Cart abandonment is a phenomenon that most online retailers face, with studies showing that nearly 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned before the transaction is completed. This can cause significant losses for the business, with potential customers lost before they make a purchase. Fortunately, there are several strategies that retailers can adopt to reduce and recover from cart abandonment.
Streamline Checkout Process
One of the most significant contributors to cart abandonment is a complex check-out process. Many customers abandon their carts when they are required to fill in lengthy forms, create accounts or provide too much personal information. Retailers can streamline the checkout process by keeping it simple, ensuring that the most critical information is requested. Customers should be allowed to check-out as a guest if they prefer, hence avoiding account creation. Retailers can also provide multiple payment options such as credit/debit card, PayPal, and Amazon Pay to reduce checkout friction.
Retargeting
Retargeting is a powerful tool to recover lost customers. Retailers can retarget abandoned cart customers with ads that display the products they left behind and offer incentives such as discounts or free shipping. A compelling retargeting campaign can persuade customers to return to the website and complete the purchase. These ads can be targeted to the specific product to ensure that the customer is reminded of the product they showed interest in.
Email Campaigns
An email campaign is a cost-effective way of reaching out to customers who abandon their carts. A well-crafted email campaign can persuade customers to return to the website and complete their purchase. Retailers can create a series of abandoned cart emails, starting with a reminder that a product is still in the cart waiting to be purchased after a few hours of the abandonment. The follow-up emails can offer a discount offer, promote products related to the abandoned item or even ask customers for feedback. These emails should be personalized to the customers’ previous activity on the website.
A/B Testing
A/B testing allows retailers to identify the best practices to adopt in a bid to recover abandoned carts. It involves creating two versions of the checkout process or email campaigns and testing them to determine which one performs better. A/B testing can highlight factors that cause cart abandonment and inform retailers on the best approach to take.
Simplify Returns
One of the top reasons why customers abandon carts is because of complicated return policies. Retailers can simplify returns strategy by outlining clearly in a simple language the return policy of their products. This will give customers an idea of what to expect when they return products, hence reduce uncertainty. This can directly result in a lower tendency of cart abandonment.
In conclusion, cart abandonment is a common issue faced by retailers in eCommerce. With the recommended strategies such as optimizing the checkout process, retargeting, A/B testing, email campaigns and simplifying returns, retailers can recover lost customers and increase their conversion rates. Adopting these strategies can help retailers to prioritize customer experience and ultimately drive sales for their business.
