Reducing Cart Abandonment Rates: Tips and Tricks for a Seamless Checkout Experience

There’s nothing quite like the false hope of an abandoned cart as a business owner. It can make you wonder what exactly went wrong between a customer’s initial interest and their desertion of their full shopping cart.

When it comes to reducing your cart abandonment rate, reducing friction points is the name of the game. If you can eliminate hurdles, big or small, for potential customers and give customers extra incentives to purchase, you’ll see less shopping cart abandonment rates and happier, repeat customers. 

Why Do Abandoned Carts Happen?

Online shopping cart abandonment can happen for many reasons and can really wreak havoc on your ecommerce data analytics. Sometimes it’s unavoidable with online shoppers who are  “window shopping” and never have any intention to purchase. However, the cause for preventable abandoned carts is usually boiled down to friction or hurdles a potential customer has to go through before completing the checkout process. Reducing these friction points and offering incentives is the key to reducing your shopping cart abandonment rates. 

Simplify the Consumer Checkout Experience

Cart abandonment isn’t always from sticker shock. Sometimes website bugs or an unfriendly user interface can cause a potential customer to become frustrated and leave their ecommerce checkout altogether. Look for ways to help streamline the customer to that checkout button. 

Are there any friction points or hurdles that can be eliminated? This could be a cosmetic issue such as a more efficient web design layout, or more functional, like eliminating the amount of clicks necessary to complete a purchase. 

Don’t Require An Account to Purchase

First-time customers may already feel some apprehension about their online purchases. Asking them for additional private information can be the tipping point for abandoning their purchase completely. We know that setting up these personal accounts allows the opportunity for continued outreach toward a consumer, and for some businesses, a personal profile is necessary to their business model. But if you’re doing everything else you can and you’re still having cart abandonment issues, this may be a hurdle you could eliminate. 

Offer First Time Discounts

Sometimes potential customers just need an extra nudge to make a purchase. Offering first-time discounts or coupon codes is a simple way to give them the extra motivation to fully commit to their cart. Sometimes these codes are connected to email addresses or phone numbers for additional outreach opportunities, but can also be automatically applied at checkout or listed as a banner on the website to make it as easy as possible for a customer. 

Offer Multiple Payment Options

Giving customers different ways to pay for their products can help ease some of the purchase anxiety they may be feeling and allow your business to be more accessible. Offering payment plans, such as Buy Now, Pay Later, or payment installations, can help a potentially too big purchase be more manageable. Allowing customers to pay in different ways can also reduce friction points. Try offering payment options like PayPal and digital wallets to allow all customers with different financial needs and preferences to easily purchase from your ecommerce store.

Communicate Return Policy Clearly

A first-time (or even repeat) customer may have some hesitancy if they’re unsure if they will be satisfied with a product. Having a clear return policy and generous return window gives them that wiggle room to feel safe purchasing a product they aren’t certain about and reduces the amount of cart abandonment your ecommerce analytics are picking up. 

Make Your Customer’s Security a Priority

Making a customer feel safe and protected during the checkout process is one of the most important things you can do to help someone finally click that checkout button. Using high-quality and secure payment gateways and payment processing will help securely store customer data and build trust in your company and your ability to take care of your customers. 

Payment Plugins offers these secure payment gateways, with free plugins for PayPal, Braintree, and Stripe for your ecommerce store. Quality code means you’ll be able to safely guard your customers’ sensitive data while having the flexibility to change or expand your ecommerce site with your business’s needs. Download your free plugin today and reduce your cart abandonment rate by improving your customer’s checkout experience.