Your customers aren’t abandoning their online shopping carts for no reason. Finding out what those reasons are can be frustrating. Before you pull your hair out trying to figure out why shopping carts are being abandoned in your ecommerce store, check out the following three reasons it happens.
Hidden Charges
Hidden charges are a big no-no for multiple reasons. First, many people are limited in what they can spend. If you aren’t upfront with costs, the total price of your potential customer’s purchase may exceed their budget so they have no choice but to abandon their carts. Another reason hidden charges contribute to abandoned carts is that they’re annoying and make your customers distrust your business.
How to Fix It: Make sure you display all charges upfront, or (at the very least) estimates, including taxes, shipping, processing, and any other fees.
Technical Errors
Things can go wrong on your website or checkout process. When things go wrong, potential customers may not be able to check out. If there is no way for them to checkout, virtual carts are going to be abandoned. Too many people fail to realize things can go wrong simply over time. Codes may become invalid or outdated.
How to Fix It: If you want to stop technical errors from costing you sales, the best thing to do is test your checkout process and test it often. Testing should be done at least once a week, but more often is better. The second you find an error, fix it.
This is where Planet Media can help!
Too Much Complexity
Complexity isn’t necessary for your website or checkout process. Simple is always better. Your website should be devoid of clutter, load quickly, have a simple design, and be as easy to use as possible. Your checkout process should contain a limited amount of fields and pages. Each page should also load quickly. Too much complexity can be annoying and confusing to your potential customers.
How to Fix It: If your website or checkout process is too complex, simplify it. Get rid of anything unnecessary. Your pages will load faster and customers are less likely to become angry, annoyed, frustrated, or confused.
Conclusion
These three issues are common reasons people abandon virtual shopping carts. If you think one of these items may be contributing to virtual carts abandoned in your e-commerce store, you should immediately address the situation. Once the issue has been addressed, you should see a reduction in the rates carts are abandoned in your store and an increase in successful purchases.
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Planet Media is an eco-friendly and sustainable creative agency specializing in branding, UX/UI design, web development, ecommerce, and digital marketing solutions. We have extensive experience in developing, promoting, expanding, or reinventing your web presence.
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