5 Reasons Your Customers Abandon Shopping Cart

On average 69% of sales in an eshop are lost due to cart abandonment.

In several cases the percentage exceeds 83%.

This is a big blow to the revenue of online businesses and needs special attention to be addressed.

Given the above, it is not surprising that there is a lot of research into why this happens.

1. Expensive Shipping Costs

Hidden shipping costs are the main reason people leave the page without buying.

54% of users do not proceed with an online purchase because they find that the shipping costs are exactly in relation to what they expect.

For example, many eshops advertise that they provide free shipping when in fact it applies to specific areas (eg: within Attica).

This causes an unpleasant surprise for the user and prevents him from buying.

What is the Solution?

Fully clarify all costs from the outset.

Transparency is of great value to online customers and is critical to the success of an online store.

Another successful strategy is to build shipping costs into the product price and provide free shipping to your customers.

According to surveys, 73% of customers consider free shipping to be an important factor in completing a purchase.

2. Create Account

Customers want to complete their purchase with ease. The more time they spend beyond what is expected, the more dissatisfaction they feel.

22% of those who abandon the shopping cart, do not complete the purchase because it is necessary to create an account.

What is the Solution?

Obviously, you shouldn’t force your customers to create an account to complete their order.

Allow them to checkout as guests.

3. Market Research

Some shopping cart abandonments are impossible to curb.

Many users visit online stores only for market research. This includes price, quality, shipping costs and any special offers.

Often, these users will add products to their cart and then leave the page. In fact many of them will return several times before completing their purchase.

What is the Solution?

With remarketing you have the possibility to re-reach users who visited your eshop but did not complete their purchase.

An important advantage is that you can attract the specific category of users with special offers, with the aim of returning to your website and continuing the action they did not complete.

Once the user has filled in their email, you can send a follow up email with the products they added to their shopping cart.

4. Trust & Security of Transactions

When a user is concerned about the security of the transaction, it is almost certain that they will not complete their purchase.

Main reasons for suspicion are design errors, outdated design, missing photos and no ssl certificate.

What is the Solution?

There are many ways you can increase the trust of your page.

An easy solution is product reviews and testimonials from real customers.

The money back and product guarantee instantly dispels any doubt one might have about the online store.

Full contact details, staff photos and phone service can play a decisive role in the user’s confidence in the online store.

5. Difficulty on the Completion Page

Once the eshop visitor adds a product to his cart, he should complete his order easily and quickly.

Too many steps with information to fill out causes users to get confused and leave the page.

What is the Solution?

Remove unnecessary steps and only ask users for necessary information.

One page checkout, easy to use and clear forms are a good way to reduce shopping abandonment.