Have you been experiencing less online sales even though you have high traffic on your online store?, Then you have fallen victim to cart abandonment that any merchant will face more times than they can count, no matter how successful their online business can be.
Below we’ll give you 11 ways to help you reduce cart abandonment, increase customers dedication to complete the shopping process, and how to stimulate cash flow through a flexible checkout experience.
Stay consumer-oriented (Before establishing your online store)
One of the main reasons behind an eCommerce business falling victim to cart abandonment is the lack of customer focus they implement when they start their online presence, which falls under a famous marketing crisis called “Marketing Myopia” that explains the difficulties that merchants face when they think more about their product instead of thinking more about their customers and what they need from that product, how can that product serve them and change their lives.
Online shopping may seem easy, considering how much growth eCommerce in the middle east specifically has seen, which is expected to reach a total market size of $28.5 billion by the year 2020.
But in reality, it is one of the most difficult decisions a buyer can face, even if they are a regular online shopper, they will still think twice before clicking that “Buy” button, as a merchant, you will have to consider their fears, that they can’t see or feel the product, implementing some eCommerce trends as augmented reality can very much influence their purchase, and good photos with every angle can pretty much suffice for startup companies with limited resources, that is one of the ways to achieve that, but what else do you have to think about?, you’ll have to think about their first thoughts when they open your online store, search for a product, and just before they click the add to cart button, what do they want to see?, they will want to see a detailed description of that product, they want to see sizes, colors, options, they want to see clear prices, discounts, promotions, and personalized messages made just for them, to convince them to bite the bullet and invest in that product blindingly, that explains the need for always putting customers first and considering their needs.
Consider all consumers’ types (Implementing a short and specific shopping process)
Today’s consumers are busy, time sensitive, have no time for a detailed and long shopping process that won’t really positively affect their buying decisions as much as it would negatively affect your sales as a merchant, as paying too much thought into throwing off multiple steps for consumers to complete to reach the checkout step is not positive as much merchants would think, considering nowadays consumers, think about as few steps as possible for them to shop, choose a product, add to cart, and then proceed to checkout in less than a minute.
That would be easy to implement with an easy online store layout, with products varieties clear on the landing page, menus, categories visible, prominent call to action button, multiple product options as colors underneath the same product, to decrease customers having to search for a specific color or size, and clear pricing for every option, with a clear add to cart button that would automatically open a visible window for consumers to access their carts, and that they won’t have to look for the cart all over your online store.
Adding related products or “People also search for” tool, following consumers choosing a specific product to buy, to influence consumers to buy more than one product or products in sets, is an excellent way to increase cart quantity without consumers even noticing their actions.
Return and refund policies
As mentioned before, consumers don’t get to touch or feel the products, that is why you need to support their buying decisions with prominent guarantees and clear return and refund policies, so they would be more willing to buy the product trusting they can exchange or return it within a specific time period.
Easy to access contact information and a dedicated chat button
As a merchant, providing clear contact information in your online store footer or a sole page that is anchored and redirects to the online store footer that is visible on every page, so that the contact information, as well as chat buttons, stay with the customer thoughout their shopping process, is one of the most important parameters of providing an effective online shopping experience to your consumers, as your customers will have to know you are real and that you are with them constantly to assure them of their buying decisions, also a dedicated chat button that appears on all pages, with a personalized message, is easily one of the most effective techniques.
Use mobile applications
Did you know that almost 50% of online shopping is done though mobile phones?
Mobile phones increase customers’ loyalty, and reduce cart abandonment, due to the easy-to-access online store though their mobile phones, everywhere, and anytime, and the easy layout of mobile phones in general, that by turn affects the checkout process, so having an online store that can operate as a mobile application is one major way to maintain customers traffic and increase your online sales.
Let customers choose their delivery date
What better way to convince customers to buy online than to let them choose the most convenient time for delivery?
That is implementing “Time-slot delivery”, in your online store, which is a tool for consumers to choose the time for delivery they want during the checkout process, after they add a product to cart, that way your can give your customers options that will positively affect their buying decisions.
Offer more than one payment method
Customers will more likely to complete the shopping process when they find multiple payment options at checkout, from cash on delivery, or online payment through multiple payment gateways, and to support installments for relevant products when needed.
Every customer can proceed to checkout
Customers don’t have to be registered customers to complete the checkout, as welcoming every new guest customer to checkout is an effective mean to reduce cart abandonment.
Save the cart for when customers are ready
Your online store should be made to save customers cart items, so they can easily return back to them if they are ready to proceed to checkout, implementing effective techniques as wish-lists and compare-lists can act parallel to this technique.
No hidden costs
You have to eliminate extra costs as much as you can at checkout, as one of the main causes of cart abandonment is customers finding extra money they have to pay than what was promised before checkout, you have to make sure that the promised total amount before they clicked “Add to cart” is exactly the same after they proceed to checkout, excluding the shipping fees.
Support free shipping, and promotions
Every now and then make sure to add free shipping on specific products, or according to cart quantity, as well as promotions for specific cart quantity or according to order values, to motivate your customers and reduce cart abandonment.
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