Cart Abandonment: Its Causes and How to Reduce It

If you’ve been an online retailer for quite some time now, you may have experienced numerous customers adding products to their online cart but do not proceed to the checkout line; this event is called cart abandonment.

Cart abandonment has been a persistent and growing problem for online retailers ever since online shopping gained popularity. One of the most critical metrics in e-commerce is the cart abandonment rate, which measures cart abandonment.

According to a Forbes article, the average online shopping abandonment rate differs from every platform:

  •    Desktop– 73.1%
  •    Tablet– 80.7%
  •    Mobile– 85.6%

As you can see, the current statistics are alarming because the abandonment rate is quite high for any platform. If you’re currently having problems with decreased sales or revenue and think it’s because of cart abandonment, then you should read on as this article will discuss some of its causes and possible solutions to reduce it.

  1. Account Creation

The majority of online retailers require potential customers to create and register accounts on their websites before the purchase is approved. Although this is beneficial to the online retailer, it is quite time-consuming for the customer.

Most customers prefer online shopping because of the convenience it brings and the time it saves, compared to shopping in a physical store. Requiring your customers to fill lengthy forms takes up much of their time; some might even find it annoying and unnecessary to fill lengthy questionnaires for just a single purchase. 

One thing you could do to decrease cart abandonment rate is never to coerce customers to create accounts. You should ask for their email instead and send them future products and an invite to create an account. 

  1. Slow Website Response 

Online customers browse through a website when finding a product that they might like. If a site slows down during the browsing or checkout process, customers see it as a hindrance to their online shopping journey, leading to poor customer experience. 

The best thing that you could do for your customers is to give them a hassle-free online shopping experience. You could do this by making sure that your website is hosted by high-performance servers to ensure a smooth and seamless browsing experience.

  1.   Security Doubts and Payment Options

Customers prioritize their security above anything else, which is why the majority of customers opt out of transactions if too much personal information is required. Some things you could do is to ask for less personal information and provide your customers with a reliable payment process. 

Lack of payment options is another cause of cart abandonment. It would be best that you provide numerous payment options such as credit card, third-party payment websites such as PayPal, and cash-on-delivery options.

  1.   More Expensive Prices

Customers nowadays are extremely research-driven because they check out different sites and compare the prices of the same products. Pricing is one of the main factors that affect the abandonment rate because customers will opt for lower prices every time.

The best thing that you could do is to acquire market data and learn how much other sites are pricing products that are similar to yours. Once you learn about the prices of other sites, you can adjust the pricing of your products to make them more enticing to your customers compared to your competitors.

Cart abandonment can significantly affect your online business. A high conversion rate of online customers is essential for your online business to thrive, which is why it is necessary to take measures to reduce your cart abandonment rate.