Understanding customer behaviour when abandoning a cart

Even though the reasons for cart abandonment can be diverse, many of them can be analysed and dealt with based on data. 

OpiTip: You can include the ACR – Abandoned Cart Rate – in your reports. For example, we have a report with key data from the content management system (CMS) for each client. Using the formula, you can add a formula to your reports that will automatically calculate your abandoned cart ratio.

The more clicks needed, the more likely customers are to end a purchase. Make sure that each step of the process is clear and easily understood. Use clear indicators that show where the customer is located in the purchase process. Customers will thus feel more confident and have a better overview of what is still awaiting them.

One study identified several factors that affect cart abandonment rates:

• Waiting for a sale: Customers often abandon their carts because they are waiting for promotions or sales.
• Payment options: The availability of a preferred method of payment also affects cart abandonment. If customers cannot find the payment method they want, they are more likely to leave without making a purchase.
• Website navigation: A complicated structure discourages customers and leads to cart abandonment.
• Technical complications: Lengthy forms, the slow loading of pages and technical issues also contribute to increased cart abandonment rates.

Building trust and security

If customers do not feel certain that their personal information is safe, they may decide not to make a purchase. This problem can be addressed by security certificates and transparency about data protection. Up to 20% of customers may abandon their cart if they cannot find their preferred payment method at checkout. Incorrectly selected or absent payment gateways create distrust and doubt in customers.

OpiTip: Offer customers a variety of payment methods, such as payments through wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay or payments by card, bank transfer or cash on delivery. The key is to be transparent, to let customers clearly know how much the entire purchase will cost, including the costs associated with it. This will increase customer satisfaction and reduce the probability of cart abandonment.

Transparency and trust are key

As we have already noted above, one reason why customers abandon the cart may be a non-transparent approach. This point deserves your attention and a more detailed description.

The first signs of trustworthiness begin with a visit to the homepage. An easily found query, a UX-friendly interface as well as a tidy website on the branding side are factors that lead the customer to the penultimate step, which is visiting the shopping cart (full of products, of course).

This is the place where many e-shops unnecessarily discourage customers from finishing their purchase by not being transparent. And believe us: the customer will notice it. Therefore, it is important to describe each service (payment type, shipping or additional service) and how much they will pay for the given type of shipping + VAT. 

OpiTip: Price is a very fragile factor that influences a purchase. If customers notice that the shipping or service fees are too high, they may decide to leave without completing the purchase. Consider what prices your competition offers and try to find a middle ground while carefully reviewing your own margin.

Interface for phones – always repeated but often neglected

Repetition is the mother of wisdom, and this is also true in this case. At Opinest, we also come across a web interface for phones that requires adjustment when dealing with new clients.

Speed ​​up page loading because slow loading can discourage customers and cause shopping cart abandonment. Make sure your payment gateways are adapted for mobile devices and offer the option of quick payment. Using wallets such as Google Pay or Apple Pay can simplify and speed up the entire payment process, and in the end, you’ll have a satisfied customer who made a quick and easy purchase.

OpiTip: Through a variety of tools, such as OneSignal, PushEngage or WebEngage, you can create push notifications on your website and display them to customers who have not completed their purchase. For distinguishing these customers, however, it is necessary through JavaScript or GTM to track who added a product to the cart and did not get to the post-purchase page, so that a notification can be displayed on the next visit.

Remarketing – a game changer for abandoned shopping carts

Google Ads

To effectively target audiences for remarketing, it is important to have tags set up with the correct sending of product IDs. Likewise, it is important to process audiences, thanks to which you can exclude or include them. In Google Ads the most commonly used format is the Performance Max campaign format, which works based on automation. In this ad format, you can create dynamic remarketing focused on users who viewed products or added them to the cart without completing the purchase. 

Meta Ads

Despite the fact that Meta Ads are better for collecting acquisition customers, you can also target remarketing audiences within this channel. Using a catalogue, you can create dynamic remarketing with filtered customers who added a product to a cart without purchasing and retarget them. 

OpiTip: Compared to Google Ads, visuals are key for Meta, since the vast majority are displayed on mobile devices. Therefore, take heed to edit the catalogue with different frames, or different “stickers” with the price or USP (unique selling proposition).

Email marketing

According to statistics, you can return up to 10% of turnover from abandoned carts thanks to email marketing. Among the mentioned channels, email is the most ideal for remarketing for a number of reasons:

• Direct contact with a fresh audience
• Personalised email content
• Broad automation
• Work with your own database

OpiTip: Using UTM tags, you can pull data from emails into an overall report and then optimise budgets across multiple channels or monitor the share of email marketing in total turnover.

Don’t forget that testing and optimising your email campaigns is key. Track metrics, such as open rate, clicks and conversion rate, to see what type of emails work best for your customers. 

In conclusion – constantly optimise your process

To determine what specifically is affecting your high cart abandonment rate, test and analyse your data regularly. Implement tools like Google Analytics to monitor customer behaviour on your site and to identify areas where they are halting. A The A/B testing of different elements on your site, such as buttons, forms and checkout processes, can help improve the conversion rates.

Also, collect feedback from your customers about their shopping experience. In this way, you’ll gain valuable information that you can use to improve the process and reduce cart abandonment rates.

Reducing cart abandonment rates is a key factor in improving the performance of your e-commerce store. By implementing these strategies, you can increase conversions, improve the user experience and raise profits at the same time. Don’t forget to regularly test and optimise your shopping process to achieve the best results possible.