What are some effective ways to reduce cart abandonment and increase checkout completion?

Cart abandonment is a common challenge for online retailers, who lose potential sales and revenue when customers leave their site without completing their purchase. According to some estimates, the average cart abandonment rate is around 70%. How can you reduce this rate and increase checkout completion? In this article, you'll learn some effective ways to optimize your conversion funnel and persuade more visitors to buy from you.

1 Understand your audience

The first step to reducing cart abandonment is to understand your audience and their needs, preferences, and pain points. You can use marketing analytics tools and methods to collect and analyze data about your visitors, such as their demographics, behavior, sources, and feedback. This will help you create buyer personas and segments, and tailor your offers, messages, and design to match their expectations and motivations.

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Sidhant Bakhru

Director, Growth Product / Marketing & Experimentation at Disney Streaming
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I've found it helpful to segment prospects into Buyers vs Shoppers. Shoppers are typically higher up in the purchase journey and may require more education about a service or product before committing to a purchase. Tactics such as a free trial, a comparison chart, or FAQs help get these users closer to a purchase decision. Shoppers also tend to make repeat visits, so personalized experiences that are tailored to past behaviors can help convert them. Buyers are more ready to buy and will appreciate a shorter, optimized funnel.

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2 Simplify your checkout process

One of the main reasons why customers abandon their carts is a complicated or confusing checkout process. You can simplify your checkout process by reducing the number of steps, fields, and clicks required to complete a purchase. You can also provide clear and consistent navigation, progress indicators, and error messages, and avoid any hidden fees or surprises. Additionally, you can offer multiple payment options, security badges, and guest checkout to make your checkout process more convenient and trustworthy.

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Sidhant Bakhru

Director, Growth Product / Marketing & Experimentation at Disney Streaming
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Tailoring the checkout process to device type is important. Mobile users prefer vertical navigation, concise text, and payment methods that rely on saved information. The fewer the steps, the better. Inspect every piece of information you're requesting users to provide, and test to see if removing / changing those improves conversion rate.

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3 Use urgency and scarcity

Another way to reduce cart abandonment and increase checkout completion is to use urgency and scarcity techniques to create a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) among your customers. You can use countdown timers, stock indicators, and limited-time offers to show your customers that they have a limited window of opportunity to buy your products or services. You can also use social proof, such as reviews, ratings, and testimonials, to show your customers that others are buying and enjoying your products or services.

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4 Optimize your cart page

Your cart page is the last step before your customers proceed to checkout, so you want to make sure it's optimized to encourage them to continue. You can optimize your cart page by displaying clear and appealing product images, titles, and prices, and allowing your customers to edit, remove, or save their items for later. You can also show the total cost, including taxes and shipping fees, and offer free shipping or discounts to incentivize your customers to buy more.

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5 Implement exit-intent popups

Even if you optimize your checkout process and cart page, some customers may still try to leave your site without buying. You can try to capture their attention and persuade them to stay with exit-intent popups. These are popups that appear when your customers move their cursor towards the close or back button on their browser. You can use exit-intent popups to offer a coupon code, a free trial, a lead magnet, or a reminder of the benefits of your products or services.

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6 Follow up with cart abandonment emails

Finally, you can reduce cart abandonment and increase checkout completion by following up with cart abandonment emails. These are emails that you send to your customers who have left their carts without buying, usually within 24 hours of their visit. You can use cart abandonment emails to remind your customers of what they left behind, restate the value proposition of your products or services, and overcome any objections or concerns they may have. You can also include a clear and compelling call to action, such as "Complete your order now" or "Return to your cart".

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Sidhant Bakhru

Director, Growth Product / Marketing & Experimentation at Disney Streaming
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You could shorten the purchase journey for abandoners by taking them back to their last completed step. You can auto-populate previously-entered information to reduce friction, and provide assurances by displaying your return / cancelation policy. Consider removing your most common barriers to purchase (no free shipping, for example) by offering a discount. Even if small in value, this can trigger reciprocation and finally convert hesitant customers who are deep in the purchase journey. Scarcity or social proof messaging could help here as well.

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7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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What are some effective ways to reduce cart abandonment and increase checkout completion?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 Understand your audience

2 Simplify your checkout process

3 Use urgency and scarcity

4 Optimize your cart page

5 Implement exit-intent popups

6 Follow up with cart abandonment emails

7 Here’s what else to consider

Marketing Analytics

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What are some effective ways to reduce cart abandonment and increase checkout completion?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 Understand your audience

2 Simplify your checkout process

3 Use urgency and scarcity

4 Optimize your cart page

5 Implement exit-intent popups

6 Follow up with cart abandonment emails

7 Here’s what else to consider

Marketing Analytics

Rate this article

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