With the rise of digital technology, industries like ecommerce have become more profitable. Now more than ever is it easier, more convenient, and faster to purchase products from even a smartphone and receive the goods as early as the next day.

We’re already in 2020, and trends are suggesting that in just 20 short years, 95% of all purchases will be made via an e-commerce store. Up to 80% of internet users around the United States have purchased a product online. 

And with millennials, Generation Z, and future generations growing up with technology, it won’t be long until almost everyone with access to the internet becomes an online shopper.

That only goes to show: e-commerce is a lucrative industry to be in – and that’s without mentioning the spikes in sales and profit during holidays like Black Friday. 

Getting into e-commerce isn’t a guarantee to turn a profit, however. There’s still an obstacle most e-commerce sites have to deal with: high cart abandonment rates. Interestingly, the average cart abandonment rate is at about 69%.

So if you want to increase your sales, the answer is to lower your cart abandonment rates and get customers to complete checkout.

Strategies to lower your cart abandonment rates

Here, we take a look at some actionable tips you can start doing to lower your cart abandonment rates, especially this holiday season.

Improve your website speed

The first thing you ought to optimize is your website’s speed. According to Google, 53% of mobile users are more likely to abandon a website if a page takes more than 3 seconds to load.

The same is especially true for your e-commerce site. If a visitor is browsing and has to wait even a full minute every time for a page to load – be it a product page or, worse, leading to checkout – you can bet they won’t be completing checkout.

Make sure you keep your website blazing fast to provide the best customer experience for visitors. This way, you won’t be losing the sale before you even stand the chance of making it.

Practice omnichannel marketing

One way to really get customers’ attention is using omnichannel marketing. Treat every touchpoint your customers have with your brand as a potential way to convert them and make sales.

Omnichannel marketing (Image source: Smart Insights)

One of the first things you can do is create an effective lead generation strategy to get customers on your email list. From there, it becomes easier to get in contact with them, send them promotions, and even be able to track their purchase behavior.

Consider doing strategic pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns or work with reputable PPC agencies to help you create and manage a campaign. This is something you can integrate a retargeting ad campaign on social media as well, so visitors can get reminder ads of items they were checking out on your e-commerce website. 

Even if a user didn’t add anything to their cart on their first visit, being able to meet them at different touchpoints, not just online, can be a great way to get them to remember your brand. 

This is why omnichannel marketing works great to lower cart abandonment rates: by having each channel supporting each other, you strengthen your brand image, improve customer experience, and meet customers where they are.

Use exit-intent popups

Exit-intent popups are a powerful way to lower cart abandonment rates.

They work by detecting if a user is about to exit your site, either to close or move to a new tab, then entice visitors to stay on board.

For an e-commerce business, one good way to use exit-intent popups to lower your own cart abandonment is by offering an exclusive promo, such as a discount or free shipping.

Example of exit-intent popups in action (Image source: Medium)

Include a guest checkout option

Have you ever tried to check out items on a website but are suddenly prompted to sign up for an account?

While this tactic seems harmless, this can increase your cart abandonment rate because it lengthens the process or people are really not interested to create an account. 

Someone might be in a hurry to check out an item and won’t want to go through the process of verifying their account before they’re able to confirm that their order is successful. Or you could have a guest shopping for gifts and aren’t really likely to repurchase often.

Because of this, be sure to enable guest checkout options to increase a user’s chances of completing the entire checkout process. Most leading e-commerce platforms like WooCommerce allow for guest checkout options as a default feature.

If you really want to encourage sign-ups, focus on providing great customer experiences first – such as allowing users to input their shipping and billing information until they checkout. And then you can offer the option to create an account on your site.

Launch a retargeting email campaign

Creating a retargeting email campaign is a great way to win back cold shoppers.

Sometimes people abandon their carts because of added fees like shipping or handling. Sometimes they change their minds. Or other times, they simply had other things suddenly come up before they could complete checkout.

To win back these shoppers regardless of their reasons, send them some emails to entice them to finish what they started.

There are a number of email ideas you can send to users who abandoned their carts, but one of the most common ones is sending a special, usually time-sensitive, discount code if they complete purchase in, say, 1-3 days.

Example of email retargeting with a discount offer. (Image source: Salecycle)

Tap into the power of FOMO

The urgency has always been a great way to encourage people to take quick action and make a purchase. For your ecommerce business, this principle is no different.

Because people are wired to be afraid of missed opportunities or have a “fear of missing out” (FOMO), this can play a big role in making sure you aren’t full of users who abandon their carts.

Some urgency tactics are tied in with a special sales promotion, such as getting free shipping only until a certain date. Others go the extra mile and tell you how many people are eyeing the same product or service, giving a heightened sense of urgency to buy before the item runs out.

Other scarcity tactics combine urgency with social proof, such as signaling when someone else made a recent purchase of the same product. 

Example of combined scarcity tactics (Image source: Oberlo)

Offer multiple payment options

Last but not least, make the shopping experience as seamless as possible by offering multiple payment options.

This does a great job of lowering cart abandonment rates because many shoppers may abandon their carts because they don’t see a payment option they like. In fact, ComScore has a study that says 56% of online shoppers prefer when an e-commerce site has multiple payment options.

If doable for your business, consider adding Cash on Delivery or supporting payments, which are offered by PayPal and the most popular alternatives.

Key Takeaways

The holidays are always the best time to start reeling in shoppers and ending the year profitably. If you want to lower your cart abandonment rates for your e-commerce business, be sure to implement these strategies above. Review the performance of each, keep tweaking, and soon you can expect fewer cart abandonments over time – even when it’s not the holiday season.