Basket abandonment is an ongoing battle for eCommerce sites, with over 69 percent of shoppers doing a disappearing act before they’ve checked out.
So, how can you optimise your website and emails to encourage people to see their purchases through to completion?
This blog explores seven ways to improve your basket abandonment rate and boost your online revenue.
1) Use social proof
Social proof helps to give shoppers more confidence in their decision by showing them that others like them have bought a product.
Using social proof in this way helps ease the path to purchase, as people tend to trust a product more if they know it is popular.
This example from Ashley Stewart shows how social proof can be used to persuade shoppers they are making a fashion-conscious choice.
Shoppers can see how many other “divas” have viewed the style that day. Combining social proof with the brand’s unique tone of voice strengthens the message.
2) Use reviews and ratings
Reviews and ratings are another way to help push people towards purchase and prevent them from abandoning their basket.
According to Bright Local, between two and six positive customer reviews is enough for the majority of consumers to trust a business. Increased trust makes people more confident in their purchases and less likely to abandon their basket.
This example from AO.com shows how reviews can enhance a product page and entice shoppers to complete their purchase.
3) Use countdown timers to increase urgency
Countdown timers are an effective way to drive people towards completing a purchase.
Adding this eye-catching feature to your emails helps to create a sense of urgency. This means people will be more focused on completing their purchase when they reach your site, and less likely to abandon their basket.
This example email from Mothercare makes excellent use of a countdown timer to encourage people to take advantage of a discount that’s available for a limited time.
4) Use strong CTAs to guide people through the process
If people have to think too hard about the next step in their checkout process, they’re more likely to abandon their baskets. It is important to ensure you have clear calls-to-action (CTAs) throughout the process to keep people moving along, without creating friction.
Amazon does this well, with clear CTA buttons that explain the outcome of clicking on them in simple and direct language.
5) Add a progress indicator to checkout pages
Another factor that affects basket abandonment is lengthy or complicated checkout processes. And it’s no small problem—almost a third (27 percent) of shoppers abandon their baskets for this reason.
Adding a progress indicator to your checkout pages helps to overcome this hurdle. Showing shoppers each stage in the process, and how far through they are, reassures them that they are nearly done.
This example from Firebox shows how you can integrate progress indicators with your site’s branding.
6) Don’t hide shipping charges
Shipping charges can really put people off—especially if they aren’t expecting them. Research shows 61 percent of people abandon their baskets because of high shipping charges.
It isn’t just the charges themselves that are off-putting, but the fact they are sometimes hidden. Nearly a quarter of people abandon their baskets because they can’t easily calculate the overall cost of their purchase.
Avoid shipping charges becoming a sticking point by being upfront and transparent about how much they cost, before people reach the final stages of the checkout process.
This example from Threadless shows how you can be transparent from the get-go by showing estimated shipping costs before a shopper even adds a purchase to their basket.
7) Send basket abandonment emails
Each of the six examples we’ve covered so far are effective ways to reduce the number of people who abandon their baskets. But even with the best strategies in place, it’s likely a portion of people will still abandon their baskets.
Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be the end of the story—sending basket abandonment emails is a good way of enticing people back to your website to complete their purchase.
Offering a discount in your basket abandonment email is a way to ensure your message is particularly persuasive. Research by VWO found over half of shoppers would purchase products they’d abandoned if they were offered a discount on them.
This basket abandonment email from Kate Spade shows how discounts can be used to tempt shoppers back to your website to buy.
Takeaway
Each of the seven examples we’ve explored are tried-and-tested methods that improve basket abandonment rates and increase online revenue.
To put these into practice, you’ll need to ensure you have the right technology in place. Social proof, reviews and ratings, countdown timers, and basket abandonment automations are all features you can take advantage of as part of our eCommerce solution.
Find out how you can automatically recover lost revenue with our eCommerce solution.