Is yer online store seein’ a high abandonment rate on purchases? Ya need ta check these reasons.
Sellers in an online store will definitely come across this problem. The consumer has already added the product to their cart and even filled in their shipping information, so they’re likely ta complete the payment, but they end up abandoning the payment at the last step. Many sellers have probably encountered this problem, and if the conversion rate from adding to the cart to successful payment is less than 30%, then it’s time ta take notice.
Statistics show that about 67% of items added to an online shopping cart are eventually “abandoned”, and there can be many reasons why a customer would abandon their order, such as high shipping fees, dissatisfaction with the current price, waitin’ and seein’, needin’ more time to decide, unclear shipping information from the seller, not wantin’ to create a new account, slow website speed, or lack of payment options.
Before ya do any heavy promotion, sellers must find out why customers are abandoning their orders and gradually analyze and optimize their online store to maximize the hard-earned traffic. So let’s go through each reason why a customer may add to the cart but abandon their purchase.
1. Limited payment options (one of the key reasons)
For online stores, offering PayPal and credit card payments is standard, but when your website only offers one method, your overall conversion rate may be halved. So don’t just offer one payment option, give customers more choices, and in addition to PayPal, which is a popular choice for consumers, displaying logos for MasterCard and Visa can also increase trust. This way, you can better improve your conversion rate.
2. High or sudden shipping fee
Would you still buy if you found out you need to pay $20 for shipping on a $10 item you purchased? Consumers will abandon the payment process if they see additional fees during the checkout process in online stores. So it’s best to clearly express shipping fees on the product details page. Free shipping or new customer free shipping can be a huge incentive if possible. If your website provides a great shopping experience and product experience, they may become loyal customers.
3. Forced registration to complete checkout
Forcing registration during checkout is the main factor that makes consumers abandon their shopping carts. Please make sure to provide the option of non-registered purchases for consumers and also provide a convenient registration option, such as registering an account while filling in the order information. Shopify’s back end provides a guest purchase mode for non-registered purchases. When will a website force registration? For example, shopping platforms that make personalized recommendations based on interests or hobbies, or when your brand has already achieved a certain degree of recognition, such as Shein.
4. Trust Issues for Overseas Consumers
Trust is the biggest obstacle to all sales, so how do we improve users’ trust in our website? From the design of the entire website homepage, the language description, website policies, return policies, brand story, company address, etc., all of these details actually reflect the credibility of the brand. So here, we’ll list a few optimization suggestions:
- Clear and accurately described shipping and return policies? Although Shopify provides various policy templates, we can add personalized services based on this template, such as a longer return promise and support for local return warehouse addresses. In shipping policies, there should be clear delivery times, costs, and logistics inquiries for different countries.
- Is the credit card information entry box in a separate window? Credit cards are highly confidential personal information. For this entry box, if it is designed to be separately demonstrated, for example, using a different colour frame, it can create an additional privacy encryption feeling and increase the trust in payment.
- Comprehensive brand information and social proof? This includes the brand story, customer service contact information with a domain email, contact address, display of social media accounts, display of customer reviews, and clear shipping policies on the homepage. From this publicly available information, we can create the impression that you are a reliable brand that will deliver when paid.
5. Tedious Process Operations
When consumers browse your online store, the quality of their experience directly affects the outcome. Most consumers lack patience and if your shopping process is tedious, requiring numerous operations to complete the transaction, they are likely to give up on shopping altogether. In this case, you should consider how to optimize the shopping cart and shopping process.
6. Overpriced Pricing
When consumers enter your online store, they first see the page design, followed by product pricing. If the prices are too high, consumers will feel like they’re being overcharged. At this point, you can refer to competitor prices, understand market price trends, and consider your own product costs, shipping costs, etc. to set a reasonable and competitive price.
7. Long Shipping Time
Long shipping times can make consumers lose patience. If consumers place an order and complete the payment in your online store, but the shipment still hasn’t been sent for a long time, they often directly apply for a refund.
