Making a sale in the overly competitive e-commerce arena is not exactly an easy task nowadays. As the apprehensive online shopper is not only difficult to attract to your store, but even more difficult to convert into a paying customer. Nowadays, people will scrutinize every minuscule detail of an online store for any faults and possible hazards, and they will base their buying decision on their browsing experience on your website.
Still, even if you have all of the aforementioned elements in check, your customers are still likely to abandon their carts for a variety of reasons. These include poor website speed, extra costs, complex checkouts, high shipping rates, etc. With that in mind, here are the five essential strategies that will help you minimize shopping cart abandonment, boost conversions, and get your store trending in the online realm.
1. Retarget with Abandonment Emails
First things first, you need to have a clear reach-out strategy when it comes to cart abandonment before you start implementing preventative measures. The truth is that there is no way to stop people from abandoning their carts altogether, but what you can do is get back in touch and incentivize them to finish their purchase with compelling email content.
Retargeting is the keyword you’re looking for, and you want to have this kind of software at your side to send out automatic emails to all of the people that don’t finish a purchase. You can choose the kind of incentive to offer them that fits your budget and capabilities. This can be a one-time discount, added value, free shipping, long-term discounts, secret deals, and more.
2. Simplify the Shopping Process
Did you know that 27% of shopping carts get abandoned just because the shopping process was overly complex? 27% of shopping carts get abandoned just because the shopping process was overly complex Click To Tweet This should come as no surprise, as the modern online shopper expects to traverse nothing less than a quick and pain-free road from the product page to the order placement page. If you start throwing surveys, forms, and extraneous steps at them when all they want to do is finish their purchase, you’re going to lose the customer for good.
One of the worst things you can do is demand of potential customers to sign into your website before finalizing the purchase – this is the breaking point for most on-the-fly shoppers. Instead, help them enjoy their shopping journey by making it as simple as possible. Save the forms for after they’ve filled out their carts, and even then stick to the essential fields such as email address, shipping address, billing address, and a couple more tops. The customer will appreciate the brevity and simplicity of the situation.
3. Offer Multiple Payment Options
Here is another eerie fact for you: according to Ralph Dangelmaier, CEO of BlueSnap, as much as 59% of your potential customers will abandon their carts simply because your checkout page didn’t display their currency, language, and preferred method of payment. As much as 59% of your potential customers will abandon their carts simply because your checkout page didn’t display their currency, language, and preferred method of payment Click To Tweet Just imagine, you lost a customer just because they weren’t satisfied with the payment options. In the modern e-commerce market, this is unacceptable.
If you want to minimize cart abandonment, you need to offer a comprehensive payment scheme for the online clientele, such as the enterprise payment gateway that can meet all of the payment demands and preferences of the modern customer. Accepting credit cards, debit cards, third-party payments, mobile payments, phone payments, and everything in between will be crucial for your survival in the long run, so be sure payment diversification becomes your No. 1 priority.
4. Emphasize Security on Your Site
Having a security badge displayed proudly throughout your site and all along the checkout process can nowadays mean the difference between a successful sale and an abandoned cart. In fact, modern customers value their privacy and online security so much, that as much as 35% of your potential clientele is likely to abandon the shopping process if they don’t see a security badge on your site. As much as 35% of your potential clientele is likely to abandon the shopping process if they don’t see a security badge on your site Click To Tweet
Again, this should come as no surprise either, as cyber-security is a hot topic in the increasingly volatile online world. With many threats lurking behind the digital shadows, you want to ensure top-notch security for your customers by storing all sensitive data on secure servers, updating your security firewall regularly, and increasing vigilance across the board in order to detect and stop nefarious attacks dead in their tracks.
5. Allow Easy Shopping Cart Management
Lastly, shoppers should be presented with a clean, easy-to-use interface upon reaching your website, and all throughout their shopping journey. The moment they notice your website is not responsive, that it takes too long to load, or God forbid, they’re unable to seamlessly edit the contents of their carts, they will leave your website for good. Allow easy cart management at every checkpoint, optimize loading times, and witness as your cart abandonment rate begins to drop.
Conclusion
Online shoppers are not easily persuaded to finish a purchase, and modern e-commerce stores are struggling as a result. There is plenty to be gained by simply focusing on minimizing cart abandonment and getting back in touch with potential buyers instead of spending countless resources converting new customers. Follow these steps, and your customers will have no problem finishing what they started.
A digital marketer from Sydney. Works as a blogger, Senior Editor for Bizzmark blog and a lecturer at Melbourne University. Tweets industry related articles.
