7 methods for reducing shopping cart abandonment on your e-commerce site

On e-commerce sites, cart abandonment by customers is increasingly prevalent. 68% of users ultimately fail to complete their purchase, with 15 to 30% dropping off at the point of payment. Before anything else, it is important to understand the reasons behind this rise in cart abandonment, as it can cost you a great deal of money regardless of your sector.

Here are 7 methods that will first help you understand the sources of the problem, and then reduce your cart abandonment rate.

1. Re-engage users with retargeting

You can combat cart abandonment through retargeting. It is a way of reminding your customers, acting as a gentle nudge.

There are 2 different ways to remind your customers that they have not completed their purchases:

• You target them by showing the products again, with a promotion, in a banner displayed on other sites they visit. In this case, you can use solutions such as Adroll or Criteo, which are highly effective tools for reaching your customers across all types of devices and thus help you increase your sales. The technique is straightforward: customers are tracked via cookies that display redirect adverts back to your site.
• You opt for email retargeting, in which case you send them an email containing the contents of the abandoned cart along with an incentive "call to action" message and a promotion — and the advantage is that it can be personalised according to the customer. This technique allows you to improve your conversion rate, but do exercise caution and use it carefully. This method can feel intrusive to consumers, who may feel they are being watched.

2. Make smart use of Smart 3D-Secure

The 3D-Secure security system limits the risk of non-payment; it is fundamentally a good way to stop fraud, but it reduces conversion at the point of payment by adding an extra step. To reduce the number of abandoned carts, you should use Smart 3D-Secure. This is a technique found on PayPlug, which allows you to activate the 3D-Secure text only for transactions deemed most at risk. As a result, all other sales do not have to go through this step, which increases the abandonment rate by 20%. You will therefore be able to sell more with ease.

To use it, simply activate the Smart 3D-Secure option from the Configuration tab of your PayPlug portal. Only the riskiest payments will then be subject to a 3D-Secure check. Note that by using this method, the conversion rate increases by 8%.

3. Offer a wishlist

The wishlist is indispensable for keeping your customers engaged through to purchase. This feature allows your customers to save items they might wish to buy later in a dedicated corner of the site.

This method serves a real purpose: most of the time, customers fill their basket wanting to keep items to buy at a later date, but when they return after some time, their basket is empty and they are discouraged from repeating their search, which causes a drop in the sales rate. With a wishlist, items are saved and can only be removed by the customer themselves, thus limiting cart abandonment. Most CMSs offer modules such as PrestaShop, Magento or WooCommerce that can be installed very quickly and used immediately.

4. Adapt your shipping costs

The amount of shipping costs can very often put your customers off; they are frequently taken aback by the final total.

At the outset, they only know the price of the items, and it is only at the moment of purchase confirmation that customers learn the total amount. And it is often at that point that most abandon their basket.

Think carefully about not alarming them by reducing your shipping costs as much as possible. If you cannot lower them sufficiently, please indicate the shipping costs throughout the customer purchase journey. If it is not possible to reduce these costs significantly, try to clearly indicate their amount throughout the customer journey.

5. Reassure your audience

Customers are often lost online; they do not always know how to distinguish good e-commerce sites from bad ones. If the customer cannot find their way around, they will not feel confident and therefore will not place an order on your site.

To reassure your audience you can proceed in various ways:

• Take into account your design, which plays a key role in how your site is perceived. If your design is good, you prove that you are true professionals in whom people can have confidence.
• Think about adding an "about us" tab at the top of your site to demonstrate your credibility to your customers.
• Include a phone number: it will prove that the site is real and that if customers have the slightest problem or question, they can call and get information, which reduces the perceived risk of purchasing and allows them to place their orders.

6. Vary the payment methods

The more payment methods you offer, the more you reassure your customers — they feel secure, they have a choice, it builds their confidence, and as a result they are not afraid to buy. Offer PayPal to your customers; they can make a secure payment and therefore spend as much as they wish, feeling reassured.

Your customers will each choose the payment method that suits them best.

Display the different payment methods clearly on the site interface, so that they are visible throughout the transaction.

7. Take care with product presentation

The customer is always at a disadvantage when ordering online — they cannot see the products in person, try them on, or touch them.

Your aim is therefore to do everything possible to put them at ease, try to address their doubts, and offer a generous number of high-quality photographs with the most detailed product descriptions possible. For example, if you sell ready-to-wear clothing, be sure to detail sizes with a guide, according to different countries…

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By using these 7 methods you will understand the issues encountered on e-commerce sites and be able to improve your conversion rate by reducing your cart abandonment rate.

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