Key Points to Reduce Cart Abandonment Rate in E-Commerce
Reducing your shopping cart abandonment rate is a major challenge for online sales players. The order finalization phase is the very essence of an e-commerce site or a marketplace. Despite the fact that this is a very common behavior, there are a certain number of measures and good practices to put in place to reduce it.
Cart abandonment is extremely common
The figures are enough to illustrate the widespread nature of cart abandonment: More than 68% of e-commerce consumers have already abandoned their shopping cart, including 58% during the payment phase, which is generally the step key !
Good to know: the various technical advances and the optimization of purchasing paths have made it possible, over the years, to increase the cart abandonment rate, which in 2021 was at 80.68%, and from 81.01 % in 2020.
It should be noted, however, that shopping cart abandonment is higher among mobile users, with an abandonment rate of 83.76% on mobile, and 74.65% on a computer.
The qualification of cart abandonment, in its broad sense, is the fact that an Internet user browses an online sales site, adds items to their shopping cart and then leaves the platform. This indicator (KPI) is measured in a simple way, by dividing the number of baskets created by the number of transactions carried out.
Methods to reduce your cart abandonment rate
The user experience
UX (User Experience) is a key factor to consider to reduce your abandonment rate. When a consumer is on a platform, they expect a smooth, fast and pleasant purchasing experience.
The order tunnel must be optimal, fast and readable. 21% of Internet users say that an order process that is too long or too complicated can lead them to abandon their order (data: The moderator's blog).
The optimization of this tunnel involves:
A simple and short process to complete a purchase: It is essential to give the customer a minimum of steps until the transaction is finalized. The Internet user must be able to realize the effort required before being able to actually complete their purchase. This involves displaying a progress bar, for example, or step numbers.
Maintaining the buyer's concentration: It is important to minimize the loss of interest of the Internet user when he moves to the stage of finalizing his transaction. For example, it is possible to reduce the navigation options when the user is in the basket validation tunnel.
Saving the basket: A user who abandons their basket may do so by mistake, or quickly regret it afterwards. If the latter returns to the platform on which he made his basket, losing it can prove to be a discouraging factor. It is therefore important to save a consumer's shopping cart so that it can be retrieved quickly if they come back and finally want to complete their purchases.
Delivery costs and other additional costs
49% of online shoppers say that the late discovery of additional fees causes them to abandon their shopping cart (data: Baymard Institute).
Additional costs can be of several types: taxes, fees, processing fees, return costs, etc. If these exist, they must be announced clearly and as soon as possible to avoid unpleasant surprises which will most likely occur. abandon the freshly filled basket.
Regarding delivery costs, these, even if low, are an important factor in the decision to conclude a transaction or not. Indeed, consumers are now used to these being offered.
75% of buyers say they will leave an online sales platform if they believe that delivery costs are too expensive (data: Sendcloud).
A proven method is, for example, to offer delivery costs from a certain basket amount. The icing on the cake is that this strategy has a direct influence on the amount of the basket, with some buyers being inclined to add items to their basket, even at the last moment, if these additional purchases allow them to benefit from free delivery.
Payment methods
Consumers like to have a choice in delivery options but also (and above all) when it comes to paying.
Offering a variety of payment methods is a key factor in transforming a shopping cart into an actual purchase. It is important to know that 35% of consumers abandon a shopping cart if they cannot use their preferred payment method or the one that best suits their situation (data: Statista).
Even if the bank card is essential and a large majority of online transactions are settled via this payment method, it is far from being the only one used.
The bank transfer will allow you to pay without impacting your bank card limit, and to pay large sums.
Payment in several installments, which can be, for example, in 3, 4 or 10 installments, will allow you to split the payment in order to spread it over several months, in order to optimize your cash flow or deal with possible unexpected expenses. .
The bank direct debit will also be able to be requested by certain consumers who do not want to take the time to make a transfer but who will be willing to sign an electronic direct debit mandate.
Payment by user balance is very effective on marketplaces where customers have an electronic wallet. The money is already available, and does not require you to take out your bank card to make a purchase.
We could also mention other payment services such as PayPal or Bancontact.
The choice of payment methods is all the more important for an international activity. For example, in France, 80% of online payments are made by bank card, compared to only 25% among our German neighbors!
The interface on which the buyer finds himself to pay for his basket is also very important: it must be clear and clearly show all the payment options.
Creation of the customer account
This step can be painful for many Internet users. This step must be optimally positioned in the user journey. It is also important to only ask (even if only initially) for the bare minimum to fulfill any regulatory obligations and communicate effectively with the Internet user.
Note that 24% of consumers may abandon their shopping cart if the creation of a customer account is mandatory (data: The moderator's blog).
Platform reliability
Trust is the ultimate element in concluding a purchase. Today, Internet users are alert and know the risks of leaving their personal and banking information on a website (theft of funds, identity theft, etc.), and mistrust is required.
The generation of trust involves all of the points mentioned above, but also through the clear display of institutional and/or banking partners, the provision of effective and reassuring contact options (messaging, telephone, etc.), or even verifiable and verified customer reviews.
An abandoned shopping cart is not inevitable
You should not consider an abandoned basket as a lost basket, far from it!
Be aware that only 1% of Internet users make a purchase on the first visit, and that triggering the act of purchase requires on average 5 points of contact with the platform for there to be a transformation (data: Hybris ).
It should also be noted that ¾ of online shoppers who abandoned their shopping cart during their first visit plan to return to the site on which they abandoned, or to go to the store (data: Hybris).
It is therefore important to have a user follow-up strategy in order to redirect them towards their initial desire: to make a purchase.
To do this, it is possible to reactivate customers through emails and SMS messages, which must be worked on and personalized.
Also note that your customers need to breathe: if they didn't buy, it may be because they simply couldn't afford it at the time. Harassment is therefore not everything recommended, and the reminder should not be done immediately after abandoning the cart. Prefer to wait 1 or 2 days before a first reminder.
Finally, we should not hesitate to study the reasons for abandonment. There is a great diversity (navigation problem, refusal of payment by the bank, etc.). In certain cases, alternatives may be offered to the buyer. For example, if payment is refused because the card limit has been reached, offer to pay in installments or by bank transfer. If there was a navigation problem, contact them directly to reassure them and offer them a discount.
The ways to transform an initially lost shopping cart into a purchase are as diverse as the causes of abandonment.
Obvy, the all-in-one transactional solution to optimize shopping cart transformation
With Obvy, you can easily create precise and clear purchasing funnels for your customers. Obvy offers fully customizable payment and transaction tracking interfaces in order to limit your developments and focus on the purchasing experience of your platform.