Data shows that average shopping cart abandonment rates are encroaching nearly 72%—meaning over 7 in 10 people on an e-commerce platform won’t finalize their online shopping transactions. For retailers, this amounts to billions of dollars in lost prospective revenue each year.
Fortunately, there are a few tactics you can implement to reduce your company’s shopping cart abandonment rates in order to successfully grow your client base, simplify the shopping experience, and nail your business’s targeted sales.
Why shopping cart abandonment matters
Before we delve into a strategy to help you successfully navigate this essential KPI, let’s explore in greater detail why your e-commerce business should measure this metric and constantly strive to reduce it.
Shopping cart abandonment refers to anytime a user begins the checkout process on your site but fails to complete the transaction. You can calculate your business’s shopping cart abandonment rate by dividing the total number of initiated transactions by the number of completed transactions during any given period of time in your sales cycle.
If this number is around or higher than the national average, you should begin to brainstorm a remediation plan to help regain sales. Why? Shopping cart abandonment can serve as a sign of:
- Poor user experience
- Minimized sales performance
- Unclear or untrustworthy site experience
The good news is, there are many ways to counteract shopping cart abandonment rates. Below, we’ll explore some tips to help you get started.
How to reduce shopping cart abandonment in 4 steps
Shopping cart abandonment typically occurs because the user is experiencing an issue on your site. Whether this means slow page loading speeds, a lengthy checkout process, or another issue entirely, here’s a look at 4 simple tips that will help you combat high shopping cart abandonment rates on your site today.
1. Streamline the checkout process
One of the simplest ways to reduce your shopping cart abandonment rates is by simplifying the checkout process for your user. And if you’re not sure how optimized your checkout process is, begin by putting yourself in the prospective client’s shoes. As you start to fill out any necessary forms to make a purchase, does it start to feel like work due to the excessive amount of information required or the amount of time required to fill out this form? If so, it’s time to reevaluate and streamline the checkout process you currently have in place.
To streamline the checkout process, reduce the amount of work required of the user. Address verification solutions provide type-down options where a user’s address is auto-filled with the correct information as they begin to type out their address. Not only does this cut down on the amount of time required to checkout, but it also helps ensure the accuracy of their data, too.
Another quick tip for optimizing the checkout process is minimizing the number of fields required to make a purchase. Consider leaving out fields such as ‘titles’ like “Ms.” or “Mr.” that are not necessary for U.S. packaging, for instance.
2. Create a trustworthy experience
Consumers are hesitant to share their personal information with new sites or brands that they’re unfamiliar with—and rightfully so. With data breaches on the rise, users want to feel rest assured that any vital personal data or credit card information shared with your company falls into trustworthy hands.
To help build a more trustworthy experience, consider incorporating the following information into your checkout page and site at large:
- Testimonials from former clients, including reviews and ratings
- Clear contact information or customer service
- Transparent policies on pricing, returns, and deliveries
With this added information, your prospective clients are much more likely to feel confident when finalizing a purchase.
3. Fix any technical issues
Any technical issues present on a business’s site can have a significant impact on the user experience—checkout process included. You are likely to drive abandonment when any portion of the checkout process is slow to load, confusing, or loading improperly.
Conduct a quick tech audit to identify if there are any errors or page speed complications present. It’s also important to clear up any areas of confusion that may steer users off of your page.
4. Engage in re-marketing campaigns
It’s virtually impossible to reduce shopping cart abandonment rates to 0%. Given the fact that we’re exposed to countless distractions at any given minute, sometimes a missed sales opportunity arises from a consumer diverging their attention elsewhere while in the process of checking out.
Retargeting customers is an excellent way to send a friendly reminder to customers that their items are still waiting for them in their cart—whether this is done via text or email. Both email validation and phone validation solutions are excellent tools that will reassure you that you have the consumers’ right contact information on hand—which is essential for any successful retargeting campaign.
How Experian can help
When running an e-commerce business, data is the key to success. As a business leader, you want data you can rely on that helps to provide your customers with a better user experience in the process.
Explore how our data validation solutions can help you navigate shopping cart abandonment rates amongst other common data-related issues.
