Abandoned cart recovery – reduce cart abandonment in 4 steps

According to Statista, average cart abandonment rate hovers around 70%. How to reduce cart abandonment in your online store? See proven strategies for increasing purchase in your store!

Cart abandonment statistics

Statista pinpoints main reasons for cart abandonment:

• 48% of customers abandon their order because of extra high costs like shipping, tax or fees;
• 26% of cart abandonment are caused by an obligation to create an account;
• 25% of unfinished purchase is due to security doubts;
• 23% customers resigned from purchase because of slow delivery;
• 22% give up buying due to too long or too complicated checkout;
• in 21% of cases total cost is unclear;
• 18% of abandoned carts come from unsatisfactory return policy;
• 17% from website errors;
• 13% from little payment options.

How can you deal with these problems and improve your conversion rate (CRO)? Read further!

Reduce shopping cart abandonment – 4 proven ways with useful tools

1. Improve your shipping experience

Behind shipping experience stands many actions, including shipping times, order accuracy or packaging. Let’s focus on the most important aspect helping in reducing shopping cart abandonment, so shipping costs and speed.

Be clear about shipping costs.

You need to be straightforward in terms of any costs a customer needs to cover. The updated cost in real time on the product’s page seems like the easiest way to mitigate the issue of abandonment cart. Live Rates can come in handy. With a usage of your carrier’s account connected to WooCommerce store, you can get automatically calculated shipping rates based on products’ weight, dimensions and the entered shipping destination. You can find several live rates plugins here. You can also check it out in real life by trying the demo.



UPS WooCommerce Live Rates and Access Points PRO
€79.00
Offer UPS Access Points support and live shipping rates in WooCommerce.
View Details or Add to cart
Octolize
9,000+ Active Installations 30-day money back guarantee
Last Updated: 2024-09-30
Works with WooCommerce 9.0 - 9.4.x

Provide free shipping

Another option which might be helpful for reducing cart abandonment is providing free shipping. The option becomes a standard in e-commerce: according to Shippo report 62% of customers won’t purchase unless given free delivery.

Think about it as an opportunity: the same report states that 47% of customers will spend a minimum amount to get free shipping. Implementation of such a solution is easy, especially if you own a Woocommerce store. For free shipping over a certain amount, use the Flexible Shipping PRO plugin. With this tool, you can create rules based on the user role and do a lot more.


Flexible Shipping PRO WooCommerce
€99.00
The best Table Rate Shipping for WooCommerce. Period. Create shipping rules based on weight, order totals or item count.
View Details or Add to cart
Octolize
100,000+ Active Installations 30-day money back guarantee
Last Updated: 2024-09-26
Works with WooCommerce 9.0 - 9.4.x

Focus on delivery speed

Sometimes purchase is triggered by an instant need or upcoming occasion. Customers need to have the package even within a day. To facilitate the need, check integrations of several suppliers (DHL, UPS, FedEx), so customers can choose between the cheapest or more expensive option, same-day or next-day delivery.

How to integrate with shipping providers? Use for instance DHL Express WooCommerce Shipping Plugin – Live Rates PRO for WooCommerce stores.


DHL Express WooCommerce Live Rates PRO
€79.00
Serve your customers the automatically calculated DHL Express shipping live rates. Add the handling fees, insurance and more.
View Details or Add to cart
Octolize
700+ Active Installations 30-day money back guarantee
Last Updated: 2024-09-30
Works with WooCommerce 9.0 - 9.4.x

2. Rescue a cart abandonment with email sequence

Instead of forcing customers to create an account on your website, opt for email marketing. Emphasize pros of subscribing to your newsletter and get familiar with marketing automation tools.

The latter will help you create targeted emails to customers who have abandoned their carts. It can be a highly effective way to recover lost sales. These emails should:

• Be sent in a timely manner, ideally within a few hours of abandonment;
• Include the specific items left in the cart and a direct link to complete the purchase;
• Offer an incentive, such as a discount or free shipping, to encourage completion;
• Use a compelling subject line and engaging copy to grab the recipient’s attention.

Even if the first email would not be successful, you can create a whole sequence and remind a customer about their intention within a couple of days. To create such messages, get familiar with Getresponse or Synerise.

3. Secure payments and boost customers’ confidence

Customers are increasingly concerned about the security of their personal and financial information when shopping online. To address this:

• Implement SSL encryption to protect data transmitted during the checkout process. This technology encrypts data transmitted between your website and your customers, making it difficult for hackers to intercept sensitive information. Displaying a padlock icon in the browser’s address bar can provide immediate reassurance to customers.
• Display trust seals and security badges from reputable organizations. These badges can significantly enhance customer confidence, as they signal that your site adheres to industry-standard security practices.
• Create a clear and transparent privacy policy outlining your data collection and protection practices. Make this information easily accessible on your website. Customers are more likely to complete their purchases if they understand how their data is handled and feel assured that their privacy is respected.
• Use Trusted Payment Gateways. Partner with reputable payment processors like PayPal, Stripe, or Square. These platforms have robust security measures in place and are widely recognized by consumers. Offering multiple, secure payment options can also help alleviate concerns.
• Regularly Update Security Protocols. Stay informed about the latest security threats and regularly update your website’s security measures. This includes keeping your e-commerce platform, plugins, and themes up to date, as outdated software can be a vulnerability. See: how to use a WordPress plugin.

4. Improve user experience, especially on mobile

Retailers should aim to minimize the number of steps and form fields required, while still collecting the necessary information. Providing a guest checkout option, without forcing account creation, can significantly reduce abandonment. Clear instructions and progress indicators throughout the checkout process help customers feel confident and in control.

Mobile optimization is another key consideration. According to the survey by Statista, the mobile cart abandonment rate is increasing in the U.S., reaching 84% in the second quarter of 2022. With an increasing number of customers shopping on their smartphones, it’s essential that the entire website, including the checkout, is optimized for mobile devices. A responsive design, large buttons, and easy-to-read text can greatly improve the mobile shopping experience.


Summary

You now know 4 most important ways for abandoned cart recovery. Improving shipping experience, implementing email marketing initiatives and enhancing user experience will help you reduce cart abandonment. These practices are also a part of conversion rate optimization – if you want to know more about making the best out of your store, read the article: Ecommerce conversion rate optimization – 16 tips for your store.