Cart abandonment is one of the biggest issues faced by e-commerce businesses. According to Statista, the average global shopping cart abandonment rate is 69.57%–meaning that nearly ¾ of all online shoppers begin the checkout process, but leave the site before completing the purchase.
Each year, e-commerce sites lose a total of approximately $18 billion in revenue due to cart abandonment–a staggering number that should jolt e-commerce business owners to fully analyze the problem.
We take a look at which industries are most susceptible to cart abandonment, the reasons why customers are leaving your site prior to completing a purchase, and finally, how you can optimize your site to prevent further cart abandonment.
Overall Cart Abandonment Rates
Here are the 2019 reported cart abandonment rates of countries around the world as reported by Bariliance:
– Spain: 86.14%
– France: 76.81%
– Great Britain: 76.01%
– Australia: 74.64%
– Canada: 72.44%
– United States: 71.86%
– Netherlands: 65.49%
Cart Abandonment by Industry
Cart abandonment rates can vary widely depending on what type of industry your business is in. According to SalesCycle, here are some of the industries with the highest rate of cart abandonment:
– Retail: 74.6%
– Fashion: 74.1%
– Travel: 81.3%
– Airlines: 87.9%
– Finance: 78.0%
Cart Abandonment by Device
Today, mobile device usage accounts for nearly half (48.71%) of web traffic globally, according to Statista.
It is not surprising that online users have gravitated towards the convenience of mobile phones, but, due to some mobile-specific features, there is a clear correlation between the size of a screen and the amount of cart abandonments.
Average Cart Abandonment Rate by Device
A study conducted by Barilliance found:
Desktop: 73.07% average cart abandonment rate
Tablet: 80.74% average cart abandonment rate
Mobile: 85.65% average cart abandonment rate
Mobile sites had the highest rate of cart abandonment, with over 85% of all transactions on mobile sites ending without a successful sale.
Basically, the smaller the size of the screen, the more likely potential customers will abandon their cart before purchasing. But why is this rate so high when so many users are relying on their smartphones to browse the internet?
In many cases, e-commerce shops are not completely optimized for mobile. Lagging loading times, unresponsive links, and inconvenient shopping carts all contribute to this. On a desktop, your page might be laid out perfectly–making it aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate. However, once that page shrinks down, it may cause customers to have to zoom in and out to try to navigate through your site, which can become tiresome and irritating.
Also, pop-ups can become harder to click in and out of on mobile screens, causing irritation and a possible customer loss.
More and more people are gravitating towards their phones as their primary source for the internet, so ensure that your site is as mobile-friendly as possible.
Reasons for Cart Abandonment
So why do people abandon their carts?
According to a study conducted by the Baymard Institute, these are the most prevalent reasons for shopping cart abandonment:
How to Minimize Cart Abandonment
Now, let’s take a look at what you can do about these statistics.
1. Extra Costs Too High
As you can see, surprise costs are the number one reason that customers abandon their carts, with 53% of customers reporting dissatisfaction with this sector.
The customer might begin to add a product to their cart expecting the final price to be the price listed, only to find out later that due to fees, shipping, and taxes, the price is actually significantly higher.
In order to minimize these purchasing surprises, ensure that any related costs to the product are transparent from the get-go. For example, you could create a page on your site dedicated to detailing the shipping, delivery, and added fees, or adding a section in an FAQ page outlining your rates.
You could also add a line below the original price of the product on its advertised page that states the shipping and delivery fees.
Furthermore, your business could decide that it wants to automatically include shipping and delivery fees in the original price of the item. Your business could then offer “free” shipping to the customer, or disclose that the shipping price is already included in the product price advertised.
These methods will help reduce price shock when the customer begins the checkout process.
2. Requiring a New User Account
31% of customers reported that their reason for abandoning their cart was due to the site requiring the creation of a new user account. Although this may seem like a great way to add customers to your community, it is an annoyance and nuisance that slows down customers when they are trying to purchase an item.
Don’t force customers to create an account. Instead, give them the option to checkout as a guest. Customers shop online for ease, convenience, and speed. If they are forced to slow down, they might abandon your site all together.
Once the customer has completed the purchase, ask them if they would like to create an account on your site–possibly enticing them by explaining that their shipping and credit card information can be saved for later to further speed up their process in the future.
3. Complicated Checkout Process
If your checkout process is long and convoluted, customers will quickly abandon your site. Ensure that your checkout process flows nicely and is easy to navigate. Delete unnecessary forms, don’t require new account creation, and only ask for necessary information in order to streamline the checkout process.
4. Payment Security
When there is a lack of trust between business and customer, cart abandonment rates soar. Some customers might begin to distrust your website security due to site design flaws, outdated layouts, or failure to obtain an SSL certificate.
The first step to heightening customer trust is to clearly obtain services from, and display symbols of, security companies such as Norton, Truste, and Verisign.
Also, provide your full list of contact information and advertise customer testimonials, product reviews, and endorsements. You might even decide to create a “Meet the Team” page that lists the bios and photographs of your team members. All of these will instill trust within the customer and verify that you are a legitimate business.
5. Slow Delivery Times
Customers want their products as soon as possible. The price of shipping is one of the main reasons for shopping cart abandonment, but the speed of shipping is also a major concern among customers.
The main solution is to offer express shipping–even if you have to charge more for it. Customers will often pay more to have an item shipped faster, so always give the option for express shipping, even if you can’t provide it for free.
6. Website Crashes
Always make sure that your website is optimized for customer use. Slow load times, website crashes, and site errors are major reasons for cart abandonment. If your site isn’t working, customers will be quick to close your site and move on to the next.
Consistently check your site for any issues in speed or accuracy. Do this across all platforms to ensure that your site works perfectly from a desktop to a mobile screen. We’ve compiled a list of ways that you can enhance the speed of your overall website.
Conclusion
Are you tired of watching your cart abandonment rates rise and rise? Tired of getting customers to the finish line, only for them to leave your site once again without a purchase? Follow these guidelines to nudge your customers across that line and keep them coming back for more!
About Nugno
Nugno is a Branding & Digital Design studio. Founded and run by strategic branding & digital design experts that shares a love of innovation, design and digital connection.
We create strategy and design with production across all platforms. We’re masters of brand identity and on point with websites and apps. Our skills extend to designing books people want to read and environments they feel comfortable in. We also create engaging motion design and much more.