Practical Tips for Avoiding Shopping Cart Abandonment

Shopping cart abandonment is a prevalent problem for eCommerce businesses. Every time shoppers don’t pay for their selected merchandise, you lose out on revenue.

Sometimes, eCommerce business owners may not know where or how to reduce and avoid shopping cart abandonment and recover lost revenue. So here are several practical tips to encourage shoppers to complete their purchases.

Make Your Website a Breeze To Navigate

The internet is bursting with eCommerce business sites, with more going live daily. How do you make yours stand out? By making your site easy to navigate, you can encourage potential customers to remain on your site long enough to finish making their purchases. Some examples of making a site easy to navigate include:

Have a clear and concise homepage that tells visitors about your site.
Use easy-to-read fonts and colors.
Organize your products in an easily searchable way.
Provide clear and concise product descriptions.

In addition, optimize your site for mobile use, as more and more people use their phones for online shopping. A marketing agency can help you tailor your existing marketing messaging for smaller screens. You can also adapt your messaging to your geographic location. For instance, if your company’s based in the Mile High City, a Denver inbound marketing agency can help you customize an eCommerce SEO strategy with targeted messaging for your local audience.

Offer Various Payment Options

When running an online business, offering several payment options is great for avoiding shopping cart abandonment. It’s easier for shoppers to complete purchases when they have a variety of ways to pay.

Common payment options include credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and bank transfers. If you're unsure which payment options to use, look to your competitors to see which they offer. You can also talk to customers directly to find out what they prefer. Whichever payment options you choose, make sure they're safe, so your clientele can shop with peace of mind.

Provide Free Shipping

While offering free shipping incentivizes customers to finish their buying journey, maximizing this tip requires some finesse. After all, you don't want to lose money by offering free shipping.

There are a few ways to make the most of this strategy and protect your bottom line. For example, you can offer free shipping on orders over a certain dollar amount. This way, you ensure you make a profit on each order. You can also ship products to loyal customers for free to build goodwill and encourage future sales. Also, offer free shipping as a promotional tool. If new customers can’t decide whether to purchase everything in their cart now or later, knowing they have free shipping can get them to try your products or services.

Simplify Checkout

A simplified checkout process can become one reason visitors buy all the merchandise in their digital carts. A quick and easy checkout process looks like this:

The customer enters their shipping information on the first page of the checkout process.
On the second page, the shopper enters their payment information.
The customer is then taken to a confirmation page, where they can review their order and make changes.
Finally, the customer clicks on the "submit" button, and their order is complete!

Be Upfront About Shipping

Being upfront with your customers is always the best policy for shipping costs. And it’s okay if you can’t offer free or discounted shipping.

When explaining shipping costs, use clear, concise language. Avoid jargon or technical terms shoppers may not understand. Be transparent about all aspects of shipping, including prices, transit times, and potential delays. If you offer multiple shipping options, explain the benefits and drawbacks of each, so customers choose the shipping method that’s right for them.

Shopping cart abandonment is a common issue for online stores, but it doesn’t have to harm your bottom line. Following some simple tips can protect your sales and keep customers happy.