Cart abandonment. Every online store has it, and some have more of it than others. So why do people abandon their carts. Surely if they have added something to their cart, then there is intention for them to actually buy the product, so what stops them mid-sale?
In this article we are going to look at 5 reasons that people abandon their carts, and show you how you can improve your store to decrease cart abandonment and increase your bottom line.
Your store doesn’t instil trust.
Trusting in a sale context is easy when the seller is standing in front of you. When a transaction takes place at arm’s length though, doubt is heightened. So how do you reduce doubt in people’s minds and instil trust, so that they carry out the transaction? Here are some pointers:
- Include as much product information as possible. Things like dimensions, sizing, colours, warranties, guarantees and any other information that you possibly can about the products you sell.
- Include as much transactional information as possible. Information like how you ship, what payment methods you accept, what your returns policy is, how you handle customer data, and any other information that your customer may need about the actual transaction.
- Show social proof. Showing things like positive testimonials and reviews from people who have bought from you shows visitors that other people have bought from you and had good experiences and gives them more faith that their experience will be the same.
Your checkout process is too long.
Visitors to your store, shouldn’t have to click endlessly to be able to buy something. Aim for 3 clicks to get from landing on your store to getting to the checkout page.
Also, you don’t need to ask your customer for their next of kin when all they want to do is buy a phone cover. Keep the required information to only what is absolutely necessary, (name, surname, shipping address etc) and don’t force your visitors to have to register with you if it’s not absolutely vital. People want to be able to get through checkout as quickly as possible without having to register for yet another account.
Your shipping charges are too high or are unclear.
Visitors to your store do not see the value in paying for shipping, but understand that it may be a necessary cost when shopping online. Try to limit your shipping costs to R60 or less to main centres, and be clear about the shipping methods available eg: Courier door to door 2-3 days delivery. uAfrica Multichannel comes with a cool courier integration to help you reduce your delivery costs and display rates to your customers based on their post codes.
You only offer limited payment methods.
If you only have one payment method setup, you are losing sales. Many people still don’t want to pay for their online orders by Credit card, so make sure you offer multiple payment methods to make it easy for your customer to pay you. Things like SnapScan, Zapper and even Cash on Delivery may be options that your customers want to use too. Give them the option.
You don’t look at your data.
Probably the most costly mistake store owners make, is that they don’t look at their data. Part of the wonder of online, is that everything is recorded and trackable. Look at the audience you are targeting, look at the time you get most of your sales, look at what sells the best, look at which sales channel performs best for you, and you will quickly understand who you are talking to. If you are targeting the wrong audience, or sales channel you are going to have a massive spike in abandonment as the wrong type of customer drops off. Your products, will appeal to a very select group of people, so make sure that you are sending the correct message at the correct time, and you will see more intent from those people to buy from you, and in turn, fewer abandoned carts.
Once you have made a few tweaks to your online store, run a test order on your store to familiarise yourself with the process that each of your customers go through when they buy something from you. If you identify any potential pitfalls, correct them and watch your abandonment rates come down.
