Online Shopping Cart Problems and Solutions

Online Shopping Cart Problems

If you are learning any eCommerce business, you have most likely encountered online shopping cart problems and probably resulting in low profits from your business.

The main problem in online business is shopping cart abandonment. As an online seller, if you fail to understand some of the reasons why most of your potential buyers abandon their carts and some of the possible solutions to those problems, you may end up losing your business out of bankruptcy. But do not worry about this. I got you covered in this article. The article explains some of the reasons for cart abandonment and how to battle with them.

Cart abandonment is a scenario where a prospective buyer checks out specific items in an online shopping platform, selects the necessary items and places them in a cart, and then drops out of the entire process without finalizing the purchase.

1. Reasons for cart abandonment

Online Shopping Cart Problems

1.1. Unexpected shipping costs

Hidden costs are among the key reasons why potential buyers will leave a site without making any purchase. From research, many buyers cite that they are driven away by shipping costs. Other costs that chase away buyers are taxes and corresponding essential items. If a buyer encounters any of these costs, they will most probably leave your platform without purchasing anything.

So, hidden costs are one of the online shopping cart problems to avoid imperatively.

1.2. Having to open a new user account

Many people love and are looking for convenience. When these people are seeking to purchase certain items online, they want are after doing things quickly. In some cases where customers are required to create user accounts, especially first-time buyers, before proceeding with the transaction, they view it as a waste of effort and time. As a result, many have no other option but to abandon their carts.

1.3. Researching to buy items later

Sometimes it is hard to control what people do in the eCommerce web. Some people will open the web page without the intention of purchasing anything. All they are seeking is to look for multiple products across different online shops and compare prices. They will tend to add several items to reference in later times. Some of these customers exit without the intention of coming back to the platform. Others, on the other hand, will only purchase several visits to the web page.

1.4. Payment security

No one wants to risk buying an item and then pay for it without a secured payment method to avoid losing their money. Some of the critical suspicions when it comes to payments are missing images, outdated flaws, lack of SSL certificate, and design flaws. Once the customer realizes that there a risk of losing money, they will abandon the cart before buying.

1.5. Failure to find coupon codes

You will be surprised that some customers are only after deals. If they do not find promotional or coupon codes, they will leave and look for somewhere else. According to statistics, approximately 8% mention that failure to find promotional codes as their main reason for leaving their cart. Instead, they opt to wait for promotions to emerge or look for platforms with better deals.

Though different people have various reasons for cart abandonment, it is your duty as a seller to convince your browsers to purchase items from you. Nevertheless, if you do not know how to do it, your business will end up failing.

1.6. Few or lack of payment options

Some online customers are put off by either a few or lack of payment options. Different customers will prefer different methods to make their payments. If you offer a specific option, you might end up losing customers who do not use that method.

2. How to reduce cart abandonment

Online Shopping Cart Problems

2.1. Offer flat or free shipping

From a study by Forrester, about 44% of online customers leave their carts as a result of high shipping fees. Another research by the E-tailing group shows that approximately 22% of online buyers are drawn to complete online purchase by free shipping. Other than just finalizing the initial purchase, many customers are most likely to acquire a lot more products just because of free shipping.

So, if you want to minimize cart abandonment in your eCommerce platform, provide your buyers with flat or free shipping.

2.2. Make cart goods always visible

Many customers find it frustrating to keep navigating and backtracking a site as they look for their current shopping cart. To make it convenient for your customers, ensure that the cart is readily available. Taking an example, Movies Unlimited, at one point, reported a 4% decrease in cart abandonment. This was a result of them allowing shoppers to view their current cart through a dropdown menu.

2.3. Reduce the checkout process

A good percentage of people leave their cart as a result of long checkouts. To reduce this percentage on your site, you should consider reducing the number of pages and forms your customers fill to checkout.

2.4. Prove your site is trustworthy

Without trust, there can be no successful business transactions. It is, therefore, crucial to building trust on your website. There are numerous ways to do so, such as using reviews and testimonials. Endorsements are also other ways of creating trust with your customers. Always ensure you provide your full contact information like your work’s bio, phone number, and your faces and those of your employees.

2.5. Avoid forcing new buyers to create user accounts

Many first-time online buyers will be put off by creating new user accounts. So, if you want to battle cart abandonment, never put the option of creating new accounts a mandatory thing. Provide guest checkout instead.

2.6. Provide various payment options

There are a variety of options you ought to layout for your customers to choose the one that suits them best. They include:

Digital payments options such as PayPal and Amex
Checks
Credit cards

2.7. Remind customers of their abandoned carts

Some buyers leave their carts because they weren’t ready to purchase at a particular time. And that does not mean they will not come back to complete the process. Therefore, you can send, for example, an e-mail to remind them of their abandoned carts.

In conclusion,

if you notice abandoned carts on your site, you should not quit. It is essential to note that this is a common problem with every eCommerce. Also, it is crucial to understand that even after putting measures to reduce your online shopping cart problems, some customers will still leave. Nevertheless, persistence and patience are what will determine how your business will pick. And even with these challenges, many people have succeeded through online business. All you need to keep in mind is that it’s your mandate to convince the browsers to make purchases.

Now if you still wondering where you can launch your products and what are best online shopping carts to avoid these problems please click here and check out this article Where to launch a product | Ultimate List

What did you think? Have you had any experience with your current shopping cart software? Do you have anything to share with us? Please leave me a comment, I would love to hear from you. 

Wish you all the best!

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