Every online store operator is familiar with shopping cart abandonment: only around 30 percent of all shopping carts ever reach the checkout. The remaining 70 % of all shopping baskets get stuck somewhere between request and checkout.
What are shopping cart abandonments and why should they be tracked?
Shopping cart abandonment occurs when a potential customer leaves the checkout process before completing their online purchase. This means that they have "abandoned" the items in their shopping cart, either because they changed their mind or because they encountered difficulties during the checkout process.
The problem of shopping cart abandonment
People don't always search with the intention of buying something. Sometimes you just want to see what's available. When you add something to your shopping cart, it can also just serve as a "bookmark" while you're still in research mode.
A study of more than 1,700 online shoppers found that 59% abandon the shopping process because they are just browsing and not ready to make a purchase. The study focused on the reasons for shopping cart abandonment, and many of these reasons are not surprising.
The 4 most common reasons why shopping carts are abandoned
There are many reasons cited in the study, of which we'll look at the top four, as most are easily remedied, with the exception of shipping costs, which could be waived through a minimum order quantity or participation in a rewards program with highly targeted personalization.
You can find more information on the subject of wallet in our blogSmartstore Wallet - the ultimate wallet as a credit account
1# Additional costs, especially shipping costs
The main reason for abandoning purchases is the additional costs - especially for shipping, taxes and other fees. While this may not be an easy solution for some retailers, it's important to accept the hard truth: People don't want to pay for shipping. In a recent survey of 1,400 online shoppers, a staggering 91% said that free shipping would make them repeat customers, and 67% said they would add more items to their cart to get free shipping. This point can be very easily circumvented with Smartstore's built-in Rule Builder. Shipping costs can easily be avoided with discounts and other customer loyalty programs. Use our Rule Builder to turn a first-time customer into a regular customer.
You can find more information about Rule Builder in our blog.
2# Forced account creation for checkout
The study also found that 37% of online shoppers abandon their shopping cart because they are forced to create a customer account before they can complete their purchase. Another study by Moovweb, a mobile e-commerce platform, found that the conversion rates of shoppers who check in as a guest and those who are logged in are identical, and that logged-in users spend on average 10% more than guest users. However, there are good reasons for allowing users to check in as guests.
The Moovweb study also found that a mobile customer is 1.2 times more likely to choose guest checkout than a logged-in customer, and that guest checkout tends to improve mobile conversion rates. Since Smartstore provides this option, this point is not an obstacle.
Smartstore offers guest checkout out-of-the-box, so this point is not an obstacle.
3# Long checkout process
The third most common reason in the study for users abandoning their shopping cart was a long or complicated checkout process, with almost 30% of online shoppers in the US abandoning an order for this reason. Slow loading times in the checkout process can also lead to an order being abandoned.
The bottom line is that a streamlined checkout process results in few or no abandoned purchases.
But if we're honest, it's almost impossible to limit the checkout process to a single step, isn't it? At Smartstore, we have the right solution for this problem too. With the right payment processor, you can avoid this conversion killer. Expand your online payment with Amazon Pay and tap into the potential of over 100 million Amazon customers.
You can find more information about Amazon Pay in our blog.
4# Hidden costs
In the study, 23% of people said they abandoned their shopping cart because they couldn't find out the total cost of their order upfront. This is directly related to the main reason for abandoning an order - additional costs, especially shipping costs. Online store operators should offer maximum transparency and display the complete costs from the beginning or at the latest in the shopping cart - this is even mandatory. In addition, online stores should ideally offer all known or available payment options or display the payment options in advance - because nothing is more annoying than canceling an order due to a missing or differently expected payment method.
The solution: the Smartstore Email Reminder
With the Smartstore Email Reminder plug-in, you can reduce your abandonment rate by reminding customers of all the nice things they have forgotten in their shopping cart - conveniently by email.
In addition, with the Email Reminder plug-in, customers can be asked by email to rate purchased products.
Even customers who have not been active in the store for a long time can be motivated to visit the store again by email and with possible incentives (discounts, coupons).
In the plug-in's configuration settings, you can specify which emails are to be sent and at what intervals.
You can define the content of the reminder emails yourself in the corresponding message templates.
However, make sure that the customer is either an existing customer or has consented to the sending of promotional emails via double opt-in.
An option can be activated in the plug-in so that the reminder emails are only sent to customers who have already completed an order in the store or have agreed to the sending of promotional emails via double opt-in.
The Smartstore plugin "Email Reminder" is a proprietary development of SmartStore AG and can be purchased via the Smartstore Marketplace.
Do you have any questions about "Email Reminder" or would you like to give us feedback? You can reach us via the contact form, by e-mail to info@smartstore.com or by telephone from Monday to Friday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on +49 231 5335 0.