Conversion and abandonment – the ingredients you need to maximize your checkout experience

One of the key areas in ecommerce that merchants often find puzzling is the checkout cart. It holds an incredibly important place within all online stores, but merchants often have little-to-no insight into what’s actually happening in it.

As a merchant, perhaps you’ve found yourself pondering things like:

• Why didn’t that customer complete their order?
• Their cart has been full for five days now. When are they going to make their purchase?
• Is there something that could have been added to the online experience to help drive their purchase?

While it’s impossible to know exactly what goes on inside a customer’s head when they choose to abandon their cart or delay checkout, we do have solid insights into what motivates shoppers during the checkout phase.

Canada Post’s online shopper research focuses on the source of behaviour changes –Canadian online shoppers– to understand what leads to a completed purchase. Use our findings to give your shoppers what they want and expect to see at checkout, and discover what factors into their decision to abandon their cart.

Three ways to avoid cart abandonment and boost completed purchases

Every abandoned cart is a missed opportunity. These three tips can help improve customer conversion at checkout and improve customer loyalty:

Factor shipping costs and flexibility into the customer experience

It’s no surprise that the cost of shipping continues to be highly influential when it comes to online shoppers’ decision making – 92 per cent of online shoppers surveyed said that they’ve abandoned their cart because the cost of shipping was too high. While free shipping is influential, offering different options to obtain free shipping can also help mitigate instances of cart abandonment. Offering minimum order thresholds, a free shipping option for standard or longer delivery timelines or the ability to buy online and pick up in store can help you convert shoppers into customers, especially those who want to minimize their shipping costs.

Being upfront about any shipping costs is also an essential consideration as shoppers get ready to click the “buy” button – with 69 per cent saying that a retailer who does not provide estimated shipping costs prior to checkout, stopped them from completing the checkout process.

Offering shoppers the option to choose and customize aspects of their delivery experience can be a game-changer for your business. By offering flexible options, your business can inspire better cart conversion and customer loyalty – 40 per cent of respondents said that they chose to abandon their cart due to a lack of flexible delivery or pickup options. Think of it as a preventative measure to stop cart abandonment – and consider integrating flexible options into every aspect of the shopper journey. They’re looking for flexibility in how they can make returns as well. 56 per cent cited a lack of flexible return options as the reason for leaving their cart behind.

Be transparent for a better customer experience

When it comes to the checkout stage, shoppers want pertinent delivery information at their fingertips so they can make an informed decision. A key piece of information to include is the delivery date. It’s a major contributing factor in cart abandonment. In fact, we found that 44 per cent of shoppers will abandon their cart if an estimated delivery date is not provided prior to checkout and 46 per cent will choose one retailer over another because they provide an expected delivery date.

To offer shoppers delivery dates at checkout, explore your ecommerce platform’s checkout options. Many of them offer rating as a function. “Rating” enables merchants to display real-time shipping rates and delivery dates for shoppers before they click through to checkout. Be sure to take this opportunity to display the name of the shipper as well – withholding that information is another factor that contributes to cart abandonment. It’s important to be as transparent as possible to instill trust at the last stage before they complete their purchase.

When it comes to international purchases, taxes, duties and brokerage fees are thorns in the side of your customers. Not having the ability to pay them in advance lead 68 per cent of online shoppers to abandon their carts. Make sure your customers know the full cost of ordering and receiving your product – regardless of the country they live in.

Follow up with shoppers who have abandoned their carts

Just because a shopper abandons their cart doesn’t mean that they are gone for good. Implement a cart abandonment strategy to follow up with shoppers who haven’t completed their purchase. This will help secure conversions that otherwise would be missed. An email or direct mail piece that reminds them of the items in their abandoned cart could be all that’s needed to incite action with just over a quarter (26 per cent) of online shoppers saying that they will often return to a retailer and make a purchase after receiving a reminder that items were left in their cart.

The big picture

Focus on providing shoppers with the best customer experience possible. A convenient shopping experience that doesn’t leave your shoppers searching for key shipping information. Offering flexible shipping options, being upfront and transparent about shipping costs and following up with shoppers who have abandoned their carts will help increase cart conversions and customer loyalty – and boost your bottom line.

Source:
Canada Post. 2021 Canadian Online Shopper Study, April 2021.