Why does cart abandonment happen and how to handle them?

Cart abandonment, or adding items to an online cart but never checking out, must be one of the most frustrating experiences for you and every PrestaShop store owner. Especially after all of the effort you've put into getting your store up and running and attracting customers.

It's estimated that between 55% and 81.4% of online carts are abandoned internationally, with an average of 70% across dozens of researches. That means there are two carts being abandoned for every cart that successfully makes it through checkout.

So, what's going on here?

While shopping cart abandonment is a significant problem for online retailers, the good news is that we have a firm grasp on why customers leave their carts. According to UPS and ComScore customer experience research(*), the top reasons are:

• Surprisingly expensive shipping prices
• Customers want to compare prices from several websites
• "I wasn't ready to buy yet, but I wanted to save the cart for later"
• The order total was insufficient to qualify for free shipping.
• Shipping and other expenses are displayed too late during the checkout process.
• To complete the purchase, customers must first create an account.
• Payment method of choice isn't available.
• The customer becomes distracted and forgets what he or she was supposed to be doing.

(*) You can read the full research here

Now that you're aware of the causes, it's time to put things right!

Be transparent about your shipping prices

Obviously, the most straightforward way to prevent cart abandonment is to provide free shipping on all orders, regardless of the total. Unfortunately, many store owners will not be able to do so for a variety of reasons.

If you can't offer free shipping, make sure you're transparent about your shipping prices so customers know what they'll have to pay before the final step of the checkout process.

Send abandoned cart emails

One of the most important email automation you should put up is an abandoned cart email. These are simple email follow-ups sent to customers who leave their carts incomplete, reminding them to finish their purchase.

This efficiently handles the problem of customers becoming distracted and forgetting about their cart, as well as those who were not ready to buy when they created their cart. You should provide a special offer, such as a discount code or a gift, to help persuade shoppers who are just comparing prices between shops.

Need an abandoned reminder tool for your store? Here is a suggestion!

Make the checkout process as easy as possible

Customers becoming distracted is one of the leading causes of cart abandonment. You should make your checkout process as straightforward as possible to help with this.

The more steps there are in the checkout process and the longer it takes, the more likely something will distract them and they will drop the cart. Requiring someone to create an account before they can make a purchase is one of the steps you should avoid doing.

While having customers register an account has various advantages, requiring them to do so is one of the leading causes of cart abandonment. If you do decide to add this step, make it clear that it is optional and not essential.

Simplify your checkout process within a few clicks!

Provide a variety of payment methods

While being truthful about shipping and additional fees and making your checkout process simple will reduce the number of cart abandoners, and abandoned cart emails will help recover those who were comparing prices or distracted, there is one more thing you should do: provide a variety of payment methods.

The more payment methods you have, the less likely a customer will quit their cart due to a lack of availability of their preferred method.

Install some additional payment options into your PrestaShop store!

There’s no reason to put them off any longer

Cart abandonment is a problem that isn’t going away anytime soon. But that isn't to say you shouldn't hold out hope.

You can reduce the number of sales you lose due to cart abandonment and generate more profit for your store by applying the above suggestions - they're all quick and simple to do.

If you want to know more about abandoned cart recovery, do not hesitate to visit our website and discover the best tools for recovering abandoned carts!