Are you happy with your conversion rate?
Think carefully about this question. Now, consider this; only 22% of all business owners say they are satisfied with their conversion rate.
If you ask these people why they aren’t pulling in the sales they want, most will shrug their shoulders. They may say there are plenty of different reasons – which is true. However, there’s one problem that disproportionately affects conversions across all industries.
I’m talking about shopping cart abandonment. Simply put, cart abandonment is when a user leaves your site without placing an order, despite showing enough interest to add something to their virtual shopping cart.
Across all industries, the average cart abandonment rate on desktop is 67.1%, while mobile abandonment is around 77.8%. These numbers translate to countless lost sales and potential customers you’ll never get to interact with again.
What if I told you there’s a way to save some visitors and turn them into happy, loyal customers? Well, there is! Today, I’m going to show you 6 clever ways you can solve shopping cart abandonment and dramatically improve your conversion rate.
Let’s begin!
Let Users Track and Change Their Cart
The number one reason users leave before placing their order is that the total was more than expected. We’ve all been in this situation before. You look at your cart, and the cost is $40. After you make it to the final checkout page, the total has jumped to nearly $70.
Most people in this situation would rather back out than pay nearly double what they were expecting. Research shows that users who can see their final total through their shopping experience are more likely to finalize their purchase.
With this in mind, make sure your customers’ shopping carts are easily accessible. This could include hovering over a little cart or a detailed breakdown in the sidebar of your website. Users should also see their final total on-screen, including taxes and extra fees.
You should also make it easy for people to adjust items in their cart from the checkout page. Let’s say they accidentally ordered 2 of your products instead of one. They should be able to easily change the number without navigating to a new page.
These seemingly minor changes can help you save visitors who would otherwise abandon their shopping carts.
Offer a Limited-Time Discount
Another surefire way to solve shopping cart abandonment is to offer users exclusive discounts. Specifically, I recommend creating a lead magnet that invites first-time customers to join your email list in exchange for a steep discount on their first order.
For example, many businesses offer new customers 25-30% off their initial purchase.
Not only is this an excellent way to get more email subscribers, but it can also dramatically improve sales. Remember when I said people are less likely to go through with an order if the price doubles? As you can imagine, if the price they expected is cut in half, they are far more likely to make a purchase.
We use exit popups to capture visitors’ attention as they get ready to leave our store. I’ve found that this marketing strategy helps us reach people without being too pushy.
Some businesses include their initial offer in the sidebar of their website. The choice is yours. Choose a discount and display method that will convince people to take advantage of your offer. If you’re interested in inspiring fear of missing out (FOMO), you can include a countdown timer on your offer.
Use Social Proof to Build Trust
Did you know that around 83% trust user reviews over business advertising? This statistic highlights another core cause of cart abandonment. People are not sure if your business is reputable and whether your product is worth their time.
Social proof can help you convince users that you’re trustworthy and make them confident in your business, which results in more sales.
There are quite a few ways to include social proof on your website.
Live sales notifications are an excellent way to show visitors that other people are engaging with your site, making purchases, and joining your email list. These alerts are particularly useful if you have a small pool of products. When visitors see that people keep buying the same thing on their minds, they are more likely to take action.
You should also allow users to leave reviews on your product pages. It’s also a good idea to sprinkle praiseworthy feedback on high-traffic landing pages, like your homepage. People are far more likely to give you a chance if they see others have had a positive experience with your company.
Simplify Your Checkout Flow
Your checkout flow can significantly impact how many people see the process through to the end. If you have a long list of text boxes with no organization, no visible cart, and no progress bar, you will see people leave because they don’t know how long this will take.
I believe this is why multi-step payment forms with progress bars see 300% more conversions than their bland, unintuitive counterparts.
Aside from the design of your page, you also need to look at functionality. Ensure users can do the following:
- Check out as a guest
- Pay with a wide range of payment methods
- Ship to an address that’s different from the cardholder
These features simplify your checkout page and make it accessible to more people, which typically translates to sales and engagement.
Create an Email Recovery Campaign
There’s a good chance some of the people leaving without checking out are your email subscribers. Instead of letting these subscribers go and hoping they come back, you could create an email recovery campaign.
Research shows that cart abandonment emails have an open rate of 45%. In other words, over half of the subscribers who leave without placing an order will read your message.
I highly recommend creating a multi-email campaign. In most cases, we use a 3 email series that goes out to subscribers within one week of their abandonment.
You can easily convert a significant portion of these people by including a special offer if they return to finish their order. The deal can consist of a discount or gift. This is an excellent opportunity to create personalized campaigns for your audience based on their interests.
We found that 80% of people are more likely to engage with personalized offers. So, if your cart abandonment campaign touches on your audience’s goals and pain points, you’ll have no problem bringing people back to your site.
Back to You
There are plenty of ways to reduce shopping cart abandonment. You can use any of the tips outlined today to connect with more customers and boost your sales.
If you want to improve over time, review your campaign and onsite analytics, as well as feedback from your customers. When a particular strategy causes your abandonment rate to drop, experiment with it and see if you can enhance the results and keep even more people engaged with your brand.
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