The main factors influencing cart abandonment in your online store and effective methods for dealing with them
1. Unexpected costs
A very frustrating thing for the customer is to discover, only at the final checkout stage, additional charges that were not clearly evident at the beginning of the browsing or purchasing process. High shipping costs, fees, taxes or additional costs that suddenly appear and lead the customer to question the total value of the purchase and often abandon it immediately.
This happens because the customer is not aware of the total costs until they progress through the checkout process and their expectations about the price of the product or service are suddenly changed, which ends up generating distrust and dissatisfaction, so that, faced with a high cost, the customer ends up abandoning the cart and looking for another alternative.
How can you show transparency about the final cost of the product or service?
In order to respond, you need to be completely transparent about costs, from displaying the estimated shipping price and any taxes on the product page and in the cart. Use dynamic shipping calculations depending on the weight, region and volume of the order.
Setting a minimum order value to offer free shipping and clearly communicating this value in banners or pop-ups on the online store pages is a way of boosting the average ticket (example: 'Free shipping for purchases over €50').
In order not to lose out, you can incorporate part of the logistics costs into the price of the product, so as to soften the perception of additional charges, as well as providing low-cost packaging options that make it clear to the customer that they can choose.
2. Complex checkout process
During the online store checkout process there are often long forms, many steps and the need to create an account to make the purchase, which prolongs the process and increases dissatisfaction.
Every extra field or click constitutes a potential point/moment of abandonment. This is due to the fact that too many fields to fill in distracts and tires the customer, the obligation to register often becomes frustrating and unnecessary steps divert attention from the main objective - paying and completing the purchase.
How can you simplify the checkout process?
Presenting the checkout on a single page where shipping, payment and order review information is consolidated reduces clicks and keeps the customer focused on entering information and making the payment.
Allowing the customer to make purchases as a guest is a way of encouraging them to complete the purchase without having to create an account, so once the customer has made the purchase, you can offer the option of registering in the online store with clear benefits - coupons, discounts, order history.
Using minimum fields to fill in which only essential data is requested - name, address, contact details - or allowing automatic filling in is a way of speeding up the process until the purchase is completed.
3. Online store performance
Online stores with low performance levels, slow loading times and technical faults are also factors that compromise the credibility of the online store and discourage customers from making a purchase. An extra second in the loading time of online store pages is a reason that can result in a drastic increase in the bounce rate.
This is due to non-optimized images and scripts that make the page(s) heavy, inadequate hosting infrastructure causing higher loading times and traffic drops. Lack of technical maintenance and continuous monitoring also allows small errors to accumulate and result in significant problems.
How can you improve your online store's performance?
Correcting performance problems is about ensuring that the entire structure of the online store is prepared to offer a smooth, reliable and professional user experience.
To improve the performance of your online store, you should optimize resources such as compressing images without reducing quality and using current formats that load faster, eliminating redundant code and investing in a scalable infrastructure and carrying out tests to anticipate failures and make corrections before they affect customers.
The best way to improve the performance of your online store is to rely on the support of a company that specializes in creating online stores, with the know-how and resources to ensure that your online store is optimized. By relying on an experienced team, you avoid technical failures and gain time to focus on growing your business.
4. Lack of security features
The authority of the online store and the perception of security are determining factors. The absence of security seals, authentic testimonials or clear return policies leads customers to hesitate when sharing personal data and completing payment.
How can we correct the lack of security features?
To ensure that customers don't abandon your online store or shopping cart due to a lack of trust, you should present security certifications and protocols, mention the use of encryption and data protection measures, highlight return conditions and the refund process clearly and concisely, and provide customer service channels for resolving problems.
The presentation of customer testimonials and reviews is also social proof to demonstrate the credibility of the online store.
5. Limited payment methods
The lack of various national and international payment methods makes the purchasing process less convenient for the customer, which can be a reason for abandoning the online store's shopping cart and leading the customer to look for more flexible alternatives.
How do you deal with the lack of payment options in your online store?
To make it easier to complete the checkout process and reduce shopping cart abandonment due to a lack of convenient payment methods for most of your customers, it's important to offer several popular and secure options - such as MB Way, PayPal, VISA, EasyPay, among others.
What's more, you should offer confirmation times and real-time notifications about payment status, display the logos of each available payment method to reinforce familiarity with the customer, and analyze which payment methods have the highest success rate and which generate abandonments in order to adjust your offer according to your audience's preferences.