Abandoned carts in online stores

Do you often shop in supermarkets? Have you seen abandoned baskets in the middle of the hall, loaded to the top with goods? Definitely not: offline customers tend to take their purchases to the checkout, even if they are distracted by sudden calls. It is difficult to imagine a situation that would force the buyer to abandon the basket and leave without paying.

But online shopping is different. As long as you're not holding a product in your hands, it's easy for you to abandon it, change your mind, or get distracted. And it's not about one or two baskets forgotten in a hurry. In fact, the problem is much larger and more pronounced:

• out of 10 items in the cart, only three are purchased;
• it turns out that almost 70% of baskets are abandoned at one stage or another;
• if you translate all these “forgotten goods” into a monetary equivalent, it turns out that online trading loses almost 2 trillion in profits.

Why is this happening? Is it the wrong sales funnel? Or in something else? To answer this question, you first need to figure out what kind of customers who abandon carts and why they do it.

Reasons a customer might abandon a cart

Of course, a potential buyer is not required to make a purchase. After all, he came "just to look." And more than 55% of abandoned carts belong to those who evaluate convenience: check whether the price will change with a cashless payment, what delivery methods will be offered, and so on. In fact, these people were not going to place an order.

But there is still 45%. And here we need to pay more attention to them. The main reasons for refusals for this category of buyers are as follows:

• the price, taking into account delivery or commission for a cashless payment, has grown significantly;
• the user did not want to register or it took too many fields to register;
• the total cost of the order was not calculated in the process;
• the site freezes at the time of placing the order;
• the delivery period suggested by the store is too long;
• users were unable or unwilling to pay online by entering their credit card details.

All these reasons can provoke a refusal to purchase. But what about those who refuse? Perhaps they do not need to spend either time or marketing budget on them, but it is better to attract new customers? Such a decision would be wrong. Usually, up to 80% of the profit comes from 20% of customers - those who have become regular and recommend your store. Therefore, customers need to be attracted, and then retained. This is also evidenced by two basic metrics for online stores - Retention Rate and Lifetime Value.

It is possible to correct the situation with abandoned carts only in a comprehensive manner, working both with the technical side and with marketing.

Technical side: what to look for

Here is what is important for users and will help reduce the abandonment rate at the checkout stage:

1. The speed of loading the site and its individual pages. The more the page slows down, the higher the probability of failure.
2. Availability of adaptive layout. More than 50% of shoppers access the network from smartphones, and it should be convenient for them to shop with you. This fact cannot be ignored.
3. Purchase safety: a secure connection thanks to an SSL certificate, as well as the absence of viruses and other "troubles" when working online.
4. Convenience of editing the basket: add, cancel, replace, recalculate - all this should be very simple.
5. A basket that remembers what is put in it. Imagine that the user switched to another site for work, and when he returned, the cart was already empty. Leave the option to keep the order active: perhaps the client will remember about it and complete it.
6. No distractions. Nothing in the user's shopping cart should distract from shopping. Therefore, remove both hyperlinks and pop-ups. You should not try to sell another “related” product at any cost or distract the visitor with an interesting review. If the client has already reached the basket, it is definitely not worth interfering with him.
7. Possibility of a "quick" order without registration. More than 25% of customers leave just because they had to fill in too many fields when placing an order.

Marketing: what you need to do

Here are the main elements that will drive sales:

1. Contact information in plain sight. Show on the map where your office is located, indicate several active phones, mail and other means of communication. All of this builds trust.
2. Reviews and recommendations. Indicate which products are most popular with you. Consider adding reviews. 6 out of 10 customers first study the recommendations of other buyers, and only then make a purchase.
3. Consultant on the site - online chat or telephone hotline. This is important, because this way the buyer will be able to clarify all the nuances even before the purchase.
4. Clear shipping process. The client must understand exactly when he will receive his goods and how much it will cost him. Referring to delivery services is not correct: the seller must also be aware of the cost of these services. All the nuances should be indicated immediately, even if the payment to the courier for bringing to the floor or the commission for sending cash on delivery. Even a small amount paid "extra" can turn away a loyal customer from you.
5. Minimum blocks with contact information to fill. Get as much information about the client as possible - your need, but not the buyer. A person who plans to buy something does not want to provide a real physical address, birthday, and a secret word. Provide the ability to purchase without registration. To do this, it is enough to fill in only three lines - name, city and phone number.
6. Payment options: by card or courier, by bank transfer or electronic money. Most customers are willing to pay by transfer from account to account, but you need to take into account the interests of all your customers. Therefore, there should be many payment methods.
7. Remarketing and automated abandoned cart reminders. The first letter can be sent in a couple of hours. You can then resend after 24 hours and after a week. Usually, the first email has about 35-45% open rate, which means it really provides an opportunity to complete the order.
8. Click map. Thanks to it, you will know what your visitors are actually looking at on the site, and you will also be able to analyze those factors influencing the conversion that you did not notice before.

What else can be done?

Here are a few more marketing "chips" that are desirable to implement:

1. Money back guarantee according to a scenario that is convenient for both you and the user. This means that you must provide an opportunity to refuse a purchase and receive a refund, and openly tell your buyers about it. 8 out of 10 visitors are interested in this question. You can tell what documents are needed for the return, how to send the package with an inventory of the attachment, and how quickly the client will receive the funds back. The reasons why the return is possible must also be indicated.
2. Picture of the item in the cart. This is important for those who "love with their eyes." It is more difficult to refuse an image than a faceless inscription. After all, it is almost the same as holding the product in your hands and putting it on the shelf.
3. Order progress indicator. It will be convenient for the user to see how many steps are left before registration. In addition, there are people for whom it is important to bring any business to the end. And this approach will work for them.
4. Reviews in the checkout window (of course, only positive ones). They can work as an additional stimulant.
5. Discount. The best way to overcome buyer doubt is to offer a price reduction. And it works: almost 5 out of 10 carts are reopened if the customer is offered a reduced price. Just don't forget to set a time limit for your offer, because you need to buy "here and now".

And do not forget: even a properly configured sales funnel will only work well if users are comfortable using the site. The level of service is also important, including the friendliness and competence of managers. Working on all these nuances in a complex, an online store is able to become successful and popular.