Every company that sells online has lost sales from customers leaving before they complete their purchase. The average rate of cart abandonment compiled from the data of 33 different studies is a massive 68%.
So for every 100 people that select a product from an online store, 68 will leave before they complete the checkout process.
Why do online shoppers abandon their carts?
While each visitor has their own reasons for not following through with a purchase, there are some common frustrations and obstacles that cause them to turn away. According to data from Baymard:
● 60% leave due to hidden or unexpected fees.
● 20% go because of over complicated navigation or website errors.
● 28% abandon their purchase due to the checkout process being too long.
● 19% state security concerns as their reason for leaving.
By addressing consumer concerns through your web design and marketing, you can recapture these customers before they leave and abandon their purchase.
Here are 10 web design solutions to reduce shopping cart abandonment and boost your conversion rate.
1. Offer Free Shipping
Free shipping is becoming increasingly common, and it’s more and more likely your customers will expect your business to provide it. A study by Forrester revealed that 44% of online shoppers will abandon their purchase because of shipping and handling fees.
Providing free shipping can reduce your cart abandonment, but what can you do if it’s not a financially viable option for your business?
Magicdust suggests a free shipping threshold. Set your free shipping threshold just above the average order value for your store. You’ll reduce your cart abandonment and also increase the average spend of your customers.
2. Implement Exit-Intent Pop-ups
Exit-intent pop-ups placed on checkout pages offer an excellent opportunity to reduce your shopping cart abandonment. When a user clicks to leave, a pop-up message is displayed that encourages the user to stay by showing a deal or presenting more information aimed to get the user to complete their purchase.
If the user still decides to leave, you can implement a cart abandonment email sequence to entice them to return and complete their purchase.
3. Eliminate Hidden Fees
While offering free shipping is important, 60% of online shoppers claim that hidden costs at the checkout will cause them to abandon their purchase.
Be transparent with your service fees and handling costs. Including a calculator or estimator in your shopping cart is an excellent way to make the costs clear to users and avoid any surprises when they proceed to the checkout.
4. Make Cart Items Easily Visible
Don’t make your customers backtrack and navigate your site to find their shopping cart and check their selected items. Make it a simple and easy process for customers to check their cart, no matter what page of your site they are on.
Consider an option in your drop-down menu that allows users to see their cart without having to click away to a separate page.
5. Make Getting in Touch Easy
It's inevitable that some shoppers will have some questions before they complete a purchase. Make the information they are looking for readily available by providing options for them to reach out to you and a detailed FAQ page that covers commonly asked questions.
If possible, a live chat feature can be a great customer service option. Otherwise, a phone number and email address should be prominently displayed to make it easy for customers to get in contact.
6. Short and Concise Checkout Process
A lengthy checkout process could be causing 28% of your customers to walk away. Focus on creating a web design that makes your checkout as short and concise as possible. If you don’t want to miss out on the opportunity of up-selling by including a page of recommended related products, consider including an express checkout option when customers view their cart. Those in a hurry can complete their purchase quickly, while others can take their time and explore your offers.
7. Fear of Missing Out
Sometimes a little psychological nudge is all that's needed to get a customer to follow through with a purchase.
Fear of missing out on an item can create the urgency needed to complete a purchase. One technique is to show users how many units of an item are in stock. If a customer is looking at a pair of jeans and can see that only two units are available in their size, the fear of missing out if they delay can provide the motivation to buy now.
Another strategy is to run flash sales and deals for a limited time and with a countdown clock. The urgency of the countdown encourages users to complete their purchase from fear of missing out on the discount.
8. Offer a Variety of Payment Options
You want to make it as easy as possible for a customer to make a purchase from your website. By offering a single payment option, you are placing an obstacle between your customers and your sales.
At a minimum, you should be including credit card payment options and Pay Pal. Mobile payment options are becoming increasingly popular with Apple Pay and Google Wallet being used more and more by the younger generations of consumers.
With so many payment options available, people want the right to choose how they pay for goods and services. Offering multiple options reduces the frustration of users that make it through to your checkout and minimises the risk that they will abandon their cart.
9. Include a Strong Call to Action on Checkout Pages
You'd be surprised how many e-commerce sites don’t include any calls to action in the web design of their checkout pages. Once a customer has placed an item in their cart, the checkout pages are the perfect place for a strong call to action to encourage the user to complete their purchase.
Just make sure that your checkout CTAs match the messaging and tone of the other CTAs across your website and marketing. Consistency is crucial to developing trust with your customers. Suddenly changing the tone of your checkout CTAs can jar users and cause a break in the seamless purchase process you are trying to create.
Ditch “continue” and “proceed” for strong and clear CTAs that encourage users to follow through with their purchase.
10. Offer a Money-Back Guarantee
The more you can do to pre-empt the potential objections and hesitations your customers might feel, the more likely you are to see your cart abandonment reduce and your conversion rate increase.
A great way to overcome buyer hesitation is to offer a substantial money back guarantee. Online customers can’t physically touch or feel what they are buying online, they only have the product information you provide.
A solid money back guarantee eases the concerns that buyers may have about completing a purchase.
Conclusion
You’ve already done the hard work of getting people onto your website, don’t let those visitors leave and say goodbye to those sales. Reducing shopping cart abandonment doesn't have to be a mystery, there are tried and tested web design best practices to help.
Every element of your web design is scrutinised by your potential customers, even if it’s just on a subconscious level. By understanding this, you can focus on removing the obstacles and frustrations visitors encounter and reduce cart abandonment. By applying the above techniques, you encourage people to move through your checkout and become an actual customer of your business.