Shopping Cart Abandonment: Data-Driven Solutions to Achieve Higher Conversions

Among the biggest challenges faced by brand marketers, the issue of shopping cart abandonment is probably most frustrating. You may want to take solace in the fact that you’re not alone.

Last year, the average cart abandonment rate across industries was a staggering 70%. For every 10 customers who begin the checkout process on your site, seven walk away for reasons unknown.

Let’s take a closer look into the current state of cart abandonment:

• the many reasons behind it
• how it varies by industry
• factors that may be contributing to it, and
• most importantly, how to beat the odds by implementing strategies to combat cart abandonment on your site

Today’s shopping cart abandonment landscape

Since understanding the scope of an issue is the first step to solving it, here are some key facts and figures about the current state of shopping cart abandonment:

• The global average cart abandonment rate varies by industry. Travel (84.5%), fashion (84.6) and retail (72.2%) are the hardest hit, according to the latest research statistics.
• The longer customers take to decide, the higher your cart abandonment stats. Industries such as home furnishings, jewelry, high-end travel, and automotive tend to experience higher rates of cart abandonment. This is largely due to several factors, including higher price points, longer sales cycles, and a more intensive purchase process. Furthermore, these elements collectively contribute to the challenges faced in these sectors.
• Abandonment rates are seasonal and device influenced. It’s no surprise that November sees the lowest instances of shopping cart abandonment, while post-holiday occurrences spike in January. Mobile users (83.2%) somewhat outpace desktop shoppers (71.8%) when it comes to leaving a site without completing the checkout process.
• UX (user experience) influences the rate of shopping cart abandonment. Large-scale checkout research from the Baymard Institute indicates that the average larger e-commerce site could achieve a 35.3% increase in conversions simply by improving the user experience.

Top factors that contribute to high cart abandonment rates

Though some factors identified above such as seasonality are mostly out of marketers’ control, we’ve identified additional (and fixablepain points to help you identify what might be causing high abandonment rates on your website.

• The first is unexpected costs. Nearly half (48%) of online shoppers cite extra fees like shipping, handling and taxes as their reason for not finalizing their purchase. Larger e-commerce retailers have basically trained buyers to expect free shipping.
• Next, an unnecessarily complicated checkout process (see UX notes above). More than a quarter of shoppers saw requirements like having to create an account as a barrier to closing the deal.
• Trust is also an issue. Twenty-five percent of buyers don’t feel comfortable providing their credit card information online. With rampant data breeches exposing information for hundreds of millions of people, they’re understandably wary of credit card fraud and identity theft.
• Finally, technical issues. Website speed, errors and crashes account for 17% of cart abandonments. When was the last time you checked your site for page load times?

Understanding these pain points is vital when you’re brainstorming strategies to solve cart abandonment issues. But you also need to consider the buyer journey for your target audience and the steps along the way that can make or break a sale.

To remedy cart abandonment effectively, it’s time for some research to identify specific drop-off points. Where exactly in the buying process are shoppers leaving your site?

Consider implementing tools like heat maps or session recordings (or even simply examining your Google analytics account) to gain new insights into user behavior. For example, visitors may be abandoning their cart when they realize there’s no guest checkout option, or unwilling to provide credit card information to a lesser-known brand without a clearly outlined return process.

Proven strategies to reduce shopping cart abandonment

Current research on e-commerce checkout usability finds that the average website has a whopping 39 potential areas for checkout process improvements.

Take time to walk through your site, identify which may be costing you conversions and begin mapping out a priority list to implement critical changes. Use this checklist of improvement opportunities as a jumping-off point to start reducing cart abandonment stats for your site.

Opportunity #1: Simplify the checkout process

• Consolidate your brand’s checkout process as tightly as possible to reduce friction points.
• Don’t force users to create an account. Instead, offer a guest checkout option and use account opening as a post-purchase customer touchpoint.
• Use clear, engaging visual progress indicators to show customers how far along they are in the checkout process and clearly delineate next steps.

Opportunity #2: Address costs beyond the product itself

• Be transparent about all fees from the start of the transaction.
• Offer free shipping above a certain order value to encourage larger purchases.
• Give the buyer a choice of shipping speeds to make them feel more in control.
• Clearly call out price matching guarantees and other ways buyers can save.

Opportunity #3: Build credibility and gain trust

• Display trust indicators such as security badges and technology certifications in a prominent position on every page of your site.
• Leverage social proof including customer reviews, testimonials and independent third-party rankings to help build confidence in your brand.
• Don’t bury your return and refund policies. Make them prominent, easily accessible and clear using simple, straightforward language. 

Opportunity #4: Boost payment options and flexibility

• To address financial hesitations, consider offering multiple payment options, such as digital wallets and buy now, pay later services. By doing so, you can effectively accommodate customer preferences and enhance their overall shopping experience. Moreover, this approach can also encourage more customers to complete their purchases.
• Implement smart payment features like a “save payment information” option for future purchases
• Make pricing more manageable by adding flexible payment plans for higher-ticket items

Opportunity #5: Leverage the latest technology advances.

• Confirm that your checkout process is equally seamless across devices and browsers.
• Use chatbots to speed up responses to customer inquiries and resolve friction points in the buying process.
• Leverage AI-powered personalized recommendations to suggest relevant products and increase your average order value. 

Opportunity #6: Add effective remarketing tactics to your sales process.

• Send abandoned cart email reminders with a special offer to entice customers back.
• Use personalized postal retargeting as a powerful partner to your digital marketing to re-engage buyers with abandoned carts.
• For time-sensitive offers, consider using opt-in SMS notifications to reach customers quickly. 

>>Related: Direct Mail Retargeting: Turning Tire Kickers Into Loyal Buyers<<

Measuring the effectiveness of your efforts to combat cart abandonment

Implementing the tactics outlined above is a great start to reducing cart abandonment rates. Moving forward, you’ll need to gauge the progress you’ve made and continuously optimize based on the most current data.

Remember: guesswork is not an effective strategy when it comes to improving conversion rates. As you tweak your site improvements to reduce cart abandonment, use A/B testing to validate your optimization efforts.

Changing a single variable at a time simplifies the process of reading your testing results. Consider including the following in your A/B testing process:

• Calls to action or CTAs
• Button and text colors and placement
• Various layouts for your checkout page
• The addition of a graphic “tracker” to show buyers where they are in the checkout process
• More visibility of applied discounts or coupons reflected in the cart total
• Simplified language for product descriptions

• Any changes in average time to complete a purchase
• The “exit pages” customers are leaving from most frequently, which would then serve as valuable A/B test vehicles moving forward

Keep iterating to reduce cart abandonment rates

As marketing and buying technology advances, we’re keeping an eye on several emerging trends to see how they might impact cart abandonment.

For example, advances in voice-activated search are certain to impact the online buying process, as will augmented and virtual reality tools that permit customers to try before they buy.

Beyond technology, the biggest challenge for brands, as always, is keeping up with evolving buyer expectations. Shoppers are eager for ever more personalized shopping experiences and consistency across channels, while valuing sustainability and eco-friendly practices in manufacturing, packaging and delivery.

How can LS Direct help?

We’re experts at omnichannel retargeting solutions like Boomerang direct^® that deliver perfectly timed reminders to help combat cart abandonment and drive sales. If you’re looking to incorporate effective retargeting into your omnichannel marketing strategy, check out our on-demand webinar, How Direct Mail Bridges Online and Offline Marketing