How to Reduce Cart Abandonment and Increase Your Conversion Rates

COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have changed the way people shop online. It is imperative to know how a consumer behaves and what factors that influence them to purchase online. Due to this pandemic, eCommerce is accelerated.

The impact of COVID-19 on Consumer Behaviour

“The Indian eCommerce industry (sic) has witnessed a huge upsurge due to COVID-19 and there is substantial room for future growth,” said Phil Pomford, managing director of Asia Pacific, Worldpay from FIS. Many brands are thinking about how to understand consumer behaviour and want to know how the consumers choose what to buy.

According to a report, India’s e-commerce industry will grow 84 % to $111 billion by 2024 as it gains from the demand created by the coronavirus pandemic’s impact. If you can precisely predict consumer behaviour, you will see desired results in your marketing campaigns.

What is cart abandonment?

Cart abandonment happens when a visitor looks around your website and leaves it before completing the checkout process. Poor user experience or broken sales funnel are the main reasons for a high abandonment rate.

The reasons for cart abandonment during checkout are:

• Extra costs are high (shipping and tax)
• Account is required
• Complicated checkout process
• Unclear pricing
• Not a reliable website
• Not enough payment methods
• Credit card was declined
• Poor user experience
• Distorted purchase channel

Many users do window shopping, compare the prices, save items for later, etc. These are unavoidable reasons while purchasing products online. You should understand the consumer’s behaviour and shifting needs.

Let us see how to reduce cart abandonment during these pandemic times.

Reduce the price of your products

Many consumers abandon carts when they see unexpected costs related to shipping, fees and taxes. Ensure that your shipping costs, taxes and fees are transparent for the consumers. You can update your FAQ so that the consumer will know all the details about the delivery and return policy. In addition to the FAQ, provide multiple payment method options for your consumers. These things will help reduce cart abandonment.

Don’t force your consumers to create an account to buy

If you ask your customer to sign-up with a password and fill in personal details, the chance of cart abandonment rate will be high. You can always allow the customers to choose between registering and non-registering to eliminate the cart abandonment rates. Allow consumers to purchase as a guest without having to create an account. Incorporating social logins like Google login, Facebook login or Apple login add convenience while shopping. There is no need to enter the user information manually.

Create an abandoned cart campaign

You need to implement a strategy to figure out why users leave items in their cart. This abandoned cart recovery strategy will undoubtedly bring your consumers back to your eCommerce site, allowing them to proceed with your purchase. It is easy to convert visitors to paying customers with conversion rate optimization (CRO).

How to increase the conversion rate? You can use these below impactful methods.

1. Use cart abandonment software

Make use of software to track your user’s journey on your website. You will get an insight by capturing their emails and track those users who have abandoned their carts. Through an attractive email, SMS or dynamic advertisement, you can bring them to your site.

2. A/B split testing

You can always experiment by running two versions of your website. Websites should be identical in intent but different in attributes like layout, style, etc. You need to compare and contrast to see which version of your website has a better conversion rate. Experiment with different messages like new policies, contactless delivery, minimum order value for free shipping.

User-friendly website

Your website design should be user-friendly. Check the attributes like colours, browsing time, fonts and product details. A well-designed website provides a good user experience and helps your visitors access and navigate your website without hassle. If your website is not user friendly, challenging to navigate through different pages and hard to input information, then your visitors would be frustrated to complete a purchase. Fix those website glitches that hamper your user experience.

Optimized check out process

Most people add their items to the shopping cart but don’t buy them. Are you losing your customers during the checkout process? The solution to this issue is optimizing your checkout process to turn more visitors into customers. Your eCommerce checkout process plays a vital role in driving conversions. Make your checkout process simple and easy. Design a streamlined checkout experience to make more conversions. Make your business trustworthy by adding your logo and brand colours to your checkout page.

Trigger an abandonment cart email

Many shoppers leave after adding items to their shopping carts. In this case, if you capture the buyer’s email address in the process, you can create an email campaign to follow up. According to Salesforce, sending an abandoned cart email within 24 hours recovers 60% of lost sales. By sending an email acts as a friendly reminder can help shoppers to complete their checkout process seamlessly. You can also send an email to explain how that product can benefit them.

Send follow-ups using online platforms

The social media platforms like Facebook Messenger is found to be an effective tool for reaching out to customers who have abandoned their carts. Remarketing through the Facebook Messenger chatbot allows you to retarget users who have interacted with your online business. It makes it easy to deliver personalized, real-time messages and achieve desired results.

Make use of omnichannel marketing

Omnichannel marketing uses several marketing channels like Facebook Messenger, email, SMS and web push notifications to help your customers have a seamless customer experience. By using omnichannel marketing, you can quickly bring back your customers to your website. As your customer analytics and marketing channels are integrated, you can understand your customer’s shopping behaviour and learn how they interact.

Conclusion

Abandoned carts provide a golden opportunity for more sales. Whenever your customer leaves their cart before completing their purchase, it is time to simplify your checkout process. The above strategies will certainly help online retailers to convert shoppers into paying customers