7 Quick Wins for Reducing Cart Abandonment Rate

Written by  AJ Leale, Sr. Director eCommerce 
Cart abandonment is one of the most critical problems that online retailers face. Although it’s impossible to mitigate against entirely, there are ways to help you reduce it. In this post, we’ll present seven quick wins for reducing cart abandonment rate on your eCommerce site. 

1. Be Transparent About Costs, Especially Shipping 

There’s nothing more frustrating about online shopping than discovering you’re being stung with hidden costs, fees, and surcharges. To make matters even worse, customers usually discover these after they’ve already started the checkout process. 
Of all the costs associated with online shopping, shipping costs are the most disliked. 
One of the key reasons for shopping cart abandonment is that shipping costs are unexpectedly high. Nearly 88% of online shoppers surveyed in a Forrester study said they didn’t complete the purchase because the shipping costs were too high. 
Consumers are also highly sensitive to how shipping costs are presented. That’s why they should be highlighted as early in the checkout process as possible — even on the cart page. Avoid showing shipping costs at the end of a transaction! 
Another important thing to consider is a delivery estimate. Consumers don’t like guessing when their package will arrive, so be as upfront about it as possible. 

2. Offer Multiple Payment Options 

The checkout page of an eCommerce store should include multiple payment options. Offering just one puts an unnecessary obstacle between prospects and sales, and offering multiple payment options minimizes the risk of cart abandonment. 
A variety of credit card payment options is obviously necessary, but nowadays shoppers have more choices than ever. PayPal is the most popular choice, but other systems like Apple Pay, Google Wallet, and Venmo are increasingly used as well, particularly among Millenials. 
A study conducted by com Score indicates that 56% of online shoppers expect to see a variety of payment options at the checkout. 

3. Use Security Seals as a Way to Build and Establish Trust 

Trusted and well-known security seals are another vital tool in reducing cart abandonment and establishing and building trust in the site. 
Asking customers to fill out their personal information into an order form means asking them to trust you with their personal information. Besides the contact details; you’re also asking for their credit card info, which is something that most people are hesitant to share. 
Security logos actually increase customers’ confidence and trust in your brand if they are positioned prominently and are well known. These should be in a prominent position close to the transaction forms. 
The most popular security logos are VeriSign Secured, Norton Secured, MasterCard Secure Code, and Verified by Visa.
The statistics might shock you, but a survey by Actual Insights found that nearly 75% of consumers decide not to buy when they don’t recognize the security logos! 

4. Have a Progress Bar and Allow Users to Autofill 

eCommerce stores should avoid anything that prolongs the checkout process. A good way to motivate shoppers to finish a purchase is by including a progress indicator on checkout pages. 
A progress bar eliminates the worry that the buying process is going to take more time than necessary. It also makes the process clearer and easier for shoppers to understand and it gives them the signal that they are almost done. 
The number of pages should be reduced and the progress indicator should have only a few steps to make the experience more straightforward. Before making any final decisions, it’s worth A/B testing a few variants of the progress indicator to see which one performs better. 
Another useful feature is autofill. When possible, offering this to visitors reduces the chances of potential cart abandonment. You can also use it to capture data without turning away time-crunched visitors. 

5. Showcase Your Money-Back Guarantee and Offer a Great Return Policy 

One of the best ways to overcome hesitation related to online buying is by offering a money-back guarantee and a great return policy. 
This assurance shifts the focus from the price to the quality of the actual product, which motivates the buyer to complete the purchase. 
Retailers also need to prove that customers won’t be forgotten once they place an order. They can do that by offering a great return policy and by following through with product complaint resolution. 
Zappos is a brand that’s famous for its generous returns policy, which includes 365 days to make a return as well as free return shipping. If you already have a great return policy, make sure to put it somewhere central and visible in your checkout process. The same applies to a money-back guarantee. 

6. Offer a Guest Checkout Option

Forcing users to register or sign in before checkout is a surefire way to increase your cart abandonment rate. Removing this barrier helped one retailer add $300 million in annual revenue.  
Shoppers can be reminded to register after the transaction has been completed. They will also be more motivated to register if buying barriers were eliminated. 
Reduce the number of input fields on guest checkout forms to the absolute minimum and also avoid asking guests to confirm their email address by entering it twice. 

7. Optimize Page Load Times 

According to Visual Website Optimizer, for every one-second delay in your page loading, your conversion rates drop seven percent! 
Start with technical on-page elements that are more easily optimized than others. For example, images are disproportionately heavy elements and they should be optimized for quality and speed. Also, avoid using a large number of plugins to increase your page load times. 
Related: Here are six ways to improve page load times and stop customers from leaving your site.

Conclusion 

Cart abandonment prevention is, more than anything, an opportunity to help shoppers have a better purchasing journey. The above steps should get you off to a great start. Contact us and let us help you optimize the process even further.