When customers browse your website, choose products, and then fail to complete their purchases, this is known as shopping cart abandonment. When these rates are high, you can be sure that you are missing out on lucrative sales. Understanding how to calculate this figure, and launching preventative strategies to reduce shopping cart abandonment, can help you to minimize this drain on your bottom line.

How to calculate your shopping cart abandonment rate.

Your ecommerce payment processing software should allow you to determine both the total number of completed purchases and the number of abandoned shopping carts. Divide the former by the latter, and subtract from one. Then multiply that figure by 100. Ideally, your shopping cart abandonment rate should fall below 70%.

Why does shopping cart abandonment occur?

There are several reasons why customers fail to complete their ecommerce purchases. They include the following: 

• A complicated checkout process. Try to avoid offering checkout with multiple steps and forms to complete.
• Unexpected costs. People tend to become squeamish if they encounter unanticipated charges. The most common of these has to do with shipping. If the total they are expected to pay jumps suddenly just before completion of the purchase, shoppers may opt to click away.
• Mandatory account creation. First-time shoppers in particular are wary if they are asked to go through the extra steps involved in establishing an account. Requiring people to set up a username and password can act as a major deterrent.
• Concerns about payment security. If shoppers suspect that their sensitive payment information could be compromised because of lax website security procedures, they will protect themselves by buying elsewhere.
• Quantity limits. Buyers will become frustrated if they learn that they are restricted from obtaining the number of items they want.
• Bargain hunting. If the buyer finds a lower price from one of your competitors, you may lose out on the sale.
• Few payment choices. Today’s shoppers are used to businesses that allow them to pay using their desired method: credit or debit cards, PayPal, buy-now-pay-later, etc. If you accept international payments, your shoppers will most likely expect to also pay using their native currency.
• An ambiguous return policy. If the products customers are buying do not meet their expectations, they want to know that there is a clear and uncomplicated way to make a return. If your website is vague about this, they may abandon their purchase.
• Website issues. If your site is unstable or buggy, this reflects poorly on your store as a whole.

Running an ecommerce site with some or all of these issues is a sure recipe for heightened shopping cart abandonment.

Techniques to reduce abandonment.

Although you will never totally eradicate shopping cart abandonment, there are things you can do to minimize it. Below are ten of the most impactful.

1. Fully disclose all costs up front. This includes taxes, shipping, and any additional fees. It is better to inform buyers from the start than to have them encounter nasty surprises when they cash out.
2. Let shoppers know where they are in the checkout process. The best way to do this is by placing a progress bar on your site. If someone can see that they are close to completion they will be more likely to take the last few steps.
3. Include product thumbnails throughout the checkout process. By doing so, buyers will remain aware of exactly what they are purchasing.
4. Minimize clicks. It needs to be as easy as possible for shoppers to go between their cart and your ecommerce store to add or subtract items. You might even allow buyers to check out right from your product pages to further streamline navigation.
5. Optimize your page loading speed. Whether it is when they are looking at your product pages or while in the act of paying, consumers expect information to load quickly. If it doesn’t, they may become squeamish about completing their purchase.
6. Allow shoppers to purchase as a guest. First-time buyers may not want to take the extra time involved in setting up an account. Allowing for guest check-in lets them complete their purchase while remaining unconnected to your site. Of course, you can still prompt people to save their information when they get to the confirmation page, thus enabling you to collect contact details that you can use in future marketing campaigns.
7. Anticipate and address frequent questions and concerns by providing live chat. This is the best way to mimic the brick-and-mortar shopping experience. Furthermore, it helps you to establish a rapport with your customers.
8. Prominently show security seals and trust symbols. Reassuring customers that their payment information will be kept safe from online predators goes a long way toward streamlining the buying process. Furthermore, you can showcase your site’s compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and provide additional safeguards with EMVCo 3-D Secure payments.
9. Provide a variety of payment options. Give your customers several choices, including paying with credit and debit cards, digital wallets, bank transfers, and even cryptocurrency.
10. Make your shipping and return policies prominent and easy to understand. People are putting trust in you when they shop online. Reassuring them by providing them with details about these important protocols can give them the peace of mind that encourages them to complete their purchases.
11. Re-engage customers who abandon their carts. Just because someone clicks away, it does not mean that you can’t get them back. Use techniques such as pop-ups to encourage buyers to return to their carts, reminder emails that refresh their memory about the products they had chosen, and testimonials from happy customers.

Customers want to be in control of their purchase process from start to finish. Employing these measures can provide reassurance by showing shoppers that your business is worthy of their trust.

Treating buyers to a website that features a streamlined browsing and buying experience is the hallmark of a stellar ecommerce company. To the extent that your pages can offer this gold standard, you will be able to reduce the business bugaboo of cart abandonment.