Is your checkout process functional and easy to use?
Even the largest brands with teams behind their websites discover glitches in the checkout process. It is always good practice to test drive your checkout processing. Is it easy to use and working properly? Consider whether the plug-ins need updates, the site has malware, or if the checkout is not simple and secure for the consumer. Continue to adjust and test until you have proven that the process is streamlined, user-friendly and ready to do business.
Do you offer free shipping?
With the amount of online shopping going on today your customers are accustomed to being offered free shipping. Thanks a lot, Amazon Prime! When hit with a $20 shipping charge at the check out, this can make or break the sale and lead to an abandoned cart.
Most online shoppers are also accustomed to upping their order to hit the free shipping order value – try this strategy out and watch your abandoned cart numbers go down.
Worried about the costs of offering free shipping? Your business has the opportunity to make more money with increased average order values. Though there may be a lower profit margin on the individual items, you may end up selling more!
Already offer free shipping? Is the minimum order value for free shipping too high?
Having a minimum spend for free shipping is a great way to increase average order values while attracting customers who would prefer not to pay any added fees.
It is also possible that your store’s minimum spend is too high. When selling smaller items, valued at less that $20 or less, a minimum spend of $100 for free shipping could be a roadblock to completion of the sale.
How do you know where to set your free shipping rate? Look at your current average order value. If you added one or two more products in, would this cover your costs to ship plus provide profit? Sometimes this requires a bit of math, number crunching, and creativity but finding that sweet spot can lead to a great ROI.
Does your website have live chat?
Online shopping sites have a very short period of time to grab the consumers attention. A great way to keep the shopper engaged is to offer Live Chat. It is like putting a dedicated store employee right next to the shopper – answering questions and offering support. As an added bonus, it also gives valuable insights into the customers needs and wants – and can show why you’ve been experiencing abandoned carts.
Live Chat messages repeatedly asking the same general question about an item can also be a signal for you to update your product descriptions. This can reduce time spent on Live Chat and more importantly decrease abandoned carts.
To set up Live Chat we recommend Tidio. This is a great program that offers scheduling tools for your online/offline hours, chat bots, and other handy tasks managers. When embedded in Shopify and WordPress websites expect to see your orders and sales increase. The added benefit of completed sales is satisfied customers who come back to your site again and again.
Please note this is an affiliate ad.
Do you put clear time frames on your discounts and sales?
Have you used Retargeting Ads?
Online shoppers abandon carts for many reasons – perhaps their wallet isn’t nearby, they took a phone call, or maybe decided to wait until tomorrow.
Store owners are often left wondering – what if they don’t bother to come back to the site? What if they forget to complete the transaction tomorrow?
Retargeting ads is a great way to deliver ads right to the abandoned carts of your site. Shopify has a built in Facebook retargeting ad tool that can work wonders, but if you want to get more specific and only target abandoned carts, Facebook Ads Manager allows you to do this. Give it a shot and watch your sales go up.
Not a fan of Facebook Marketing? Google Ads can retarget website traffic as well!