We have all done it at least once.
We browse an e-commerce, move from one product to another, scroll through the photos, read the technical specifications comparing them with those of other similar products, finally decide to add that product to the shopping cart…but then, for some reason, that’s just where it stays, never completing the purchase.
It happens a lot. Cart abandonment is a widespread phenomenon online.
Suffice it to say that the global abandonment rate is 80.6% and even increases to 83.76% if we analyze abandoned carts from mobile devices (SaleCycle).
But what is meant by an abandoned cart?
A premise must be made. Cart abandonment and checkout abandonment are not the same thing.
Cart abandonment refers to potential consumers who browse an e-commerce site, add products to their shopping cart, but then for a variety of reasons do not complete the purchase.
Checkout abandonment, on the other hand, occurs when a customer abandons the
purchase during one of these 3 basic steps:
- Customer data entry
- Choice of shipping method
- Choice of payment method
What are the main reasons why we abandon the checkout process?
While it is true that we cannot always have full control over cart abandonment, as users often misuse it by using it as a wishlist, it is also true that we can do a lot to decrease the abandonment rate in the checkout process.
In fact, the reasons for abandonment are many, but all legitimate.
The main cause of abandonment at the checkout process is a lack of transparency on price. It often happens that we find out only at the time of payment that the product or service we wish to purchase costs more than expected because of hidden shipping costs, taxes, etc. (does buying an airline ticket ring a bell?).
They follow among other reasons: the obligation to create an account, an overly long and complex purchasing process, lack of user trust, errors and technical problems, slow shipping, unclear return policies, and few payment methods available.
What can we do to decrease cart abandonment during the checkout process?
Interestingly, according to SaleCycle’s analysis, cart retrieval emails have a 40.10% open rate, which in turn generate a 24.18% conversion rate.
An email sent within a maximum of 72 hours after the user has abandoned the cart can convince the user to return to the site to finalize the purchase or reservation.
Timing in these cases therefore plays a key role, especially if there are promotions running on the site that may arouse our user’s urgency.
As we have seen one of the reasons why our user does not complete the purchase is because the checkout process is too complex, optimizing the user experience is therefore crucial so that the purchase path is as simple and streamlined as possible.
Ideally, you should be able to complete the process within 1 to 2 minutes at most, reducing the required fields to the bare minimum and eliminating unnecessary steps such as creating an account.
We should also remember that the user nowadays is very demanding and attentive, so it is important to facilitate his or her experience as much as possible not only from a site navigation point of view, but also from the point of view of the actual purchase.
Offering him multiple payment methods, guaranteeing him expedited shipping, secure return policies, and maximum transparency on price will entice him not only to more confidently complete his purchase on the site, but why not, also to repurchase in the future.
These are just some of the best practices you can try to adopt for your e-commerce. Do you want to know more? Please feel free to request a personalized consultation!
