Online shopping cart abandonment is simply as the name implies; filling an online cart with products in an online shopping store and failing to complete the order for one reason or the other.
According to data from iusecoupon, the average rate at which an average online shopper abandons their shopping cart before making a purchase is at staggering 76%.
As a business, this is probably one of the most common problems most ecommerce websites are faced with and it is a metric that they are all trying to curb.
There are various reasons why customers may abandon their online shopping cart, below are the most common ones and what can be done to address this;
1. Shipping costs
This reason is one of the strongest, according to a research by iusecoupon team, 48% of cart abandonment is as a result of high shipping cost.
Most online shoppers abandon their carts due to the high shipping costs that are billed on them when making their purchase. You must specify in more detail the costs involved in shipping your products and for what reasons.
Solution:
Online shopping sites are advised to reduce shipping costs by offering post mail delivery options as they are quite cheaper, offering free deliveries for bulk or expensive purchases has been proven to reduce shopping cart abandonment. You can also make a table of shipping costs according to distances or items.
2. Unavailability of “contact us or instant chat” options.
Many shoppers have doubts while trying to make a purchase online and these doubts cannot wait. If you do not provide an option for customer service through email, chat or call center, customers will easily lose interest in making the purchase and abandon their carts.
Solution:
According to some statistics that have been made over the years, when e-commerce store place customer service options at a glance, There is considerable reduction in cart abandonment. Also try to evaluate your consumers in order to offer them the most comfortable option for contacting you.
3. Long forms to be fill before completing order
I personally hate long forms while carrying out my online endeavors and I’m sure I’m not the only one here. When presented with a long form that requires too much information from the client’s side, they are likely going to be discouraged and prefer to abandon the purchase.
Solution:
Save the client that bitter drink by trying to reduce the form fields as much as you can. If the information are that important, you can implement strategies where you can capture more of the customer’s details after they have placed the order.
4. The consumer is not ready to make the purchase.
Most online consumers are not ready to make the purchase, and they add the product to the cart out of curiosity of the process, This might also be because they do not have the habit of buying online probably due to insecurity.
This occurs for different reasons which includes; the customer may be comparing prices, he is unsure of the characteristics of the product from the available description, etc.
Solution:
Motivate them to make the purchase with mouth-watering promotions and discount coupons, inform the customer of the full features of the product with real life images, the advantages and disadvantages of each of them.
You can also boost the consumer’s confidence by showcasing user reviews from other customers that have purchased the product in question.
5. Complicated payment process
At the time of making the purchase online, the payment process must not generate any problem or error or delay in processing the payments, otherwise the customer will be insecure and will not want to retry the payment.
Solution:
Constantly test the operation of the payment process in your virtual store, test with different cards that customers are likely to use, browsers, operating systems and so on. You can also ask for help from different friends or family to make a trial purchase and share their experience with you.
6. High tax rate and other charges.
If the total amount a customer has to pay for their order drastically increases at the checkout page, it is a surefire way of discouraging the person from completing their purchase. This will kick things off their budgets and cause them to abandon their cart.
Solution:
Create an information page with all the taxes that will be charged, if possible, show the product tax in the shopping cart, show all the charges that must be made and a total amount in the end.
7. Limited payment methods or options.
In most cases, the payment option provided might not be the preferred method for the client to make payment online and for this reason, the client may not feel safe or confident.
Online shoppers will be easily discouraged when they can’t find their most preferred payment option.
Solution:
Make a study of the payment methods most used to make purchases online in the region or country you’re targeting, investigate which payment method your potential customers prefer, in this way you will be offering several options so that your customers can comfortably pay online.
Final words
These are some of the most frequent reasons why customers may leave an online shopping site without completing their purchase and the best approach for them.
Also checkout these 10 online shopping tips for getting what you ordered, use the comment section to let us know some reason you believe should be mentioned and solutions for them.
About Author
I’m all about ecommerce statistics, news and online shopping. I tell it as I see it.