Is your online web store forcing the customers to abandon their cart?

By | Sep 19, 2016 | 1820 views |
  • Is your online web store forcing the customers to abandon their cart?

How would you feel if we tell you only 3 out of 10 customers visiting your online retail store are buying your products?
Shocked aren’t you? How do we know this?
 
Abandoned shopping carts are a major cause of concern for online selling websites. Statistics suggest that online selling websites have a high rate of shopping cart abandonment. The average abandonment rate is 67.91% which varies between 60% and 80% for different e-commerce verticals.

Why it is important to Identify the top 10 cart abandonment reasons?

Just imagine how would your sales figure look if you could convert all of your abandoned cart opportunities? Even by the average rate you have scope of multiplying your sales 3X.
 
If you are facing higher than average rate of cart abandonment, it's high time you take stock of the situation and identify the reasons that might be forcing your customers to leave their orders incomplete.
 
Let us run a check and try to find out if your web store is also plagued with any of the following which forces customers to abandon their cart on online selling websites:
 
1. Slow site speed 
 
Slow site speed is a curse and can wreak havoc with your sales. This usually happens if you are still using outdated technology for your website. Usually slower sites result in session time out, site crash or similar other issues which makes the customer defer shopping. Between 15% to 24% customers leave their online purchase incomplete because of these two reasons.

Related Read: Are you confident your store is mobile ready? Think again!
 
2. Hidden Costs 
 
Suppose, you find a deal where you are getting three T shirts for Rs. 199. Attractive offer to sell products online and you decide to go for it. But, wait, before hitting the pay button you find that the final bill has added Rs. 50 as shipping cost and an additional Rs.30 as taxes. So, the final price is Rs.279, which is 40% higher than the cost at which you made your purchase decision. Most likely, you drop the idea of buying the tee shirts and move on to another site searching similar products.
 
Hidden costs which increase the actual product cost significantly makes 32% customers abandon their shopping cart.

Related Read: GST Bill’s Implementation: Why is it worrying e-commerce owners?
 
3. Too long to deliver
 
You find a great product and deal at the most affordable pricing. But what if the delivery is taking too long and there is no alternative shipping method which can deliver faster at a premium price?
 
16% customers abandon shopping at online selling websites that do not offer faster and delivery options.

Related Read: 5 things to research thoroughly while preparing your ecommerce business plan
 
4. No coupon code
 
Discount coupon code is a reliable marketing technique which helps you convert better and usually increases your average ticket size. However, it can be a reason for higher rate of incomplete orders if your coupon code is not displayed prominently on your website.
 
When the customers find a “coupon code” form at the final step of ordering process, they defer the idea of buying on the webstore until they get the coupon code. They might even drop the idea of buying if they cannot locate the discount code easily on your online retail store.

Related Read: Trends for Indian E-commerce in 2016
 
5. Mandatory registration
Online shoppers show a preference for guest checkout and simple shopping experience. This holds especially true for the first time buyers on any website. Many a times online buyers abandon shopping cart if they face mandatory customer registration. 
 
Anonymous guest checkout is preferred way of shopping for customers until they place their trust in the brand they are shopping from.

Related Read: Same-day delivery or Next-day delivery. What is a good delivery strategy for online stores?
 
6. Complicated checkout
 
Online shoppers are sticklers for simplicity and need a hassle free, seamless shopping experience. Any complicated process on your online web store is a recipe for doomed sales.
 
If your order process is complicated, goes through multiple pages to complete an order cycle or requires to input card, address and other details many times, you are likely to get higher percentage of incomplete orders.
 
7. Concerns about site security

We have already discussed the importance of site security and trust marks many times over. Sharing the financial details across unsafe online channel can be disastrous and lead to online fraud.
 
If your web store does not have SSL certificate and other site security measures in place, your customers would drop the idea of shopping with you as soon as they discover these gaps.

Related Read: 5 things to check before launching your new online store
 
8. Site not mobile friendly
 
The modern tech savvy online buyers prefer to shop on the go. M- commerce has outpaced the growth of e commerce in recent years and almost 30% of online sales come via the mobile channel.
 
Hence, if you create online stores that are not mobile friendly you are literally making it difficult for your customers to buy on the go. This results in many of the customers abandoning your cart in favor of competitors who have better mobile presence.

Related Read: 10 must have ecommerce features for the success of your website
 
9. Limited payment option
 
Even if you are offering the best products, best deals, best shipping and but not offering multiple payment options to your online shoppers, you run a high risk of getting fewer sales and more abandoned carts.
 
No helping your willing customers to pay easily can be one of the major deterrents and one of the main cart abandonment reasons.

Related Read: Payment Gateways for E-commerce stores

10. Customer drops the idea
 
Despite everything good on an online webstore, the customer might decide to drop the idea of shopping temporarily. The main reasons for this could be no urgency to buy, deciding  to research price or product further, change of mind etc.

Related Read: 5 marketing tips to create killer ad campaigns for online ecommerce stores

Conclusion

Now that you know the top reasons for high rate of cart abandonment by online shoppers, try to run a check on your web store and eliminate any of the above from your website.
 
Give a seamless and simple shopping experience to your customers and they will keep flocking your webstore. Reduce obstacles and distractions and you have the perfect cart abandonment solutions.
 
Keep watching this section for detailed tips on reducing cart abandonment.
 

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