The truth is that if you run an online store, you’re losing a significant portion of your sales due to abandoned carts. In this article, we’ll look at some of the causes and statistics and give you a few tips on how to minimize this risk.
There are hundreds of studies dedicated to the phenomenon of abandoned shopping carts. Some report that the cart abandonment rate reaches as high as 80 percent, while others cite a rate of 55 percent. It’s true that statistics are always misleading, and it’s important to look at the situation from various perspectives. The cart abandonment rate varies depending on the industry your e-shop operates in, as well as, for example, the type of device customers use to access your site.
In other words, as many as three-quarters of shoppers decide to leave your store's website without completing their purchase.
Why do customers abandon their shopping carts in your online stores?
You're probably right in assuming that the most common reason for abandoning a shopping cart and not completing a purchase isfinal price of goods or services. It often happens that a customer is simply trying to figure out how much the entire purchase will actually cost, including “hidden fees” such as shipping.
Another common scenario is alsoregistration requiredbefore completing the purchase oromezená možnost platby. According to a survey by VWO, a company that offers detailed website monitoring, we know that hidden fees and the requirement to register really do account forhalf of the casesin abandoned shopping cart. More than 1,000 online stores worldwide participated in the survey.
Tip Targito
List the final prices for your products, make shipping costs and delivery methods easy to find without having to go through the shopping cart, reduce the number of steps in the checkout process, and eliminate the need to register—allow customers to make purchases without registering. Make sure your online store is responsive and, therefore, user-friendly on mobile devices, as statistics show that more first-time customers visit your site from mobile devices than from desktop computers.
Nor is this left out,from which devicethe customer used to log in. Statistics show that the highest cart abandonment rate is recorded for mobile phone traffic—over 85 percent—followed by tablet traffic—over 80 percent. Relevant sources indicate that the reason is the continued lack of optimization of e-shops for mobile devices. They take a long time to load, and many stillnot responsive at alland forces its visitors to zoom in just to navigate between the different sections. Furthermore, pop-up windows—which work fine on large monitors—don't work quite as well on mobile screens.
Where do customers buy the items they left at your store?
About a quarter of customers shop around forbetter price– that's a pretty logical conclusion. Another common phenomenon issubsequent purchase of goods at a brick-and-mortar storeor on the website that the customer trusts more.
If we add up all the options that result in a purchasein another e-shopwhich brings us to almost50 %of cases. According to research, the vast number of competing offers also plays a significant role in this.
Tip Targito
Place banners in a prominent location on your online store—for example, from Heureka.cz—that display the number of reviews and the overall rating, or other announcements that will boost your store’s credibility. Make sure that the e-shop operator’s actual contact information is easy to find and that you respond promptly to customer inquiries—whether by phone or email. It’s also a good idea to use a social media feed so that visitors know the e-shop is “active.”
Do visitors to your online store really want to make a purchase?
We are increasingly encountering situations where a visitorintentionally abandons their shopping cart and waits for a discountthat you’ll send them as part of an abandoned cart campaign. A trend we’re already seeing here in the Czech Republic is adding items to the cart and then returning a few days later. Visitors thuscreate a “wish list”, which is currently used by only a few dozen online stores in the Czech Republic.
So why do visitors to your online stores add items to their carts? What leads them to add a product and then not complete the purchase?
Tip Targito
Place banners in a prominent location on your online store—for example, from Heureka.cz—that display the number of reviews and the overall rating, or other announcements that will boost your store’s credibility. Make sure that the e-shop operator’s actual contact information is easy to find and that you respond promptly to customer inquiries—whether by phone or email. It’s also a good idea to use a social media feed so that visitors know the e-shop is “active.”
What motivates online store visitors to purchase products even from an abandoned shopping cart?
It probably comes as no surprise that more than half of e-store visitors are motivated by a discount in an email or through remarketing. Discounts have been, are, and always will be the biggest draw for conversions, but there are also e-stores that have very low profit margins or are in a tighter financial situation and cannot afford to offer discounts just like that.
But there is a solution even for them. A fairly large proportion—about 10%—of e-store visitors say that factors such as the last item in stock or a product’s popularity are also major motivators for them to make a purchase. The global average confirms this trend.
However, the vast majority of customers are still waiting for a discount, which will most likely remain at the top of the “top trends” list for some time to come.
Conclusion
Abandoned Cart is a phenomenon that’s constantly evolving. If you have a high percentage of abandoned carts, review your e-shop’s entire checkout process, assess its complexity, examine the features within the cart itself (if it has any at all), and, if possible, implement more trust signals.
Incorporate automated email campaigns into your communication strategy that are triggered specifically when a customer abandons their shopping cart. According to statistics,open rateof these types of emails is incredibly high. Since 2016, it has beenaround 43 %and continues to rise slowly. The main reason is that information about an abandoned shopping cart is more relevant to the customer than other types of notifications. The rate is also relatively high– averages up to 18%.
This type of automated email marketing shows us that incorporating personalization into your communication strategies can truly improve your business results. If you’re one of our clients, you’ll see all of these metrics clearly presented for each campaign.