One of the main problems in e-commerce is cart abandonment, i.e. the customer does not complete the purchase due to certain reasons. According to the statistics, the average cart abandonment rate is 69.99%. So the main question is: what made the consumer abandon the buying process?   

The most common reasons for abandoning a purchase when shopping online in Germany are Statista: 

So most of the reasons are high shipping costs and no suitable payment methods. The shop owner can optimize these and other reasons mentioned above and implement the right solutions, and thus reducing the cart abandonment rate, increasing conversion and increasing sales. In this article, we have prepared important tips on how to avoid shopping cart abandonment. 

Optimize shipping options

One of the most sensitive points when shopping online is shipping. 57% of consumers do not buy in an online shop because they do not want to pay for shipping because the shipping costs are too high. Buyers are therefore less likely to pay high shipping costs and often only discover the delivery costs at the end of the purchase, or even after registration, due to a lack of transparency. Not only does this result in lost sales, but it also creates a poor shopping experience for that person. And the probability that this buyer will return to this online shop is very low. It is, therefore, advisable to make this point as clear and transparent as possible. Look for different shipping options, calculate different price possibilities, offer shipping option with cash on delivery. For 24%, the delivery time is crucial, many customers are encouraged by a shorter delivery time for the product, even if they have to pay a little more for it.

Offer Multiple Payment Methods

Another reason for cart abandonment is payment methods. 53% of shoppers don't complete the purchase because they can't find a suitable payment method. Therefore, offer as many common payment options as possible in your online shop. And it is very important to provide customers with reliable payment providers. Safety should come first. PayPal, purchase on account, direct debit, instant transfer, Paydirect, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, Apple Pay - every customer has their own preferences. 

• How does the selection of payment methods and shipping methods influence the purchase decision? - read in our article. 
• And we also recommend our detailed article Payment and shipping methods in Shopware and Magento: Comparison between Germany and UK to find out about the common options.

Avoid a very long registration

Although it is important to obtain information about the customer, an excessively long registration can lead to cart abandonment. So, it should be more reasonable to only ask for the most important information, with increasingly easy sign-up options. In addition, it is very important to ensure compliance with the provisions of the General Data Protection Act and other regulations. Anything complicated and time-consuming scares the customer away!                

Website Usability

The website needs to be intuitive, easy to navigate, and responsive. Responsive websites automatically adapt to the screen of any device. This is essential these days as more and more people access the internet via tablet or cell phone. Decide on a design that serves a good user experience. Also, try to verify that everything is working on your platform, meaning that there are no broken links, mismatched information, or difficulties with checkout or registration. Find an agency that specializes in e-commerce solutions (Shopware, Magento or OXID eSales) and will help you implement all the necessary adjustments. In our article How to choose an ecommerce agency?” you will find important tips on this. 

Avoid confusing promotions

Imagine you want to buy a t-shirt and you have found a good model on sale. However, upon checkout, you realize that the discount only applies to a specific size, which is not yours. This may result in the cart being abandoned. In addition, the customer gets a bad shopping experience because they do not buy the product and can also badmouth your business. 

Keep your website secure

Very few people will buy anything from a website if they can't find it to be secure. Many people are still scared of online shopping due to internet fraud and data theft. Therefore, the customer must feel safe and comfortable in the webshop, otherwise he will not complete the purchase. A good solution is to show e-commerce certificates and security seals on the web shop, e.g. from TrustedShops, also SSL security certificates. Avoid redirects from the website - this confuses customers, makes them suspicious and scares them away from completing the purchase.

Use data to your advantage

A shopping cart abandonment can provide important information for the company. Did the customer give up because the product was out of stock? Was shipping too expensive? Didn't find a suitable payment provider? It's important to gain insights from these situations in order to improve your online store and use new marketing strategies successfully. If shipping was too expensive, it might be worth offering free shipping to those customers through an email marketing. If the product the customer is looking for is not in stock, how about offering a similar product? The abandoned cart doesn't have to be the end of your interaction with that customer, but an opportunity to win them over. 

With these simple measures, abandoned carts will no longer be a nightmare and your online store will serve customers better, get better results and more sales. 

Need help implementing these tips?

Our agency KennerSoft GmbH takes care of the qualitative implementation of your projects with the highest demands on performance, design and user-friendliness. We create an excellent online shop for you and with you based on the most popular shop software solutions, also take care of digital marketing and are happy to advise you. Our references tell more about us.