There are few things more disheartening as almost closing a sale. A successful conversion funnel is the ideal outcome. Here are four tips on how to stop customers dropping their cart and doing a runner at the online check-out.

By Nigel Bowen

In a bricks-and-mortar store, it is rare for someone to put items into a shopping trolley, wheel it to the cash register and then vanish. For online shopping, however, this happens more often than not.

There is no shortage of possible reasons – shipping costs, delivery issues, poor check-out experience and untrustworthy-looking websites are the most commonly cited suspects. 
However, there are strategies small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can put in place to minimise cart abandonment and get their customers to click “pay”.

Provide a seamless shopping experience

Shannon Ingrey, vice president and general manager APAC of BigCommerce, despairs that many SMEs continue to believe that simply having a website is enough to drive sales. 

“In 2021, it’s not enough to just have an online presence and e-commerce facilities,” he says. 

“Businesses need to go beyond just providing a functional site and identify and address consumers’ desires.”

Ingrey suggests any business wanting to reduce cart abandonment start by investigating their customers’ pain points. 

“To take two examples, consumers increasingly want to ‘click and collect’ goods and use ‘buy now, pay later’ to purchase both goods and services. 

“Any business that isn’t offering these delivery and payment options is costing itself sales. If you don’t want consumers to abandon carts, obsess over providing them with a seamless shopping experience,” Ingrey says. 

Do your analysis

Eshita Durve, marketing manager and automation specialist at the digital marketing agency Rocket, says that Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) analysis often reveals that confusion around shipping or payment options is behind cart abandonment for many SMEs.

“Shipping details should be clearly displayed,” Durve says. 

“E-commerce businesses should consider adding a header banner on all pages and more prominent text on the product pages and check-out page to highlight shipping information. 

“It’s the same deal with payment options. You don’t want to lose a sale because a potential customer isn’t sure whether you accept AfterPay, or ApplePay or American Express.”

Once this low-hanging fruit has been plucked, it is time to bring out the digital marketing “big guns”. 

“If a customer has signalled an interest in your product by putting it in their cart, it’s a no-brainer to send them follow-up emails providing them with more information about the product,” Durve says. 

“You may also want to offer a limited-time discount to prompt a quick purchasing decision. 

“Remarketing can be remarkably effective, too – having ads pop up on a warm lead’s Facebook or Instagram feed is often enough to get them over the line.”

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