Tips to Increase Conversion and Reduce Abandoned Cart Rate

Did you know according to Shopify, the average abandoned cart rate is 70%? That means almost three quarters of the customers that you're working your tail off to convert are going to bail before they make it to the checkout?

If it feels like you're fighting an uphill battle it's because you are.

But the good news is that researchers have already looked into why people ditch their carts before completing the purchase, and the top three reasons for cart abandonment are totally within your control.

First things first—if you don't have an abandoned cart email sequence in place, do that. Shopify has really great basic email flows already in place and you have to do is activate them. Klaviyo, an email and SMS marketing platform that is an official stategic partner with Shopify, discovered that over 41% of customers will open an abandoned cart email and 9.5% of them will click. Doing what you can to recover a cart is going to do nothing but help your business and make you more money.

The issue is that many shop owners stop there. Sending abandoned cart emails is great, and a very simple way to try to recover a cart. But what if you never lost the cart to begin with? What if you were able to reduce your abandoned cart rate to begin with? We helped one of our clients reduce her abandonment rate by 82% with some brand and website updates.

Drastically reducing your abandoned cart rate is completely within your control and here's how:

Keep pricing upfront and transparent.

More than a customer even wants to buy they thing in their cart, they want to know what it's going to cost them. Bottom line. A recent Statistica study from 2022 discovered that 64% of people abandoned their cart because they discovered extra costs during the checkout process (like shipping, taxes, or extra fees) or were unable to see the full cost for the purchase up front. Offering free shipping is the number one way you can increase your sales. People just don't want to pay shipping. But offering free shipping isn't possible for many small businesses. You can't compete with Amazon. So what are some other ways you can accomplish this?

• Offer a free shipping threshold. This is a win-win because your customer feels good about not having to pay for shipping and you just increased your average order value.
• Offer flat rate shipping. You can increase your prices to help offset the costs if you need to, but offering a single, flat rate for shipping can feel really manageable for customers. Using language like "Flat $9 shipping on all orders," lets them know exactly what to expect.

Another way you can be transparent about costs is including a shipping or tax calculator on your website, which allows your customer to type in their zip code and get an estimate of how much will be added to their order for shipping or taxes. However, keep in mind, this can sometimes still feel like "uncovering hidden costs" to the customer. If they don't like the number they see, they may still abandon their cart.

Ultimately, any steps you can take towards communicating any extra fees, taxes, or shipping costs upfront to your customer will help build trust with your customer have a positive influence on your conversion rate. And increasing your conversion rate, even by a small fraction, can dramatically help your business.

Optimize your website.

Statistica reported that 55% of people abandoned their cart because of a website issue like needing to create an account in order to check out, a broken or slow website, or a website they didn't trust with their credit card information. Making sure your website is optimized, easy to navigate, and looks trustworthy is a major part of building a strong brand with strong sales behind it. This is exactly what we help our clients with (<-- want to know more? Let's chat!). Some of clients have seen their sales increase 276% and increased their revenue by 250% after we helped them with their branding and website.

You can improve your customer's experience by simplifying your checkout process. Make sure they don't need to create an account in order to check out. Even if you offer customer accounts or have a rewards program be sure to also include the option to checkout as a guest. Statistica shows that 24% of customer will leave if they are required to create an account in order to checkout.

It's also important that your website be well organized and function properly. A lot of shop owners organize their website in a way that makes sense for them, but the reality is that your shop needs to be organized in a way that makes sense to your customers. Use collections wisely, make it easy to access products and find what you're looking for quickly.

Website optimization also takes into consideration the way the site is functioning. Do you have broken links? Does your site load slowly? Are customers bombarded with a ton of popups? Does your site work well on a mobile device? Are your customers able to easily access buttons and do they things they need to do without any frustration? Even if you feel like your website is doing well in all these areas, it would still be wise to get some feedback from a few people outside your business. Ask your family and friends to navigate your site, maybe give them a few tasks to complete and have them report back with their thoughts.

By implementing some of these tips and doing your best to optimize your store's online shopping experience you'll be well on your way to reducing your abandoned cart rate and putting the profits in your pocket.