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What is "shopping cart abandonment"? How Can It Be Prevented?

Last Updated: 01-Jun-2013

Shopping cart abandonment occurs when a visitor exits the web site by going through the checkout process without buying. Shopping cart abandonment suggests a loss of orders resulting to a loss to your business. A higher shopping cart abandonment rate indicated a lower conversion rate suggesting that you will have to work harder to reach your targets.

Possible reasons for "shopping cart abandonment"

Several ecommerce sites face the problem of shopping cart abandonment. Web sites face an average abandonment rate of 30% or more. The main reasons for shopping cart abandonment are:

. Comparison-shopping done by buyers.
. Hidden shipping costs that become visible later during the buying process.
. Few visitors don't really want to make a purchase but want to get an idea of the total cost including shipping.
. Order is not enough to avail free shipping.
. Having to provide a lot of personal information.
. Calling a shopping cart with some other name.
. Several sites need the shopper to be registered with them to be able to add items to carts thereby making the process inconvenient.
. Making buyers look at the shopping cart whenever something is found there.
. Needing buyers to press "Buy" if they want to add something to their cart.

A few of these mistakes can be corrected by better site design. Though the above faults may not be the only reasons for shopping cart abandonment, resolving them will improve chances of a buyer making an online purchase.

In most cases, online carts have a greater abandonment rate than traditional carts. Online shopping carts are quite dissimilar to the traditional carts. Buyers have a habit of adding products to their online carts which they may want to purchase later, much like marking a page in a shopping catalog for later reference.

On the flip side, abandoned carts are more than just lost sales; they also are a customer database of what each buyer wants to purchase from your website.

A few strategies to keep shopping cart abandonment low

. Add a link connecting the item in the shopping cart with the products page.
. Although, not very important keep the checkout process as simple as possible.
. Buyers must know the number of steps in the checkout process and which step they are in    presently.
. Add a visible "Next Step" or "Continue With Checkout" button on every page.
. Shipping prices must be provided at the earliest possible moment as buyers want to have all the    information before making a purchase.
. Include a thumbnail image of the product inside the cart.
. Clearly provide complete address of your company to let buyers know that you really exist.
. Provide information on whether the item is available or not and also the expected shipping time.
. Error messages occurring while filling out a form must be comprehensible making buyers aware of    the mistake.
. Making changes to the shopping cart must be simple.
. Find a way to reach cart abandoners. Can use email strategy to help them recover their cart or to remind shoppers of the items in their shopping cart.
. Carefully analyze the shopping behaviors and reasons for customers abandoning their shopping carts.

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