About three out of every four customers will not make it all the way through online checkout.
Can you afford to let all but
When working to cut down cart abandonment in your online store, you’ll want to take a holistic approach that improves the customer experience from start to finish. It can be tempting to only look for
Reducing cart abandonment in your online store should be a top priority for the year ahead — and there are some steps you can take to start improving it right away.
Related: How to Send Trigger Emails That Keep Customers Coming Back
1. Be Transparent About Shipping Costs
Unexpected shipping costs are the leading cause of cart abandonment in the online shopping environment, which means transparency about shipping costs is essential.
It’s a good idea to include information about costs associated with shipping (and returns) right on the product page instead of surprising shoppers with a hefty fee once they arrive at the checkout screen.
Also, be sure your shipping costs (if not free for customers) are optimized. Making shipping costs highly accurate means your items are safely packed while keeping the cost as low as possible for you and your customers.
Flat rates relieve customers from both unexpected costs and calculations. If you want to reduce cart abandonment, try to find your average cost to be your flat rate.
Free shipping is also a great perk to offer your most loyal customers as a reward that keeps them coming back for more. For shoppers who reach a specific spending threshold, free shipping for the rest of the calendar year is an easy way to say “thank you” for their repeated purchases.
If you’re offering a free shipping promotion, make sure this is also noted across your online store (e.g. with free shipping icons or promo bars) — as this is a highly compelling offer for your shoppers.
2. Implement Pop-Ups
Another way you can reduce cart abandonment is by addressing customer concerns (and obstacles to purchase) with a
Via maxtraffic.com
There are several types of
A few different options include:
- Exit popups: Appear when a customer navigates toward the exit button.
- First time visitor popups: These offer a special deal or discount to new website visitors.
- Offer popups: Promote special deals/sales/new items.
- Email popups: Collect a site visitor’s email address so you can follow up later.
To create a
3. Send Automated Emails
Following up with customers via email is a simple way to reduce cart abandonment. In fact,
With Ecwid’s abandoned cart recovery feature, you can setup automated or manual emails through that are sent to customers with unfinished orders.
Include a customized message that reminds shoppers they still have items in their carts and encourages them to come back and complete their purchase, and you can give that extra little nudge that some shoppers need.
Cart abandonment recovery emails in Ecwid
You can also use these emails as an opportunity to collect customer feedback and find out why shoppers aren’t following through. By default, the template includes your email and a
This tactic is proven to work:
Set up cart abandonment recovery in your Ecwid store →
4. Retargeting With the Facebook Pixel or PPC Ads
Essentially, retargeted ads are ads that work to drive customers back to your store by showcasing products they’ve viewed through partner networks, like Facebook or Google. Using these avenues, you can remind shoppers of the items they’ve left behind and can help them circle back to finish the checkout process.
Via antoniocalero.com
When you use the Facebook pixel, a piece of Javascript code anonymously
“follows” your customers as they browse your store — and advertise to them later. And that retargeting efforts can boost site visits by 726% after four weeks of repeated exposure, as ComScore data shows.
In Ecwid, the integration with the Facebook pixel allows you to start using it in minutes without coding.
Learn more: Introducing the Facebook Pixel for Ecwid Stores: How to Run More Effective Facebook Ads Easily
You can also remarket to your customers on Google AdWords.
Via thesemarket.com
To do so, you’ll need to add Google Analytics to your store and connect it with your Google AdWords account.
You’ll also need to
If you want machines to take care of everything for you, simply install the Scaler Retargeting app — you won’t have to set anything up to start remarketing on Facebook, Instagram, and Google Display Network.
Important: When you turn remarketing in your store on, you start collecting some extra information about your store visitors, which means you have to warn them about it. Don’t forget to update your privacy policy to notify your customers.
5. Re-Vamp Your Checkout Process
If you’re currently using a checkout process with a large number of form fields, it may be time to
Streamlined checkout processes with few form fields that can be quickly completed help the shopper move swiftly from shopping cart to order placed — but too many form fields can get in the way of that conversion process. Limit your form fields to only the essential data to keep customers moving forward.
Here’s a good example of a simplified checkout from online fashion retailer SheaKardel:
You should also consider adding an
There are more ways to make checkout faster:
- Connect PayPal Express Checkout to allow your customers to log into their PayPal accounts and simply use the already stored data in the account as their checkout information.
- Master your Product Options to get all the necessary order details before the checkout.
- Keep “Log in” links across your store so that your customers can log in and use
pre-saved order details.
If your need to adjust your checkout process to fit your specific needs, you can address your request to Ecwid professional services.
6. Add Live Chat to Resolve Customer Questions Quickly
Another reason customers don’t complete the checkout process is because they have unanswered questions. However, by adding in a live chat support option, customers can quickly resolve issues that are keeping them from following through — and this means fewer abandoned carts.
Tools like Chatra that integrate with your online store help you implement this form of support quickly, easily, and
Don’t let
Other live chats for your Ecwid store:
7. Add Long-Form Product Information and Specifications
Speaking of customer questions…
Data shows that 55% of cart abandonment was caused by lacking content. But with robust product descriptions and complete item specs, you can provide the level of detail a shopper needs to check out.
It’s best if every product description in your store has the same structure and all of them look homogeneous. That makes it easier to compare products and generally improves the look of the page.
Read how to: Two Ways to Quickly Fill Your Ecwid Product Catalog
Reduce Cart Abandonment, Make More Sales
Ready to capture those
- Be transparent about shipping costs or offer free shipping
- Leverage
pop-ups - Stay in touch with automated emails
- Retarget with PPC ads and Facebook Pixel
- Simplify your checkout process
- Add live chat
- Include many product details
When you improve the customer experience as whole by making these changes, you’ll create more opportunities for shoppers to complete the checkout process — and you can keep them coming back for more.
