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Online shopping has evolved to become mainstream for companies to do business and engage with their customers. However, despite companies investing heavily in marketing their products and enhancing user experience on the website, many of them are unable to get the customer to complete the final step and place an order. Shopping cart abandonment is a common hurdle for many businesses, since they face the problem of losing their customers at the final stage despite large investments to get them there in the first place.

Let’s have a look at four simple yet effective strategies which can be applied to reduce shopping cart abandonment.

 

User-friendly Experience

Once the customer has arrived at the website, the second goal is to make sure he or she has a smooth experience navigating through it. The cart should be easily accessible from any page and customers should be able to click on it. Moving between selecting products and viewing the cart should be a quick process that doesn’t involve clicking on too many pages. Buttons for selecting product and adding them to the cart should be clearly visible and labeled for the convenience of the customer.

Products should be categorized properly with complete description and prices for each item, the quantity or size etc. High quality pictures should be available for customers to have a clear idea of what the product looks like.

Layout of the Checkout Process

Data reflects that one of the main reason of shopping cart abandonment is a complicated and poorly designed checkout process. Customers often get frustrated by the multiple fields in the checkout process that need to be filled in and all the information that companies require from the customer.

A map of the checkout process should be visible to the customer so that he or she knows where they stand. Having knowledge of which stage they are in the process reduces shopping cart abandonment since customers have complete knowledge of how much more time it will take.

Customers should be able to see the items in the cart as they add them and also have the option to edit along the way if they want to remove something etc. Required information of total cost, shipping and taxes should be displayed so there is complete information and transparency from the end of the company, which helps build trust for the customer.

Website pages which give trouble when loading or provide errors consistently will result in customers leaving. Make sure your website is updated and all bugs have been fixed so customer experience isn’t compromised.

The website should be designed to provide the option of auto-fill for particular fields such as shipping address and billing address. This will cut back time for the customer and speed up the ordering process. If a customer ends up filling invalid or incorrect information into one of the fields, make sure not all the information provided by the customer is lost and only the field with error should be refilled.

Secure Payment Method

High rate of online card fraud and hacking is a main concern for customers when shopping online. Customers will not purchase from a website if they feel unsure about the payment method and card security. The payment method should be secure with site seals from anti-virus software companies that provide customers the confidence to provide their private information and card details on that particular website.

Customers should be given multiple payment choices so they can use their desired payment method. This increases the count of customers that can purchase from your website and also gives customers the accessibility to place an order securely on your website. Displaying official logos of the card payment help customers learn about payment options available and use the option they have.

Return and Shipping Policies

One of the major reasons customers abandon shopping carts is because of high shipment cost. Study your logistics and try to make shipping affordable for your customers with keeping your own costs in check. Low shipping cost encourages customers to shop from you in the future, since they feel they are getting a better deal from you as compared to your competitors.

Slow delivery is another common reason which makes customers purchase from other online stores that can get the product to them in less time. Most websites now look to deliver products between 3-4 working days or even less. So ensure that you are not taking too much time in getting your products to customers.

Last but not the least, having the option of returning items is a big plus for customers. Knowing the product can be returned encourages customers to purchase with you as they feel assured that they can return the product if needed. Customers often review the return policy before purchasing from an online shop so they don’t have to face inconvenience if they are not satisfied with their order. Many companies have enhanced returning policies, by taking the order back with no questions asked.