35 WAYS TO FIGHT

The ultimate list of tips & tricks.

CART ABANDONMENT

What is shopping cart abandonment?

Abandonment rate is a term used to describe the ratio of the number of abandoned shopping carts to the umber of completed transactions.

Although shoppers in brick and mortar stores rarely abandon their carts, abandonment of virtual shopping carts is very common.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

How high is high?

Currently, shopping cart abandonment rate is as high as 68.63%.

This means that almost 70% of your shop visitors that have already gone as far as adding products to their carts and almost becoming your customer, will never be your customer.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

Source: Baymard Institute

People abandon their carts for a reason.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

Unexpected costsJust browsing

Found a better price elsewhereToo expensive

Decided against buyingComplicated website navigation

Website crashedProcess was taking too long

Excessive payment security checksConcerns about payment security

Unsuitable delivery optionsWebsite time out

Price displayed in foreign currencyPayment declined 11%

13%15%16%17%18%

21%24%25%26%

32%36%37%

56%

Source: Statista

But it’s preventable.

Most of these issues are preventable — but it takes a tweak or three to resolve them.

HERE’S HOW:

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

Before abandonment.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

1. Be transparent about your costs

If people are given a proper heads up about how much the product costs, they’re more likely to buy it — even if it’s more expensive.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

Source: Harvard Business Review

2. Offer free shipping A free shipping offer that saves a customer $6.99 is more appealing to

many than a discount that cuts the purchase price by $10.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

Source: David Bell

3. Be clear about your return policy

Give your customers a clear understanding of how your return policy works without sounding ambiguous.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

4. Reduce the average checkout steps

On average, it takes customers 5.08 steps to complete a checkout.

To reduce the process, only ask for essential information, e.g. name, email, delivery address, and payment method, and never make people fill out the same information

twice.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

Source: Smashing Magazine

5. Don’t demand too much Registration shouldn’t be compulsory — it should be optional. Let people

sign up only if they want to.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

6. Have a clear progress indicator

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

A small tweak, and yet a huge game changer.

7. Make your content shoppable If your content is directly shoppable, customers can add items to their

shopping carts right away — and as a result, buy more.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

8. Remove distractions Remove all distractions that urge people to click elsewhere, such as the

menu navigation, unnecessary calls-to action, etc.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

9. Be smart about your CTAs Do your calls-to-action attract enough attention?

Do they have a powerful look?

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

10. Improve website speed A two-second delay in load time during a transaction process increases

shopping cart abandonment rate up to 87%.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

Source: hobo-web

11. Improve website navigation People should be able to navigate around your website as smoothly as

possible. If they don’t get where to click and how to proceed, you’re losing a deal opportunity.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

12. Improve your mobile Are the product images too small? Are the buttons impossible to click on? Is the checkout process a pain? If you answered yes, it’s time to get a grip

of your shop’s mobile performance.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

13. Make sure your shop's getting relevant traffic

Traffic quality is a major contributor to whether or not people find your product interesting enough to buy it. So make sure your marketing team is pulling the right

targeting triggers and attracting the right audience.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

14. Use more images Adding more images showing off extra details about the product would

definitely make it look more appealing.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

15. Use more interactive images Ability to see an item in a different colour or style; ability to alternate views of

the item; the zoom-in functionality — all this is a must-have.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

16. And even better — use videos Use the power of video to describe, use and demonstrate your products.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

17. And even EVEN better — use User Generated Content (UGC)

86% of businesses use UGC. It is a huge, and yet still pretty much untapped, marketing opportunity that unveils unique angles of your product and adds an extra layer of personality

to it.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

Source: SEMrush

18. Is your product page persuasive enough?

Good product pages are built to say “Here’s how your life will change if you buy this product”. Bad product pages are built to say “Here’s the product, sweetie. I do hope you like it”.

Feel the difference?

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

19. Have a section for sales & specials

47% of online shoppers buy only discounted products.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

Source: ConversionXL

20. Use coupons Provide a special spot in the checkout process for people to insert the

code in order to activate the coupon.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

21. Allow customers to review and edit their cart…

…as well as get the details of products added at any time of the checkout process.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

22. Persistent shopping cart “Sorry, you shopping cart has expired.”

That’s not what you want your customers to hear. The solution? Persistent shopping cart. For at least 30 days.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

23. Enable people to save their wishlists

Encourage shoppers with weak purchase intent go back to the online shop by enabling a “wishlist" feature that would allow them to save items they like.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

24. Make sure you don’t go out of stock

Make sure you don’t go out of stock too often — or at the very least, send a gentle reminder to inform a customer that certain items in their shopping cart

are getting sold out.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

25. Use limited time offers According to behavioural psychologists, “urgent situations cause us to

suspend deliberate thought and to act quickly”, so by having a very short-term special offer, customers will be motivated to take action.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

26. Show that you’re trustworthy

Put security features everywhere, so that people know that their private information won’t get leaked. Having a clear privacy policy, displayed phone

number, and live support chat can also help you look more trustworthy.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

27. Add reviews for social proof Let people know if other customers were happy with the product.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

28. Offer multiple payment options

Every popular payment method is a must: VISA, Maestro, MasterCard, PayPal, Google Wallet — you name it.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

29. Show local currency If your shop runs international sales, make sure that your international

clients can pay in their own currency.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

30. Allow delivery tracking If your shop runs international sales, make sure that your international

clients can pay in their own currency.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

31. Make sure that delivery service is fast enough

60% of consumers decide not to purchase from a retailer because of slow delivery speed.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

Source: Dropoff

32. Show error messages on the checkout page

People sometimes make mistakes when entering a form field. Be helpful and point out what went wrong.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

After abandonment

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

33. Send an email reminder Even when you’ve done everything you possibly could, some people will still be abandoning their shopping carts. Send a gentle email reminder.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

34. Offer a discount Offer a discount or a special offer, such as a coupon code, or free membership to a loyalty programme, or a matching item — the

possibilities are endless, really.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

35. Do re-targeting Retargeting brings you back 98% of online shoppers who visited our site

before.

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

Source: AdRoll

35 Actionable Tips To Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate (Ultimate List)

35 WAYS TO FIGHT CART ABANDONMENT

Read the full article on the Styla blog!

SELLSSTORYTELLING

Styla is the world’s leading content commerce solution that creates shoppable content in a form of

a beautiful magazine integrated into your E-Commerce store.