Abandoned shopping carts have more than just products in it. They are a gold mine of customer and product/service data insights that can help you boost revenue.
Want to find out how? Here is everything you need to know about cart abandonment and strategies to get the best of it.
Contents
- 1 What is an abandoned cart?
- 2 Why do customers abandon carts?
- 3 Figuring out your cart abandonment rate
- 4 Strategies to manage abandoned cart email
- 5 Email Marketing
- 6 In-store pop-ups
- 7 Use a chatbot or WhatsApp widget
- 8 SMS Marketing
- 9 Have clear shipping and return policy
- 10 Trust elements
- 11 Send abandoned cart emails with Instamojo premium online store
What is an abandoned cart?
Say, you are buying clothes in a mall. The sales rep gives you a basket to put all the clothes that you want to try and buy-in. You select a few clothes, try them but don’t buy them. You just leave the basket and walk out.
We bet that’s happened quite a few times. That basket you left right there is an abandoned basket.
When a customer adds a product(s) with the intention to purchase but drops the purchase or doesn’t complete the purchase – that is an abandoned cart.
Why do customers abandon carts?
Why do you decide to not buy the things you put in your cart? While some are obvious, here are the top reasons why customers ditch their shopping plans, according to research:
- The checkout flow is too complex/difficult and involves too many steps
- The products are too expensive
- The shipping is too expensive
- The design looks shady – no trust
- Lack of payment options
- Technical bugs like a broken page link or long page-load time
Why consider a cart abandonment strategy?
Did you know that the average cart abandonment rate is as high as 69%? And the total global damage that is caused actually runs into trillions of dollars.
The good news is, that about 60% of the lost money is recoverable.
How to turn this disadvantage into opportunity
While cart abandonment is a huge problem in the e-commerce industry, it is also a great opportunity to tap into customer insights and improve your product/service.
A good cart abandonment strategy can help you convert your potential customers into loyal, returning users.
Here are a few ways you can check your cart abandonment rate and use the data to improve your service.
First of all, let’s look at how you can find out your cart abandonment rate.
Figuring out your cart abandonment rate
If you already have an online store and have a shopping cart enabled, you can easily find your cart abandonment rate with this formula:
Cart Abandonment Rate = No. of orders place / No. of shopping carts enabled
If that gets too hard for you, you can always try using the Free Google Analytics tool to automate cart abandonment data reports. Once you have your cart abandonment funnel ready, segregate the data into two groups for a/b testing.
A/B testing is a method of experimenting with two or more strategies to test its effectiveness.
Strategies to manage abandoned cart email
Here are a few strategies you can try to lure back customers that abandoned their purchase on your online store. You’ll also find some tips to help you prevent cart abandonment.
Email Marketing
Using an effective email marketing strategy to get customers to complete their purchases is a business’ go-to strategy.
A good cart abandonment email doesn’t just remind the customer of his/her abandoned purchase but also evokes a strong sense of urgency, and emotional need to go back and make that purchase.
Here are a few examples of how some big online stores do it:
Myntra makes it easy to order directly from the email itself:
Getting emotional!
Happily Unmarried is Giving You a Discount:
BookMyShow wants you too!
Some Good-looking Emails:
To send a great functional email, you need to use a great subject line. Here’s an example from Postergully:
In-store pop-ups
You can always hard-code pop-ups that remind the customer what they did on your online store last time they visited you. A pop-up that leads the customer to the cart can help you score a sale.
Many online stores have pop-ups which offer a discount code on the first purchase like the one below:
Use a chatbot or WhatsApp widget
A chatbot is a feature on online stores that help communicate with potential customers. A major reason why customers do not complete a purchase is because of having unresolved queries. So, make it easy for them by giving them a way to ask you questions.
The above image is a screenshot of an online store with a WhatsApp widget. Customers can contact the business on WhatsApp directly from their eCommerce website.
Related Read: Customer service tips for small business owners
Another way to resolve queries your customers might have is by having an FAQs page.
SMS Marketing
You can employ a bulk SMS marketing tool to send reminders to customers that abandoned the cart. Give a discount coupon to encourage them to shop with you. If you have an app, you can send push notifications to your customers reminding them to complete their purchases.
Have clear shipping and return policy
This is a strategy to help prevent abandoned carts from happening.
Customers don’t like being taken by surprise when they see the shipping charges in the subtotal if this hasn’t been mentioned anywhere on the product page. It’s best to clearly state your shipping charges before they click to purchase.
Also, online shoppers are concerned about return policies. Clearly state this on each product page to avoid friction, thus reducing the risk of an abandoned cart.
Trust elements
Make sure you build trust with trust elements on your online store.
Honest product reviews and testimonials are important in making buying decisions. You can also add security stamps and other licenses, if applicable. For example, if you’re a food business, you can add your FSSAI certification.
What if you could send abandoned cart emailers from your online store itself? If you are new to setting up emails, all you need to do is set up the online store and opt for the growth plan – which offers the abandoned cart emailer option.
How does it work?
Every-time a customer leaves your store without making a purchase, their email Id is stored and you can send them an email to nudge them to complete the purchase.
Head to the Abandoned cart settings under ‘Customers’ in your dashboard to view all the items which were added to the cart by the customer but were not purchased.
You can re-engage with these customers through Emails/SMS using our Campaigns feature. This helps in converting more prospective customers to buyers. Find out more about this feature here.
Looking to set up a premium online store with Instamojo? It is simple. Check out our detailed tutorial here to help you with setting up the store.
1 comment
Hey Rapti, very nice post indeed. You covered everything about cart abandonment from basics to even recovery method. Your post can be easily understood by a newly entered person in the niche.You gave a direction to our e Commerce store owners and explained both email marketing and SMS marketing very well.