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How To Avoid Abandoned Shopping Carts

Didit Editorial

By Chris Irby | January 28, 2014

Minimizing the abandonment rate at shopping carts is a constant struggle among e-tailers. While every abandonment is unique, there is plenty of data suggesting that etailers can avoid — or atl least abate — the degree to which shoppers bail out at the last moment. Note: this article was originally published on the Inceptor.com site. 

According to an infographic posted on the Invesp Blog, approximately 65.23 percent of customers on ecommerce sites abandon their shopping carts before completing the check-out process.  While many of the reasons given (high shipping costs, high product price, etc.) require more than simple web design to address, there are four common causes that can be easily remedied.  Stephen Da Cambra elaborates on these in his Invesp Blog post.

Did Not Clearly Mention Shipping Costs
This apparently accounts for 22 percent of abandoned shopping carts, and understandably so.  Da Cambra recommends simply being upfront about your charges, rather than presenting them to customers unexpectedly during checkout.  Admittedly, you might lose a sale or two, but at least you won’t be making your customers angry.

Need Too Much Information
Twelve percent of e-commerce customers who abandoned their transactions did so because they felt like they were being grilled by the vendor.  Admittedly, you want as much information from your customers as you can possibly gather.  However, requiring them to enter it all while they’re trying to make a purchase will only drive them away.

Additionally, forms requiring customers to enter redundant information can be a huge turn-off.  For example, once customers enter their ZIP code, they shouldn’t need to enter their city, state, and country as well.

Complex Checkout Process
This issue accounts for 11 percent of those who canceled their ecommerce transactions without making a purchase.  De Cambra readily admits that this one may not be simple to fix completely, as sometimes complicated checkouts are necessary.  “Nevertheless,” he writes, “streamline it as much as you can to reduce abandonment as much as possible.”

Website Too Slow
Of those who abandoned their online purchases, 11 percent did so because they grew impatient waiting for the site to respond.  Technical glitches and the occasional slowdown (or even downtime) are an inevitable hazard when running an e-commerce site.  “[B]ut when server hardware, high speed connections and packaged ecommerce platforms are at all-time lows, there’s simply no excuse for a consistently slow site.”

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