3 Reasons Your Customers Are Abandoning Carts at Checkout

Ever wonder why your customers are abandoning their shopping cart at checkout in your e-commerce store, or perhaps on your E-commerce mobile app?

Unexpected delivery costs, concerns over security, or being forced to create an account are among the top reasons you may be facing cart abandonment before customers successfully check out.

A Brief History of Omnichannel Retailing

First, let’s take a brief look at how omnichannel retailing, and how it is impacting consumer behaviour online and in-store in terms of repeat business and cart abandonment.

Omnichannel retailing is a fully-integrated approach to commerce, providing shoppers a unified experience across all channels or points of sale. True omnichannel shopping goes beyond bricks-and-mortar locations to mobile-browsing, online marketplaces, social media, and wherever your users browse online via retargeted ads.

The omnichannel online shopper has changed the way businesses reach their customers; more importantly, it has changed the way they buy. According to a study by Harvard Business Review, within six months after a omnichannel shopping experience, customers were almost 23% more likely to have a repeat shopping trip to a retailer’s store, and were more likely to recommend the brand to family and friends than those who used a single channel.

So, if you’re struggling to get people to commit at checkout, establishing an omnichannel marketing plan could not only help you encourage transaction completion, but also increase the size of the average transaction (AOV) as well. A recent study on omnichannel marketing strategies shows that companies earned a 15-35% increase in average transaction size. It also led to a five-10% increase in loyal customers’ profitability, and a 30% higher lifetime value than those who shop using only one channel.

How to Tackle Cart Abandonment: 3 Places to Start

The more channels a customer uses to buy things, the more they spend. Before you start to learn more about omnichannel tactics on your own, start with these three areas that may help reduce cart abandonment at checkout.

1. Axe those pesky hidden shipping costs.

Hidden costs are one of the major reasons customers abandon their carts at checkout. If you’re interested in buying a bracelet for $30 and it turns out to be $55 once shipping costs and taxes are factored in, it’s unlikely that customers will go through with that purchase. This is especially the case for complementary items, which can also inflate final costs.

Depending on the product, some companies remove shipping costs altogether. If you’re unable to do that, one tactic is to bundle the extra cost of shipping into the product cost. Some companies transparently display their shipping costs and offer incentives to bypass shipping fees if a customer buys more.

Either way, if you can’t lower the costs or create incentives, be transparent about the full cost (including shipping) on your product page. In 2019, a National Retail Federation (NRF) study found that 75% of consumers surveyed expect delivery to be free even on orders under $50, up from 68% in 2018.

2. Optimize deals, discounts, and diverse payment options at checkout.

Face the facts. Customers are using you for research to compare prices, find deals, and discover new products and brands. Even if you’re completely transparent about your costs, it doesn’t mean that cart abandonment won’t occur. Customers also, at times, add items to a cart and come back later, waiting for the money to purchase the products they’ve selected. Giving customers that extra push through contests and promotions, and ‘friendly reminder’ emails, could encourage them to complete their purchasing journey. Also, offering a discount on their next purchase is a good way to make them purchase at checkout as well.

Most importantly, offering buy now, pay later options like PayBright empowers customers with financial choice and flexibility at checkout that can complement a customer’s budget, and perhaps limit buyer’s remorse.

3. Give your checkout design and process a tune-up.

I just want to grab my stuff and go. I don’t want to create an account. I don’t want to give you my personal info for further promotions. This is a frequent struggle between customers and businesses. If you don’t make it easy for your customers to buy things, they’ll go elsewhere for more convenience. If you don’t invest in your layout and design on your website or your mobile app, you’ll lack authenticity and credibility.

Payment security is a huge issue for customers with cart abandonment issues as well. Major causes for suspicion include design flaws, outdated layout, and missing images. Long checkout processes and poor web design conveys the same lack of trust that hidden shipping costs entail. No customer wants to feel like they are being scammed, so do your best to address these issues in order to get them to buy.

TIP: Build a checkout strategy for the omnichannel customer.

Whether it’s shipping costs, user accounts, or unavailable coupon codes, there are a number of reasons why customers leave their carts abandoned at checkout. If you’re building a marketing strategy to reach customers on social media, SEO, emails and ad campaigns, it’s the perfect opportunity to learn more about your customer base, track their cart abandonment tendencies, and gain the insight about their shopping habits.

Simplifying your checkout process, bypassing user accounts (post-checkout), and addressing payment security flaws will go a long way in building trust with your customers. It will also help you to scale as you continue to close transactions, and grow your business.

This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not an exhaustive review of this topic. The content is not financial or investment advice. No professional relationship of any kind is formed between you and PayBright. While we have obtained or compiled this information from sources we believe to be reliable, we cannot and do not guarantee its accuracy. We recommend that you consult your personal finance professional before taking any action related to this information. PayBright is a provider of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) solutions. BNPL providers offer plans with a variety of terms and conditions, including interest rates, fees, and penalties, and have different standards for qualifying for loans. Laws and regulations governing BNPL providers vary by jurisdiction. We recommend that you compare and contrast plans, read the fine print, and conduct detailed research into any BNPL provider before using their services.