There’s nothing more disappointing than a customer abandoning their shopping cart. You invest so much into attracting them to your business. But for some reason or the other, they do not complete the purchase. Sadly, the average cart abandonment rate is around 88% at present. (Source: Statista)
Obviously, something must have gone wrong somewhere, and it is inevitably tied to CX. So, improving CX can surely fix it. Why do we say so?
Customer experience is the cumulative interactions that customer has with the business from the beginning to end. Improving CX means you improve or at least try to improve every aspect of the business.
Now, let’s cut to the chase. Here are some ways you can reduce shopping cart abandonment by improving CX!
Map Out Your Customer Journey
The question is, why did the customer abandon the shopping cart? What compelled this behavior? For this, you need to understand your business from the customer’s perspective, and the best way to do it is by mapping out the customer journey. Customer journey includes every interaction, and touchpoint customers encounter with your business from beginning to end.
Outline each stage that your customers go through, from the moment they enter your eCommerce store until they checkout. Assess the quality of CX you provide from the customer’s eyes. What seems attractive and what seems wrong? Is your website user-friendly and appealing to their taste? Take some time to understand your ideal customer persona and their purchasing behavior here.
Collect Customer Feedback
Now that you understand your customer quite well through research and a bit of guesswork, the next step is to validate them through facts. Ask what’s wrong with your business directly from the customer. Of course, there are nifty ways to do it. Draft persuasive and useful surveys to gather customer feedback in both pre-purchase and post-purchase stages.
In the pre-purchase phase, you can ask questions on product selection, product information, navigation of the website, and other similar aspects. If you have already detected an issue, you can ask a question about it as well. In the post-purchase phase, you can raise questions about the checkout process, payment options, and delivery service. The only way to fix the flaws of your business is by asking the experts – your customers!
Analyze Your Customer Data to Find Where the Drop Off Takes Place
Once you have gathered sufficient feedback, the next step is to analyze the data. If you look at the conversion rates between the checkout steps, it will be clear as to where the dropout or abandonment happens in the process.
Now, your task is to identify the reasons behind it. This is where a good feedback management platform like Feedbackly comes in handy. A comprehensive analysis will bring the pain points customers face to the spotlight, showing why they ditch the cart at the last moment. It can be the slow checkout process, hidden costs, difficulty in navigation, lack of adequate payment options, or any other reason(s). You would also be able to gain many other useful insights from customer feedback analysis.
Make Changes that Have an Impact
Finally, it is time to take action. After identifying the key issues that make customers leave their shopping carts, devise effective solutions to tackle them. While you won’t be able to eliminate cart abandonment, you can fix what could be fixed!
For example, if the load-time of the checkout page is the culprit, you can improve its speed. If payment options are the issue, you can introduce new payment methods. Sometimes, it may not be possible to resolve the issue immediately. In that case, let the customers know that you are working on it. That could help build their trust too.
Takeaway
Today, customers hunt for a seamless shopping experience. They will not be willing to do business with brands that offer dull customer experience. It’s noteworthy that even if you resolve all the issues, there will still be a percentage of cart abandonment. This is because there are many reasons why customers do it. They might decide to purchase later, face payment issues due to lack of funds, or just change their minds for other reasons. The best you can do is to listen to your customers and make your business as attractive and supportive as possible!
Case study: Learn how IVALO.COM doubled its customer retention rate
IVALO.COM boosted their NPS by a magical 41% and doubled the customer retention rate only during the time of 6 months. We met with them to learn how they did it and we’re excited to share their story with you. We hope you find it helpful!
