopping cart abandonment.
How do they work?
They detect when someone is about to leave your ecommerce store while they still have items in their cart. This kind of tech-magic is called exit-intent.
You can set up a simple reminder for people who are about to bounce without buying:
You can even show them exactly what they’re leaving behind to make them stay longer, go back to their cart, and make a purchase.
15. Promote special offers with countdown timers
You can also use popups to promote special offers, like “get 20% off your cart.”
Adding a countdown timer to your popup can also create a sense of urgency. This is because shoppers know that they’ll miss out on their discount if they don’t buy now. This increases the chances that they will finish their purchase.
Start reducing your shopping cart abandonment rate with our ready-to-go popups:
If you’d like to improve the effectiveness of your countdown timer popups and save even more cart abandoners, check out these five hacks:
16. Send abandoned cart email campaigns
Your customers may get distracted and may totally forget about their cart.
How do you bring them back and focus their attention on buying?
If your visitors have an account on your site, or you’ve collected their email addresses with a popup tool, send them a follow-up message to encourage them to complete their purchase.
They might not make a purchase right away, but they could make it later on! Sometimes they just need a little nudge in the right direction.
Move your online customers along in the checkout process with an awesome email like this one:
Beat shopping cart abandonment
Cart abandonment is a common problem among online businesses, especially as more consumers engage in shopping online. Addressing cart abandonment is crucial to enhance customer confidence and improve the overall online shopping experience.
Reducing shopping cart abandonment doesn’t need to be complicated. You can make buying online simple, ace the checkout flow, and boost sales with free shipping and multiple payment options like PayPal.
Make a list of your top five faves from our post and put them into play over the next few months.
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Written by
Nikolett Lorincz
Nikolett is the Head of Content at OptiMonk. She is obsessed with content marketing and loves creating educational content for ecommerce store owners. She truly believes in the importance of quality over quantity.
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Product updates: September Release 2024
