Hey, Where Did You Go?

Imagine running a brick-and-mortar store where customers fill their carts and then just vanish in thin air. That sounds like the beginning of some crazy sci-fi movie (someone call Spielberg) however in the online shopping world this is common. In ecommerce parlance, we call this "abandoned carts" and it happens frequently. Believe it or not, addressing this issue can significantly boost your profits.

An abandoned cart is when a customer adds something to their online cart but then leaves without completing the checkout process. Online stores, whether big or small, constantly face the issue of cart abandonment. That's revenue being left on the table, hence why companies invest heavily in tactics and apps to reclaim customers.

When a customer abandons their cart, it's like leaving money on the table. Every item in that cart represents potential revenue that didn't come to fruition. This is a big problem if you're an ecommerce merchant. Nearly 70% of online shoppers abandon their carts before finalizing a purchase. This means your store is only completing 30% of your potential sales. The Baymard Institute has conducted extensive research on cart abandonment rates and concludes that $260 billion worth of lost orders are potentially recoverable. So why shouldn't you go after that money?

Entice Your Customers to Keep Purchasing

Attracting new customers costs five times more than retaining an existing one. If you're able to bring back customers who have already shown interest in your products, you're making a fiscally savvy decision. Recovering an abandoned cart costs you less than spending to reach a brand new customer, so let's go get them back.

When someone abandons a cart, they've already shown interest in your product. They visited your website, browsed your products and added something to their cart. This means you've already incurred the costs of bringing them to your website. Don't throw that time and money away, find a way to get them to complete that purchase. Recovering an abandoned cart is like reeling in a fish that's already on the hook.

Why Are Customers Leaving?

Online ecommerce shopping is convenient, offering consumers an array of choices right from the comfort of their homes. If it's so easy to buy something, why do customers abandon their carts? There could be various reasons for this cart exodus, however, it's important to first investigate and find out why this is happening. It will help with both abandoned carts and with new customers completing their purchases. Let's review some of the more common reasons.

Costs and Shipping

One common culprit behind abandoned carts is the costs. Consider a customer who found the perfect item on your site for $50. During the checkout process, they're hit with an additional $20 for shipping and handling. What once felt like a deal now seems much less attractive. Unforeseen costs can turn an eager shopper into a hesitant one, pushing them to abandon their cart in search of a better deal.

To help with this issue, you should strive for pricing transparency. Show all costs upfront or offer a calculator that estimates total costs. If possible, offer free shipping after a certain purchase amount to incentivize customers to buy more without feeling burdened by added costs.

Confusing Purchase Process

Another common scenario that leads to abandonment is the user experience. Imagine another scenario where a customer spent time selecting products, but when it's time to pay, the checkout process is confusing or requires too many steps. A process that should have been simple leads to a frustrating process. A cumbersome checkout process can be a significant deterrent, leading to lost sales and dropped carts.

You should strive to reduce the number of steps required to complete a purchase. Implement time-saving features like storing payment, saving shipping information for returning customers or integrating one-click payment like Apple Pay or Google Wallet.

By prioritizing the user experience, you can significantly reduce cart abandonment rates and increase sales.

Reclaiming abandoned carts is a process that involves understanding why carts are abandoned in the first place and then implementing strategies to bring those potential customers back to complete their purchase. You need to understand your customers' pain points and proactively streamline their online shopping experience to keep them happy.

Once you've done all the optimizing you can do, you may still get some people who simply leave. Let's focus on ways to reclaim lost opportunities.

Email Follow-up

One of the easiest steps is to engage with those customers who abandoned their carts. A friendly email reminder can work wonders. Let them know you noticed they left items in their cart and offer assistance. Such an email can reignite their impulse to buy and complete the purchase.

When crafting the email, you should always personalize the communication showing customers that you value their business. The visuals within the email also play a key role. By displaying images of the abandoned items, you can remind the customers what they're missing and spark that initial lust again. Crafting an engaging email can make all the difference in converting those abandoned carts into sales.

Offer a Discount

Another way to bring back customers is to offer an incentive. A small discount or free shipping can be the nudge a customer needs to finalize their purchase. When customers see that they're getting a product or service for less, the perceived value of the purchase goes up. Saving money is a strong motivator to complete the purchase. Studies have shown that discounts can significantly impact consumer behavior.

Create FOMO

If you can create a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) or that the products are only available for a time-limited or in limited supply, it encourages customers to act fast. Shoppers don't want to miss out on a good deal, so they're more likely to complete the purchase quickly. One idea is to follow up with the abandoned customer and offer a limited-time deal.

Offering time-limited discounts or special deals exclusive to the recipient can create a sense of urgency and exclusivity. Sending an email or SMS message saying, "Complete your purchase in the next 24 hours to get 10% off!" can motivate customers to act swiftly.

How Do I Find Abandoned Carts?

We've provided all this great advice so far, but you're probably wondering how do you even find abandoned carts in the first place. Is there some magic way to get this information? Hopefully, this feature should already be a part of your current ecommerce platform.

Most modern ecommerce platforms, like Shopify, come with native features that track and report on abandoned carts. The platform keeps a record of shopping carts and provides an easily accessible list of this data. For example, when a registered user logs into your store and adds items to their cart but doesn't complete the purchase, the system adds them to the abandoned cart list. Even non-registered users can be tracked if they've entered an email address during the checkout process. On Shopify, the system looks something like this:

Shopify makes it easy for you to review the abandoned checkouts and find patterns that might suggest why customers aren't completing orders. You can even automatically send an email to these customers right from the Shopify platform. Each email contains a link to the customer's cart, allowing them to complete their checkout. Abandoned checkouts are saved in the admin for three months and then removed from the system.

Tired Of Losing Money? We Can Help.

Abandoned shopping carts are a missed opportunity for your online store. Fixing this issue involves making customers happy and constantly monitoring your site. Having a good plan or team to tackle this issue can make a big difference in your success. It's important to deploy strategies to recover these potential sales. You should be routinely monitoring your site, reviewing cart metrics and optimizing your site. If this sounds like a lot of work, don't worry, our team of experts has you covered.

Our Growth & Retention services are here to help you recover those lost carts and help grow your ecommerce business with proven strategies. If you're looking for a partner to help, then contact us today and learn how our team of experts can set you on a path to growth and success.

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