20 tips: How to recover abandoned shopping carts in an online store?

In today's times, online shopping has become very popular. More and more people choose to shop in online stores because it is convenient and saves time.

What are abandoned carts in an online store?

Abandoned carts refer to situations where customers add products to the cart but do not complete the purchase.

Usually, this happens when the user interrupts the shopping process for various reasons, such as internet connection failure, lack of time, unexpected phone call, or simply deciding to make a purchase in another store.

In such cases, online stores have solutions to recover abandoned carts.

First of all, it is worth noting that e-commerce stores have tools that allow recovering abandoned carts. This way, we can avoid losing orders, and the seller has a chance to finalize the transaction.

What are the reasons for cart abandonment?

People often think that the most common reason for abandoning shopping carts in online stores is a change of mind by the user, but there are actually other, more important factors:

Finance and payment in e-commerce - payment methods and high costs

Price comparison websites are very popular because we want to buy products at the best and most attractive prices for us. Many people give up shopping when they find a product at a lower price. Therefore, it is important to regularly check competitors' offers and compete with them, also in terms of shipping costs.

Delivery costs are also very important for users who often choose cheaper or free shipping if they have two products of similar prices to choose from. Customers often add products to the cart to check the shipping costs. Therefore, it is worth providing visible information about the costs and methods of delivery at the beginning of the ordering process, to avoid losing the user when they find out about the costs at the end of the process (additional costs they were not aware of), and these turn out to be high.

If offering free shipping is not possible in your business, consider the following options:

• Offer free shipping above a specific amount (for example, if the average value of the cart in your store is 140 PLN, offer free shipping above 160-170 PLN, i.e., above an amount higher by 10-20% than the average cart value).
• Free or cheaper shipping only for regular customers.
• Organize days with free shipping without payment for it.
• Free shipping to brick-and-mortar stores or other pickup points.

Time and navigation during ordering - long and complicated purchasing process

This topic can be divided into several aspects. Usually, the reason why customers give up shopping and abandon the cart is their impatience related to too long, complicated, or unclear purchasing process.

To make it easier for potential customers to make purchases, store owners should focus on maximizing the simplification of the process. This can be achieved by:

1. Visible placement of the shopping cart

It is important for the cart to be clearly visible at every stage of the shopping process, and to display the number and value of added products.

2. Continuing shopping after adding a product to the cart

In many stores, after this stage, the user is automatically redirected to the order page, which can be annoying, especially for larger purchases.

3. Allowing cart editing

Adding options to remove products, change their quantity with a recalculation of the order value.

4. Remembering the cart contents

Some users return to finalize the transaction after a few days from adding products to the cart. Remembering the cart contents will save them time, which will certainly have a positive impact on the store's rating and increase the chances of completing the purchase.

5. Creating a navigation path

Creating a graphical presentation of the order steps, allowing the user to see their current position in the order process and track their progress.

6. Providing the option to make purchases without registration

Some customers prefer this method due to time savings and concerns about receiving spam after creating an account, so it is worth giving them this option.

7. Encouraging account creation

By proposing registration when the customer enters shipping information, which allows for automatic addition of this information to the customer profile and significantly speeds up the registration and purchasing process.

8. Minimizing registration form length

By removing unnecessary fields that are not needed at the purchasing stage (e.g., province, gender).

9. Enabling automatic form completion

Which not only suggests data (e.g., suggesting a city based on the postal code) but also saves the user from having to enter the same information again.

10. Delayed page loading or errors on the page

If your website is hosted on a weak server that is not optimized for efficient operation of an online store and contains large amounts of images, graphics, and videos, there is a risk that your website will perform poorly and errors will appear on many devices and platforms of potential customers.

Since users expect fast website loading, the page response time should be a maximum of 2 seconds. It is worth paying attention to this and using tools to monitor page speed, such as Google Page Speed Insights. Google rewards pages that load quickly and penalizes pages that load slowly.

11. Long order fulfillment time

Up to 35% of customers are dissatisfied with the long order fulfillment time.

If your competition has products in stock (available for shipping within 24 hours), and you only order products after receiving an order from a customer (which can take 2-3 business days, and only if the supplier is in Poland), you risk losing the customer to the competition.

There is no longer a credible argument for delaying delivery time due to the inefficiency of the courier company, as courier services are performed very efficiently (usually delivery takes place within 24-48 hours from sending the shipment).

To satisfy increasingly demanding customers, it is worth considering the Same Day Delivery service, which means that the order will be delivered on the day it is placed. According to the report E-commerce in Poland, as many as 29% of customers choose to shop in your online store due to fast delivery.

Security and customer trust during order placement

1. Trust in the store

A customer will not want to leave their data and money in a store they do not trust. To build store credibility, it is worth:

• Create a professional website that is easy to navigate and highly functional.
• Show positive recommendations and reviews from satisfied customers and business partners.
• Provide reliable information about the company, its specialization, and offer.
• Provide a transparent return policy, warranty, and costs.
• Show any graphics that confirm high service standards, quality guarantee, and safety.
• Install data encryption tools on the website, such as the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protocol, which ensures confidentiality and secure information flow.

2. Transaction security

According to Statistica, as many as 13% of users abandon the shopping cart due to doubts about payment security. This also includes the lack of the preferred payment method offered, for example, by PayU. Therefore, it is important to assure the customer that transactions in the store are secure. According to the report E-commerce in Poland, as many as 59% of users prefer fast bank transfer through online payment services.

Distractions - being distracted on the platform does not finalize the transaction

Unfinished purchases often result from factors that distract our attention, such as a phone call, unexpected guest, crying child, or other priorities and tasks. In such a situation, it is important to use the following suggestions, which can be very helpful.

How to recover abandoned carts and increase the chances of completing the transaction?

Abandoned carts are a problem. But in addition to the previous advice, there are other steps we should take to recover abandoned carts in an e-commerce online store. Here are a few useful additional tips:

1. Sending a reminder email

Many online stores automatically send an email reminding the customer about the abandoned cart, creating a kind of marketing campaign specifically for abandoned carts (different from a newsletter). In such an email, there is a link to the email address that will redirect us to the cart, and we will have a chance to continue shopping where we left off.

2. Offering a discount

Online stores often offer users who have abandoned the cart a special discount on their purchase. This way, the customer can take advantage of a lower price, and the store has a chance to finalize the transaction. However, it is important for the e-store not to overdo it with such discounts, as the conversion rate through completing the purchase online does increase, but our profit from a given order decreases.

3. Reminder through chat

Some online stores offer the option of reminding about the abandoned cart through chat. This way, the prospective customer can quickly and easily contact the store's customer service and complete the purchase.

4. Remarketing ads

Online stores often use marketing tactics that display to customers who have previously abandoned the cart - this is remarketing. This way, users are reminded of their cart while browsing other websites.

5. Phone call from the seller

Sometimes, the seller of an online store decides to contact the customer who has abandoned the cart by phone. In such a case, the seller can inquire about the reasons for abandoning the cart and offer additional benefits to convince the customer to return.