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Checkout abandonment is the most serious challenge brands face today. In fact, brands will lose $269B per year from it. What’s more, customer acquisition costs (CAC) have never been higher, which is why it’s painful for brands when shoppers abandon their checkouts so close to the finish line.
In this post, we’ll share the leading causes of checkout abandonment, how to prevent them, and how to easily optimize your checkout experience to significantly increase revenues.
Why do shoppers abandon checkout?
Most of the time, checkout abandonment occurs due to a lack of trust.
According to the Baymard Institute, the average cart abandonment rate across all industries is 69.57%. This means that roughly 7 out of every 10 shoppers will abandon checkout.
PDQ’s top reasons for this include:
- Unexpected costs (shipping, tax)
- No clear arrival dates
- Disproportionate shipping cost to order value
- Overlapping and conflicting delivery promise
- Delivery options are too slow
Easy ways to prevent checkout abandonment right now
Many brands don’t realize that they can prevent abandonment with simple optimizations to their checkout. Usually, the only obstacle in the way of reducing checkout abandonment and significantly increasing conversions is that you’re not using the right tools. Luckily, all of the checkout optimization functions listed in this article are accessible using PrettyDamnQuick’s Super App.
Optimization tip #1: Always A/B test
79% of people won’t shop online unless free shipping is offered.
It’s one of the reasons why A/B testing different pricing to find your most profitable free shipping threshold is a guaranteed way to reduce checkout abandonment: the most successful brands move in line with what their customers want. Continuously testing will help you make informed decisions about things like your shipping pricing and carrier mix and will ultimately win you more sales.
You can A/B test everything after the classic marketing funnel to learn everything:
- Which delivery options have the highest conversion rates?
- Which delivery prices net the most revenue: Free? $2.99?
- Which of your customers go for express delivery methods?
- What’s your most profitable Free Shipping Threshold? Is it $75, $100, something else?
And a whole lot more...
Optimization tip #2: Add precise arrival dates
If there’s one thing we can all learn from Amazon, it’s how to properly set expectations with customers to build a strong sense of trust. 82% of customers prefer brands that show arrives by dates in checkout. In turn, showing customers data-backed delivery dates before they checkout is one of the quickest proven ways to prevent checkout abandonment in your store. You may be surprised by how much you can communicate to customers with a simple delivery promise, but this method works wonders.
Go the extra mile and stand out from competitors by also adding delivery dates to your product details pages (PDP). Customers highly value this added layer of communication, especially when their orders arrive within the promised time frame. Showing a delivery promise both on checkout and the PDP sets the tone for a truly fantastic delivery experience, and leads to less abandonments in future sales (build that trust!)
Optimization tip #3: Personalize delivery options
Everyone loves a personalized experience - this is a simple fact. Enabling tools that allow you to easily segment customers into different categories is another guaranteed way to reduce checkout abandonment.
Your customers want options, and that’s what personalizing delivery is all about: giving customers the flexibility to choose the delivery option that’s best for them. But it’s a delicate balance, because you don’t want to give shoppers so many options that it overwhelms them and they abandon orders.
For an optimal delivery experience, we recommend you offer 3 to 5 delivery options in checkout. Then segment your customers to show them different options based on various factors (geography, purchase history, etc).
For example:
- Show loyal (often-returning) customers unique and special-priced delivery options
- Show same-day delivery or in-store pickup to local shoppers
- Make more aggressive delivery arrival promises to closer shipping addresses
Conclusion
The global checkout abandonment rate of 70% remains very high, which tells us there is still room for improvement amongst eComm brands. But it’s never too late to optimize checkout.
Use the tips in this article to redirect your customers to not only stay in checkout and complete their purchase, but to spend more and keep coming back.
Download PrettyDamnQuick’s free Shopify app today to reduce checkout abandonment immediately, and significantly increase revenues.
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