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Ecommerce shopping cart abandonment is more common than you might think.

Studies show that a majority of shoppers abandoned their carts before completing their purchase last year, and their reasons ranged from an overly complicated checkout process to high shipping costs.

Fortunately for ecommerce businesses, many of the issues that force customers to click away from their shopping carts can be remedied. Here are just a few of the ways that you can prevent ecommerce shopping cart abandonment.

1. Simplify Your Processes

The longer a customer has to spend on your ecommerce store’s checkout process, the less likely they are to actually complete it. 10% of customers will leave their shopping cart behind when faced with an overly complex checkout.

Conversions are higher when customers can complete the process quickly, and when you provide a progress indicator during checkout, you’re likely to keep them on the page until the purchase is made. (That said, a progress indicator isn’t a license to complicate your checkout process; if there are more than 3-4 steps, you’re likely to lose people before they even get started.)

2. Prominently Display Cart Items at All Times

If shoppers are forced to backtrack to see a picture of what they’re purchasing, it’s possible they’ll click away from the cart forever. It might be easier to create a shopping cart on a page that’s separate from your store, but your customers prefer to have instant access to their cart, no matter what page they’re browsing.

In fact, one company organized their site so that their shoppers could access their cart via dropdown menu instead of backtracking to another page. This simple change decreased cart abandonment by 4% to 8%.

3. Offer a Variety of Payment Options

Your customer has happily shopped on your site, adding products to their cart. They breeze through the first part of the checkout process, but they’re stopped short when it’s time to enter their payment. Why? Their preferred payment method isn’t an option.

Whether your customer prefers to use a credit card, PayPal, or wire transfer, it’s important that the method they trust is available. A full-stack ecommerce solution will be able to offer your customers the selection they require. Another feature of a great ecommerce solution is the ability to accept a variety of currencies, ensuring that you can conduct business around the world without skipping a beat.

4. Offer Free or Flat Shipping

The cost of shipping is one of the biggest factors that lead to cart abandonment. In fact, an estimated 44% of ecommerce shoppers abandon their carts when they see how much it will cost to ship their purchase.  22% bail because there was no mention of shipping costs until the very end of the transaction.

Free shipping is motivating—93% of shoppers are likely to purchase more if their shipping is free. Offering your customers unconditional free shipping is one of the most important factors in purchase completion.

If your business can’t manage free shipping, be transparent about the shipping costs from the start. Customers don’t like surprise fees, so prominently displaying the cost of shipping as soon as they put an item in the cart will go a long way toward building trust.

5. Send Customers Reminders About Abandoned Carts

Some cart abandonment isn’t necessarily intentional. Customers are distracted and their purchase is put on the backburner, only to be forgotten. Sometimes, the customer might be shopping before they’re ready to make the purchase. A simple reminder email nudging the customer back to their abandoned items can be effective.

Offer customers the option to finish their purchase at their convenience— include links in the email that will lead them directly back to the purchase page.

Another helpful feature is to offer a “Wishlist” or “Save for Later” option, which will give customers a place to park their cart until they’re ready to actually complete the purchase.

A full-stack ecommerce solution will work with you to reduce your cart abandonment rates. Ready to see what FastSpring can do for you? Click here for a free demo today. 

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Customer Success