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Shoppers fall in love with products and are interested in what you have on offer, but sometimes, they decide to leave the store without buying anything. Cart abandonment is a major challenge for eCommerce merchants. It has grown so commonplace that in certain businesses, it has reached a staggering 80%.

We all know that many eCommerce websites are home to many distractions. Distractions can come in the form of banners, pop-ups, and even sales that could eventually drive potential customers to your competitors. In some cases, it comes down to product descriptions being unclear or your overall presentation not being well thought out, which can lead shoppers not to buy anything at all.

To make things easier for shoppers and win over those who have decided against buying from you, we’ve compiled 12 key points that will allow you to identify distractions, optimize your checkout process, and improve your cart abandonment rates.

1. Remove coupon code fields.

Coupon codes are a great way to get customers to your website and make a purchase. Customers love a discount. However, there are cases when the coupon code field backfires.

Customers are more likely to enter a coupon code when they see a field for it. Customers typically open a new tab and search for discount codes on Google if the coupon codes aren't automatically applied or aren't prominently displayed on the website. The risk is that there’s a possibility that shoppers will discover the product at a lower price elsewhere while they're searching for it.

Instead of using a coupon code field, you can utilize website popovers, navigation links, or product-page fields, which automatically add a coupon code to a customer’s order. This, in turn, lessens the friction between adding the product to the cart and checking out.

The customer will no longer have to type in a code, but they will just automatically see their ‘savings’ before checkout.

One example is from Shein, know which easily shows customers what vouchers are available at the checkout page:

All customers will have to do is click ‘My Coupons’ and the available discounts will popup. The customer can then select which one they want to use.

Just by clicking their choice of voucher on the popup, the discount is automatically applied without the need to type in any coupon codes or open another window or webpage to search for it.

2. Place upsells and add-ons on product pages or while products are being added to the cart.

It was common practice to put a page between the cart and the checkout to boost the order amount. It was typically an extra page featuring 3 to 4 items at a discount that’s available for a limited time.

 

This can be distracting

Business owners looked at how many customers took that deal instead of looking at the impact on cart abandonment.

Again, adding another later between adding products to the cart and payment is a no-go. The best time to offer accessories and related items is when a customer is looking at a specific product and adding stuff to their cart like in the example below:

Zara does a great job at this wherein they include the other products the model is wearing in the product page, right below the specific product the customer is looking at. This encourages the customer to buy the whole outfit instead of just the one.

Furthermore, as the customer scrolls down, Zara highlights additional products the buyer may be interested in. This encourages the buyer to continue browsing the website and explore more products, improving their chances of adding products to their cart.

3. Show customers exactly what they’re ordering.

In order to shorten the checkout process, several sites skip the cart page or decrease the size of the cart items. Shoppers, on the other hand, want to see what they're ordering. They'll also be able to catch missteps like forgetting to add another item if the items in their cart are visible.

Make sure that the items are displayed properly along with a few descriptors like the color and size. Product photos in the shopping cart should match the products the customers added or selected.

Here's another example from Zara in which the product photos in the cart completely match what's on the product pages.

Though a bit unconventional, Zara uses the same big photos on their cart as they do on their product pages.

4. Don’t force account creation at checkout.

Consumers are apprehensive about disclosing personal information online. They seek ease of use without sacrificing security or privacy. It's one thing to request an email address; it's quite another to require users to register a new account before they can check out.

If you absolutely need them to set up an account in order to finish an order, make it so that it's after payment has been received and accepted. The best step is still allowing customers to check out without creating an account – just make sure they have access to their order history, either through your website or via email.

5. Use a checkout progress indicator.

If your checkout process has numerous steps, it is a good idea to display a progress indicator that helps your consumers to know specifically where they are in the checkout process. This can assist them to comprehend how many additional steps are involved and help them make a faster decision.

A progress indicator shows all the checkout stages on a mini-map. It commonly involves visual indications that identify which steps are actually ongoing and which have been completed.

The majority of eCommerce sites display it near the top or bottom of their checkout page. You could also have a floating progress indicator that follows the user down as they complete the checkout processes.

In order to discourage customers from abandoning their carts, the goal is to keep them interested.

6. Optimize your checkout form.

Filling out forms is the most tedious part of online shopping. Customers will abandon a website if the checkout procedure is excessively arduous or annoying. It's easy to see why: entering personal information is tedious enough as it is, let alone having to fill out pages and pages of info.

If you want your customers to finish the checkout process, make sure your form is quick and easy to use.

In this example from Crate&Barrel, they only have 3 steps in the whole checkout process and just 7 mandatory fields to be filled out. You can make this even shorter if you can automatically populate the City and Province (or state) fields once a user enters their Zip code. Doing so can make the form 2 fields shorter.

Similarly, the form also has a “use as billing address” checkbox which the customer can select in case their shipping address is the same as their billing address. This way customers don’t need to fill in their details two times.

7. Build trust and credibility regarding payments.

According to research, approximately 17% of shoppers leave carts due to website trustworthiness. According to a poll conducted by Actual Insights, over 61% of shoppers abandoned their shopping carts because the website lacked a trust logo or had an unfamiliar logo.

To overcome these difficulties, you need to guarantee customers that their personal information is safe and will not be exploited. 

The image above illustrates an example of a trust seal and security guarantee shown on a checkout page. The 256-bit encryption is clearly visible even before selecting a payment method, and the message is reinforced by the use of security emblems and logos.

8. Have a friendly return policy.

A friendly return policy can help you win the trust of your customers and boost your sales.

This is because people want a guarantee that if there is something wrong with the product, they can return it and get their money back.

More than 11% abandon carts due to a poor return policy or the inability to find one.

Some consumers use credit cards to pay for online transactions. In such circumstances, provide customers the option of returning/refunding products or keeping shop credit. Because when a consumer returns an item, you’ll have to reimburse the credit card and most probably the transaction charge. If the consumer chooses ‘store credit', you avoid incurring transaction costs.

Make it a point to clearly publish your return policy on all pages of your website, including the Cart and Checkout pages.

Consider placing your return policy close to your 'Payment' or 'Checkout' button. The Uniqlo example above is excellent since it answers the majority of worries that a new or current customer may have. The return policy is prominently displayed, along with a link to contact customer support.

9. Provide social proof.

It’s a big decision to spend money online – especially if you’ve never heard of the company before. A potential buyer will be looking for social proof that they can trust the company with their payment information before they commit to buying.

The consumer is the focus of social proof, not you. It's all about allowing your consumers to do all of the talking. It's also a good idea to put actual faces behind the reviews.

When it comes to social proof, you must strike a balance between trust and credibility. It may be easy to ask consumers to write reviews, submit testimonials, and provide feedback, but if they are unwilling to put their name or face behind it, you may wind up with a collection of fake reviews that might tarnish your reputation.

The above reviews are from Uniqlo which display all the pertinent information a potential customer might need from the gender, age up to how the apparel fits. It’s very helpful for customers in making a decision.

10. Offer multiple payment options.

Imagine you are in a mall and you have added a product to your cart. You then proceed to checkout and find that the store doesn't accept your preferred payment method. Will you still shop at this store? Most likely not!

Data suggests that over 6% of buyers leave because their preferred payment method was not available on the site. People are accustomed to paying using their preferred method. Some people prefer to pay using their credit cards, while others prefer to use PayPal, Google Pay, or Apple Pay.

Too many stages in the checkout process are a typical reason for abandonment. The more steps required to complete a purchase, the more likely consumers are to become frustrated and leave. Using an express checkout method like Paypal, Google Pay, or Apple Pay reduces this risk.

11. Make saving carts effortless.

In today's fast-paced society, it's no surprise that customers abandon online shopping carts without purchasing. It's very inconvenient for consumers to have to start over if they need to take a call or pause for something else. This also reduces their likelihood of returning to a site, as well as their likelihood of sharing their experiences with others.

With so many possible distractions both in “real life” and online, it's important to allow consumers to return to their carts later to complete their purchase at a time that suits them.

There are several ways to allow customers to return to their shopping carts later:

Make the users sign in. Many eCommerce sites offer this option, even though it's not necessarily the best. But doing so can decrease the friction of frequent sign-ins and allow consumers to abandon their carts momentarily.

Auto-save the cart. The superior option. Creating an account on most eCommerce sites is optional (as it should). In some circumstances, you can save carts without users having to do anything. For example, if someone adds products to their basket but then leaves your site without purchasing, the same items should be in their cart when they return.

12. Use remarketing to target abandoners.

If you run an eCommerce business, remarketing is more important than almost any other advertising strategy. Remarketing on Facebook is ideal for retargeting shopping cart abandoners. Ads on Facebook are particularly well-suited to conveying the  features of your products since it's more visual than any other ad (Facebook limits advertisers with only 20% of space for text)

It's also a smart option to remarket with Google AdWords and Bing Ads, particularly if your product or service doesn't have a lot of visual appeal or has a unique selling point that can't be shown through images.

CONCLUSION

In the end, the best way to lessen shopping cart abandonment is to try and better understand the reasons why your customers are abandoning their carts. Armed with this information, you’ll be in a better position not only to fix any problems but also to encourage shoppers who might have otherwise been ready to abandon their carts. Overall, it’s a simple idea that will make a world of difference for your business if done right. 

Thanks for reading, and we hope that you found our guide helpful. We’ll see you soon with more data-driven insights into eCommerce, marketing, and design trends.

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