The reality that many online store owners face is the potential customers abandoning their shopping carts without completing their purchase. According to Baymard Institute, 70.19% of all online shopping carts are abandoned before reaching the checkout page. This can be extremely frustrating for business owners who have invested time and effort into setting up their online store, only to see potential sales slip away. The solution? There are simple strategies you can implement to reduce Shopify shopping cart abandonment. In this article, we will discuss a range of effective techniques that can help optimise your store’s checkout process and increase conversions.

What is Shopify Cart Abandonment?

Shopify shopping cart abandonment is when a potential customer adds items to their shopping cart, but ultimately leaving the website without completing their purchase. This is a common issue for many online stores due to difficult checkout processes, unexpected shipping costs, and wishful thinking. As a business owner understanding the causes of Shopify cart abandonment and taking steps to reduce its occurrence can significantly boost your sales.

What’s the Average Cart Abandonment Rate?

According to Baymard Institute, the average cart abandonment rate is 69.99%. Research from Statista also says that when UK shoppers abandon carts, less than a third return to buy the items they left while rest of them buy the same product from a competitor.

Why does cart abandonment happens in the first place? The latest Baymard Institutes research found the following common reasons:

• Extra costs are too high (48%)
• The site wants me to create an account (24%)
• Delivery was too slow (22%)
• I didn’t trust the site with my credit card information (18%)
• Complicated checkout process (17%)
• I couldn’t see/calculate total order cost up-front (16%)
• Website had errors/crashed (13%)
• Returns policy wasn’t satisfactory (12%)
• Lack of payment options (11%)
• The credit card was declined (4%)

Baymard Institute estimates that $260 billion of lost orders in the US and EU could be recovered through improved checkout flow and design. If you’re running a Shopify store, let’s explore strategies to minimise cart abandonment and recover lost sales.

Ways to Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment on Shopify

Here are some ways that can help reduce your Shopify cart abandonment:

1. Simplify the Checkout with One-Page Checkout:

A one-page checkout is an eCommerce checkout process that consolidates all of the elements of a standard checkout process onto a single page, including shopping cart contents, payment details, shipping and billing address. This can drastically reduce the steps shoppers need to take to complete their purchases. By minimising the number of clicks, you make the process faster and more user-friendly, leading to fewer drop-offs.

We implemented one-page checkout solution to one of our client Piglet in Bed, a luxury bedding brand in UK.

2. Offer Guest Checkout Options:

Forcing users to create an account before purchasing is one of the fastest ways to lose a sale. Offering guest checkout option, a feature that allows customers to purchase without creating an account is key to improving the customer journey. It simplifies buying processes such as entering shipping details, selecting payment methods ensuring the process is as frictionless as possible. Example, Tommy Hilfiger using guest checkout option.

3. Clear and Transparent Pricing:

Hidden fees, especially unexpected shipping costs, are a primary driver of cart abandonment. Transparency from the beginning of the shopping experience is critical. Display shipping fees, taxes, and discounts clearly before customers hit the checkout page.

To address this, we integrated a free shipping threshold for many of our clients encouraging higher-value purchases while being upfront about shipping costs.

4. Use exit intent pop-ups:

Exit intent pop-ups can be a powerful tool to capture the attention of website visitors and potential customers to take action before leaving your site without completing their purchase.  Using these pop-ups, you can offer a discount code or free shipping to  encourage customers to make a purchase. Studies says that, cart abandonment pop-ups have an average conversion rate of 17.12%.

5. Offer many payment options:

One of the top reasons shoppers abandon carts is because there aren’t enough payment options. By providing multiple payment options like PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and buy-now-pay-later services you can enhances convenience and ensure that customers are able to easily make purchases without any obstacles.

6. Start a rewards program:

A rewards program can be a great way to encourage customers to complete their purchases and become repeat customers. By offering points for every purchase or other actions such as referring friends, you can create a loyalty program by Shopify apps such as LoyaltyLion, Smile thus encouraging customers to keep coming back and making purchases.

7. Use Social Proof and Trust Badges:

Another way to build trust is through social proof, such as customer reviews and ratings and trust badges. This can ease any concerns they may have about the safety and legitimacy of your website, ultimately reducing Shopify cart abandonment.

Piglet in Bed, for example, highlights specific testimonials from customers and a feed of reviews for shoppers.

8. Send Push Notifications:

Push notifications can be a great way to remind customers of abandoned carts or update them on current promotions or deals thus encouraging them to return and buy. As per studies, the average click rate of web push notifications is 12%. You can easily set up and manage push notification campaigns with Shopify app like PushOwl.

Conclusion

However, it’s important to understand that an abandoned cart doesn't necessarily mean a lost sale. By addressing cart abandonment directly, businesses can reduce revenue losses and improve overall customer experience.

As a Shopify partner, WIRO has helped numerous brands optimise their checkout processes, reducing cart abandonment and increasing conversions. Our clients, from luxury footwear to sustainable baby products, have benefitted from our data-driven approach to checkout customisation. If you’re looking to optimise your checkout process, now is the time to act.