Top 6 strategies to lower cart abandonment

There’s no question about it. Shopping cart abandonment costs retailers an uncomfortable amount in lost sales, in some cases it is even more than actual earned gains. According to recent numbers from Sleeknote, e-commerce brands lose approximately $18 billion in sales revenue each year because of cart abandonment. The average cart abandonment rate across all industries is 69.57%. Mobile users have the highest abandonment rate of 85.65%, really putting the ‘mobile first’ approach to the test.

What we will cover in this article

• Shopping cart abandonment rate
• Mobile optimization
• Checkout optimization
• Cost optimization
• Follow-up emails
• Re-targeting ads

This makes shopping cart abandonment one of the biggest problems all e-commerce company owners face. Naturally, it is individual for each business what will ‘do the trick’ and make customers finish their checkout process. While we can’t solve every reason for cart abandonment, there are plenty of important steps we can take to lower it. At PriceShape we have a few extra aces up our sleeve to help reduce your cart abandonment rates drastically. Keep reading for 6 of the most effective and easy strategies to lower cart abandonment and increase sales.

Mobile optimization

We have heard it multiple times: ‘mobile first’. Yet one of the big sinners when it comes to abandoned carts is the mobile. In fact, mobile users have one of the highest abandonment rates of a whopping 85.65%. One of the big obstacles for mobile users is entering their personal information. 39% of mobile users abandoned their cart because they experienced difficulty entering their details, putting truth to Barilliance’s “The smaller the size of the screen, the more likely a customer is to not purchase.”

This is problematic considering that more digital buyers will use smartphones rather than desktops when shopping. This highlights the importance of fully optimizing your e-commerce for mobile users if you want to convert. Depending on the issues your users are experiencing, we recommend that you try to combat abandoned mobile carts by:

Checkout optimization

Some of the obstacles that increase the chances of customers leaving their cart occur during the checkout process. Baymard reported that 24% of customers left their cart when “the site wanted me to create an account.” 17% said a too long or complicated checkout process made them leave, and 9% said there weren’t enough payment methods.

The checkout landing page and process is the most critical part of your customers’ journey. There is no room for friction. Optimizing your checkout can increase conversions by up to 35.62%. Some of the things you can do to optimize the checkout experience are:

Costs optimization

Baymard reported that 16% of respondents said they couldn’t see and/or calculate total order cost up front, which is problematic. Extra costs such as taxes, shipping, and fees are the number one reason for consumers abandoning their cart. Consumers expect that what they see is what they get, with no surprises at checkout. Considering that 53% of people shop online because of free delivery, it’s clear why extra costs are the biggest reason for cart abandonment.

One solution could be retailers covering these extra costs and recouping lost revenue by increasing prices. However, this isn’t always possible due to external factors such as Brexit. Increasing prices should not be done without proper market data and insights. Free delivery is an incredibly important factor for consumers when shopping online, and it should be one of the first things you consider when reducing cart abandonment. You should also assess whether to internalize delivery costs in your product prices and stay informed about competitors’ delivery charges.

Another important point is Google Shopping. 68% of online shoppers search for a product on Google before purchasing, making it a vital part of your e-commerce strategy. When a consumer searches for “black dress,” Google presents delivery and product costs for each product, allowing consumers to easily see which retailers offer free delivery. Even if you’re the cheapest, you may lose sales due to shipping charges.

At PriceShape, as well as monitoring your competitors’ prices and allowing you to create dynamic price rules, we also monitor your competitors’ delivery charges. This lets you factor that data into your pricing strategies to maximize revenue and win more sales, or let our software intelligence do it automatically. Winning more sales isn’t about being the cheapest. It’s about being competitive. You might be able to increase prices and still win sales. With accurate competitor insights, you can also decide where to focus marketing budgets to promote products that are most competitive in the market.

Follow-up emails

Another way to mitigate cart abandonment is to send follow-up ‘abandoned cart’ emails. According to Moosend, these emails have an average open rate of 45%. The study also found a 21% click-through rate, and half of those clicks resulted in purchases. According to Campaign Monitor, the average email open rate is 18%, so pursuing consumers who abandoned their cart is a highly effective tactic.

When a customer adds your product to their cart, it shows high buyer intent. If they don’t complete the purchase, abandoned cart emails can help. Offer additional value such as discounts or free shipping to entice completion, reinforcing that free delivery is why 53% of people shop online.

To support your abandoned cart emails or reduce the need for them, send two additional types of emails: out-of-stock notifications (as used by MyTheresa, which lets customers subscribe for updates) and emails that incentivize high-value orders with free or fast delivery.

Retargeting ads

When discussing price optimization, we mentioned that understanding competitors’ prices and delivery charges helps you identify which products are most competitive. This data lets you reallocate budget to campaigns that yield the most profitable sales.

These insights can also power retargeting. Using retargeted ads can bring 26% of shoppers back to your site. Personalized retargeted ads featuring previously viewed or abandoned products can generate an ROI of over 1,300%.

The opportunities are many throughout the buying journey, but the most crucial are those in the final steps before purchase. Fortunately, most of these can be acted on today. Test the initiatives that fit your business. Maybe you only need to adjust your current setup, or maybe you need to implement new tactics.