“A 2022 research conducted by the Baymard Institute found that the average cart abandonment rate for online retailers was a whopping 70%”

This means that even in a best-case situation, close to three-quarters of shopping carts are abandoned before a user converts.
Despite rolling out the best strategies to attract traffic, marketers have to grapple with the fact that a majority of visitors to their website leave empty-handed. The road to getting online customers to make a purchase run through a leaky funnel, and high cart abandonment rates play a key role in missed conversions.

Cart abandonment has emerged as an important metric for e-commerce sites. If the number of users abandoning their shopping baskets is high, it should act as a wake-up call for retailers. It signals poor user experiences and gaps in the sales funnel. Conversely, low cart abandonment results in high sales and revenue.

It is impossible for marketers to eliminate abandoned baskets completely. An inevitable truth of e-commerce sales is that some people will abandon their carts just at the point of purchase. However, it is possible to improve user experiences and turn shopping seamless in order to combat this hurdle head-on.

In this blog, we’ll decode the reasons why shoppers abandon their purchases and look at the key tools that empower marketers to improve conversion rates.

Cart abandonment is when shoppers add items to a website’s shopping cart but leave before finishing the transaction. Any item that enters the shopping basket but doesn’t make it through the transaction is said to be `abandoned’ by the customer. Retailers must pay careful attention to this metric as it directly correlates to conversion rates and revenue.

There are many reasons that drive customers to leave their carts without making a purchase. If marketers want to understand what causes shoppers to abandon their shopping items, they must know the triggers – that range from high shipping costs to security concerns.

• Complicated check-out process: Once a shopper has filled her cart, she wants a fast and seamless checkout process. 18% of customers abandon their carts when they are faced with a long-drawn checkout. Complicated procedures that require users to fill out forms and go through multiple steps can slow down the shopping process, create impatience, and even make some users decide not to come back. It’s important to keep the checkout short, simple, and seamless.
• Save now, Shop later: Modern shoppers have turned omnichannel. With the rise of the internet and mobile shopping, customers are spoilt for choice. It’s easy for them to add items to their cart, then compare products, prices, and promotional offers, and shop from a retailer who they think offers the best deal. They might also save an item in their shopping cart to buy later. This kind of cart abandonment can be curtailed by sending targeted WhatsApp notifications – that serve as a reminder or increase FOMO by informing the shopper that stocks are running out.
• Concerns over security of payments: Many customers are cagey about making online payments and providing their personal and banking information on shopping websites. If the payment process does not come with an absolute assurance of security, users are likely to not follow through with their purchase
• Few payment options: Most customers prefer using one payment method over others. While most shoppers will use the default option, there may be who might leave the site altogether if your website does not support their preferred payment method.

Here are some quick cart optimization tips that marketers can deploy to promote a seamless shopping experience that leads to conversion:

• A progress indicator on the checkout page is a must: Progress indicators help users understand where they are in the checkout process, and how many more steps there are to go. If the process bar looks almost complete, it serves as an incentive for customers to finish the purchase. Also, by informing customers about the length and depth of the checkout process, you eliminate shopping stress and ambiguity and make the process clearer.
• Rely on thumbnails: Include thumbnails of products throughout the checkout process. While making a physical purchase, customers can see what they are buying. While this can’t happen during an online purchase, product thumbnails keep these products on top of the mind for customers during the entire checkout process.
• Seamless cart-store navigation: Customers want to quickly add items to their shopping carts and then get back to browsing. If the process of moving from cart to store is not kept simple, it will make more customers log out. It makes good business sense to make it effortless for customers to drop items into their cart and return easily to the product catalog. Build logical and intuitive navigation between the checkout and product pages. This will get more customers to convert.
• Seamless cart-store navigation: Customers want to quickly add items to their shopping carts and then get back to browsing. If the process of moving from cart to store is not kept simple, it will make more customers log out. It makes good business sense to make it effortless for customers to drop items into their cart and return easily to the product catalog. Build logical and intuitive navigation between the checkout and product pages. This will get more customers to convert.

Deploying Marketing Automation to cut cart abandonment

Modern marketers are bringing down cart abandonment rates by onboarding diverse marketing automation solutions that help re-engage shoppers and get them to make a purchase. Here are some tools:

• Remarketing: Accept that some customers will abandon their carts. Follow up with them with Remarketing campaigns. If you don’t remarket to people who come close to crossing the purchase line, you’re not giving yourself that one crucial chance to make the conversion happen. Also, in this multi-device world, it’s important to target your potential leads multiple times.
• Exit Intent: The tool captures a user’s cursor movement on a webpage. If it senses that a user is about to click out, a pop-up shows up on the page, providing offers like free shipping or a money-back guarantee. Customers usually take up the offer, after sharing their email id, allowing merchandisers to grow their database and drive sales.
• Retargeting: Modern marketers need to engage their consumers at multiple touchpoints. Retargeting cart abandoners with relevant ads will keep your product in their short-term memory, remind them about the products in their cart and get them to convert.
• Social Proof: When a consumer reads a banner: “500 people have viewed this item”, she knows a lot of her peers are checking it out. Social Proof messaging builds a sense of urgency around products. It works in two ways: it lets users know about the popularity of a product and also informs them that stocks are running out.
• Follow-up emails: Email follow-ups with customers who abandon their carts are a good way of reminding them of an incomplete purchase. The email should provide a link, where they can pick shopping where they left it off.

How Zence Commerce empowers organizations to reverse Cart Abandonment