Ever wondered what you can do to prevent customers from leaving your checkout prematurely? These 6 tips will help prevent that from happening to your Ecommerce business.

1. 6 Ways To Stop
Ecommerce
Shopping Cart
Abandonment

2. we care more
digital marketing
When shopping in a store, it makes little sense
to drop everything you’ve carried around the
store and abandon it before payment. But on
the internet, it’s a different story; a reported $18
billion is lost annually due to Shopping Cart
Abandonment.
The convenience and efficiency that eCommerce
brings, also means that it’s never been easier for
a customer to abandon their shopping just
before checking out.
So what can your Ecommerce business do to
prevent online Shopping Cart Abandonment
from happening?

3. we care more
digital marketing
1) Offer Free Shipping or
Alternative Options
Free delivery always tends to be a more
compelling option compared to any
other form of offer. It’s almost become
an expectation among online shoppers.
If you can’t offer free shipping for all of
your items, perhaps think about offering
it as an incentive for any purchases over
a certain amount of money.
Alternatively, you could look into
offering a Loyalty Program, similar to
Amazon Prime, in which returning or
valued customers can gain free shipping
on their purchases.

4. we care more
digital marketing
If none of this is possible, then at least make
customers aware of shipping costs at the earliest
point possible in the process. No matter how much
the shipping cost is, people are more likely to
abandon the checkout process when you don’t even
mention shipping costs up front. If free shipping isn’t
an option, then perhaps look at offering a flat rate
across ranges of items.

5. we care more
digital marketing
2) Remove any Hidden Charges
It’s not surprising then, that other
hidden charges are very likely to put
someone off purchasing from your
Ecommerce website. In fact, 56% of
customers abandon a shopping cart
when they come across an unexpected
charge in the final stages.
Shoppers will be very annoyed if that
have entered all the necessary billing
information, only to be confronted with
charges that hadn’t agreed to. So get rid
of any charges that customers do not
agree to up-front, whether it’s shipping
or otherwise.

6. we care more
digital marketing
3) Ensure you have a Visible,
Accessible Shopping Cart
Creating a standalone page for the shopping cart may be the
easiest method, but it is not necessarily the best. Accessing
the shopping cart quickly and easily can prove vital in
maintaining customer interest.
Having a viewable cart in the top corner of your site,
whatever page the customer is on. This allows the customer
to see a subtotal at any point, meaning they are less likely to
abandon the checkout process entirely.
Similarly, it should be simple to edit the shopping cart. This
includes removing unwanted items, and changing the
number of items required.
8 Tips To Boost Your Ecommerce Website Sales

7. we care more
digital marketing
4) Minimize the Checkout Process
We’ve all been there; ordering an item only, only
to be faced with a lengthy form to fill in, proving
to be an arduous and time-consuming task.
Often, customers will begin the checkout
process, and then become daunted at the
amount of information they have to fill in. By
making this process as short and quick as
possible, you’re more likely to get a customer
through the entire checkout process.
21% of customers leave a site without paying
because the process was taking too long. Leave
out any details that are entirely unnecessary.
Ask yourself whether you really need to ask half
the questions there, or gain all of this data from
the customer.

8. we care more
digital marketing
Alternatively, offer an Express Checkout option, which
would help to retain customers. In the future, the only
requirements would be shipping and billing
information. Much easier. If you require users to set
up an account in order to pay, then it may be
worthwhile to reconsider this option, as people will be
more likely to see a deal through if they don’t have to
enter all their personal information. If you still want to
have customers create accounts, it may be
worthwhile to offer them the chance after they have
paid for their first item.

9. we care more
digital marketing
5) Broaden Your Payment Options
Some customers may use services other than Visa or
Mastercard. Consider looking at offering Paypal as a
form of payment, as it’s quick, easy, and many people
already have an account. This takes away yet another
barrier from the process, reducing the number of
shopping cart abandonments.

10. we care more
digital marketing
6) Retargeting and Remarketing
Customers are often just browsing. It’s the same as window shopping, but
it’s online. Without the need to impulse buy, it can be difficult to convince a
customer to purchase there and then first time round. Statista report 37% of
shoppers dropping from an online purchase were just browsing.
With Retargeting ads, you can allow your site to save a cookie to the
customer’s browser, so that the product in question can be marketed to
them in the future.
If you’ve generated a lead with an email address or another form of contact,
you can send them a personalised email asking why they abandoned, or
perhaps offering them a special deal to convince them to come back.

11. we care more
digital marketing
Another option is to allow users to form their
own “Lists”, similar to Amazon’s Wishlist. If
they’re not going to be convinced to impulsively
buy, it doesn’t mean they never will.
By allowing a compiled list, every time a
customer visits the site, they will see a list of
items they are interested in. And if these items
are more appealing at a later date, or are a lower
price, or they have simply researched further,
they may be convinced to finish the deal then.

12. we care more
digital marketing
All you have to focus on is making the process as convenient,
simple, and quick as humanly possible. Strip out any
unnecessary features, and ensure the shopping cart is as
accessible as it can be.
In doing so, you will ensure that customers do not leave the
checkout process halfway through. Make it simple for a
customer to purchase what they want, and keep their needs
at the forefront of the shopping experience.

13. Get in touch with
Have any other thoughts on how to decrease shopping cart abandonment?
Be sure to join the conversation over on the Xanthos Blog!
And if you think Xanthos could lend you a hand developing an eCommerce
website or Digital Marketing strategy for your business, then get in touch.
For more resources, click to follow us on the following platforms:
digital marketing
we care more
Digital Marketing• Web Design • eCommerce

14. we care more
digital marketing
About Xanthos
Xanthos is an innovative Cambridgeshire-based digital marketing agency.
Our services cover digital marketing, web design, web development and e-
commerce.
For over 10 years we have helped B2B and B2C customers achieve
exceptional results online.
We understand: your business and the role of
digital marketing in delivering business strategy
We deliver: results by taking an integrated coherent
approach to web design, development and digital
marketing
We go to the extra mile: to satisfy our customers not
just answering phones but delivering results that
meet or exceed client expectation
Xanthos Limited
08450 740 068
www.e-xanthos.co.uk
Adam Barsby
Digital Marketing Executive
abarsby@e-xanthos.co.uk