Estimated read time: 3 minutes, 55 seconds

For many SaaS companies, cart abandonment is a sobering reality. Any customer that changes their mind at the last minute represents a missed subscription opportunity and—more importantly—missed revenue. The question about what causes abandoned carts is undoubtedly keeping SaaS company owners up at night. In this light, we’ll highlight four of the main causes of ecommerce cart abandonment your SaaS business can fix today.

1. Beef Up Security

Ensuring that your customers know your store is a safe place for transacting is important. Make sure that your site communicates its security features and why people can feel safe “inside” your store. Trust is the number one priority for online shoppers. Twenty-five percent of U.S online shoppers feel that financial and personal data security are barriers to shopping online.

An important point is to condense security information for non-technical buyers. You want to inform them that their shopping experience will be safe – not intimidate them with complex IT jargon. A good idea is to include typical customer concerns in your FAQ section.

2. Don’t Limit Payment Options

Finding out that none of their preferred payment methods are available will leave any customer fuming. Remember that convenience is a key driver for online buyers. SaaS companies, in particular, should understand the intricacies of cross-border sales and localization. Ensuring that customers from around the globe can buy your products without friction is crucial.

Also, payment flexibility is an area where you can really create a sense of value. Software licensing has gone from CDs to annual subscriptions, to monthly payment models. However, customers expect even more convenience and cost-efficient software procurement options. If applicable, include pay-per-use subscription models into your pricing structures. The more options for the customer, the better. That said, make it easy for customers to decide. Overwhelming your customers with too much choice can be confusing and cause them to abandon their purchase.

3. Be Upfront About Pricing

As a key influence in buying decisions, pricing can make or break a sale. Many ecommerce businesses ignore this golden rule at their peril. Your customers won’t spend an extra $10 without a convincing value demonstration as to why they should. They also won’t have great things to say about your brand if they have to spend more money than anticipated.
Because the digital shopping experience can be somewhat impersonal, people tend to look for the trust factor in brands. Also, SaaS company owners are painfully aware that their products face thousands of competitors in the software market. According to the International Business Times, over 1000 new apps are submitted to the App Store each day, so vague pricing simply won’t fly with customers.

4. Communicate Value Concisely

An often overlooked truth behind ecommerce cart abandonment is the fact that not every customer with item(s) in their cart is ready to buy. Modern shoppers are information junkies. They perform a great deal of research before making a buying decision. They often browse various ecommerce sites to price and feature compare products.

This places an emphasis on your site’s content, design elements and product information. Are you communicating your value propositions? Do customers know what they’re buying within a few seconds? Put yourself in their shoes. Ask yourself if you get what your services are about when browsing your store. Test and tweak any issues or ideas you come up with to make sure your customer’s experience is front and center.

Here Are A Few More Ways To Combat Ecommerce Cart Abandonment

  • Allow Purchases Without An Account: The best checkout processes focus on reducing as much friction from the buying experience as possible. Filling out lengthy forms when undecided about a product or service can ruin the experience for a potential customer.
  • Stay Focused On The Checkout: While checkouts are great opportunities for upselling to your customers, the trick is to balance checkout communications with simplicity and focus. You don’t want to distract customers from their intended purchase and lose the sale in the process. Instead, use checkouts to reassure customers about the safety of their transactions, communicate payment options and present relevant up or cross-sell material.

Perfecting The Checkout Experience Is An Ongoing Process

The truth about SaaS ecommerce cart optimization is that the checkout experience may not always be perfect. As both customer expectations and technology change, so will strategies to optimize their experiences. Continuous analysis and testing of your store’s online collateral will help you refine the user experience to boost sales. Partnering with an ecommerce software provider who knows the digital space can help your SaaS company build customer-centered experiences. To learn how FastSpring can help you stand out in the crowd, contact us today.