Think of your ecommerce site…

It’s filled with a lot of quality items that are showcased conveniently online. You invest a decent amount of energy, effort and money to promote and publicize your site to drive interested shoppers to it. And in between every keyword, meta tag, social media post, back link and painstakingly written content, visitors start to trickle in. They end up on your site, browse through your offerings, select items and add them to their shopping cart.

Clothing ecommerce site

And just when you thought everything was going swimmingly and just as planned, your interested site visitors suddenly abandon their shopping carts and bounce.

It happens more often than you think and there are ways for you to make sure that you lower the incidence of cart abandonment on your site. Check out these simple ways you can stop people from leaving their shopping carts–

#1. Streamline checkout:

The checkout process should be as straightforward, smooth and speedy as possible. If the user has to amble around a plethora of information and perform an endless amount of dull activities, this can only serve to frustrate customers or give them time to lose interest. 

VISA Checkout simplifies the cart to checkout process

The more screens that they have to navigate, the more probable they are to get confused or question their purchases and give up on it. Think of it in the same way long cashier lines turn potential customers off. 

Reduce the number of steps between shopping and checkout and you’ll likely see a rise in actual purchases made.

#2. Shipping Costs & Efficiency:

Customers will always go for what is practical, and extortionate amounts of shipping charges and delivery rates will definitely turn them off. While most are willing to pay a little extra for the convenience of having the products delivered straight to their doorstep, this will likely have a maximum cap. Give your customers the option of speed parallel to cost, with an additional choice to have items delivered at the lowest possible amount. 

Straightforward shipping terms encourage purchase

#3. Simplify cart amendments:

If a user can’t locate a straightforward approach to delete unwanted items from their shopping carts, it’s likely they will assume they have to scrap the entire cart and start from the beginning. At any point between re-doing their purchases and reaching checkout, they are likely to change their mind, find the entire process too tedious or simply lose interest. 

Allow for simple editing of your cart’s content.

#4. Upfront and clear costs & information:

People like to know what they are getting themselves into. Having the total cost in front of them enables them to make their decision regarding following through on their purchases easier. If there are additions further to the ones displayed that will ultimately shock them, it’s unlikely that they will return to your site for future purchases. 

Display shipping and total costs clearly during checkout

#5. Urgency:

Sometimes people are ready to buy but just need a little nudge towards following through on the purchase. See how you can build urgency towards this, maybe by highlighting a limited offer, exclusive stock, one-time-offers and deals. These methods help remind the buyer that there is massive demand for the particular products on their cart. 

Incentivize check out process.

#6. Confidence:

The buying public don’t just need to be convinced, they need to be reassured. Emotional buying is the buzzword for sales and it has never been more appropriate here.

Showcase recognised and trusted security badges and endorsements to put the user at ease. Having universal payment systems such as Paypal and VISA reinforces your site’s credibility.

Displaying your customer support hotline, warranty and refund policy in plain sight will also help them realize that your company doesn’t only want to sell but build a relationship with their customers as well. This reassures them that they will know how to reach you if there are any problems with their purchases. 

Showcase your site’s affiliations to add credibility

Bottom Line?

Consumers spend a considerable amount of time window shopping on the internet. The core theme of their activities tends to be adding products to their cart at will. The challenge begins from when they enter that view basket or proceed to checkout link, but with the help of these simple tips, you’ll hopefully see more purchases and lower abandoned carts.

Try it out, see how well it works for you and tell us all about it by leaving a comment below.