Understanding Checkout Abandonment Rates

With the cart abandonment rate at about 77%, e-commerce companies are taking a hard look at cart abandonment. A total of $3 billion is lost due to abandoned carts. So, understanding these metrics is vital to the growth of your e-commerce business. 

To understand why customers abandon their cart, you need first to be able to measure it. These are the five metrics that help you estimate the rate of cart abandonment for your e-commerce site. This article will also tell you the ways you can use these metrics to reduce the abandonment rate.

1. Average Rate of Abandonment

The average rate of abandonment is the average number of shoppers who completed their transactions against the total number of shoppers who visited your site. The stats for 2018 stated that the average rate was 76%.

This metric helps you compare your site’s performance to other similar sites and formulate your marketing strategy accordingly.

2. Abandonment Rate by Device

E-commerce sites are browsed using smartphones, computers, and tablets. A study found that the cart abandonment rate for computers was about 67%, tablets were 70%, and smartphones were a whopping 78%. This goes to say that your site has to be optimized to give the best mobile shopping experience.

Also, mobile purchases are impulse purchases. It means that customers need a little nudging to make the purchase. So, you can add a discount for mobile purchases to give that extra push. 

3. Abandonment Rate by Industry

Your business may be limited to a particular industry or diversified into multiple sectors. The industry stats help you understand the kind of purchases that customers are reluctant to make immediately. For example, food items have an abandonment rate of only 4%, while clothes have a rate of 40%, and travel has a rate of about 82%. See the difference? 

The logic behind this is that food does not require too much thought, while clothes require comparing trends and deals, and travel requires a commitment of time in the future. This should help you plan your product pages so that the customer feels that they are getting the best deal possible. 

4. Abandonment of Form

Sometimes, you’re so eager to collect information that you end up adding too many lines in your form. It can make the customer feeling overwhelmed as they are asked for too much information for even small purchases. 

Limit your forms to the most basic information to complete the transaction. If you need any other information, you can obtain it by sending them an e-mail with the link to another form. You can create a lucky draw for customers who complete these forms. That will be the motivation for them to share more details with you.

5. Abandonment of Site

This happens when the customer is comparing your products to a competitor. It’s a good thing. When customers are comparing products, it means they are serious about the purchase. Armed with this information, you can always throw in a last-minute surprise offer like free shipping, or extra discount, or a complimentary gift on the purchase. 

Now that you know what the most critical metrics are when it comes to cart abandonment rate, you can tweak your abandoned cart strategy to recover those lost sales.

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