Imagine you are running a successful ecommerce website. Being excellent at marketing, you are able to attract a lot of attention from potential customers. They flocks in your website. They put various products into the shopping cart. Then something mysterious happens. Your potential customers throw away the shopping cart and leave right at the checkout doorstep.
Cart abandonment has long been known as one of the biggest problems to ecommerce websites. An estimated 68.55% of customers abandon their carts, resulting in around $4 trillion lost in revenue (Baymard). In this article, we will discuss the main reasons why cart abandonment happens with such regularity and in the end, we will offer you a solution for your ecommerce website.
Shipping issue
As expected, the most common reason for cart abandonment is shipping costs (Ritholtz, 2012). No one wants a $25 T-shirt comes along with a $100 transportation fee. The high shipping fee surely drives customers away. However, what is worse than a high shipping rate is a high AND nontransparent shipping rate. Much as the customers may hate high shipping rate, but they won’t tolerate if the website try to “trick” them, which is try to add shipping costs later in the checkout process. Not only will they abandon their cart, but the customers will also not come back. Other reasons for cart abandonment related to shipping are concerned with delivery time. People will not buy from a store whose delivery time is not clear or too long. It is of stores’ owner best interest to offer customers’ shipping services for different prices, in order to achieve customers’ satisfaction.
No guest checkout option
According to Business Insider, 28% of cart abandonment cases exist because there is no guest checkout option. Ecommerce sites often ask their customers to register for an account in order to save their orders and collect emails to optimize their website for better user experience. However, this might lead to unintended consequences. Customers might find this mandatory registration inconvenient and undesired. For customers who want a quick pick-and-buy, this might discourage them from buying the products.
No preferred payment option
Regarding the payment method, customers often prefer their usual payment option because of security issues. For example, if your customers are used to Visa Card, they are not likely to use Paypal for their payment. If their preferred payment option is not available, they might decide not to shop at your website at all. This is why an ecommerce website should try accepting as many payment methods as possible. One of the most trending payment options right now is Bitcoin, which several websites have accepted as a viable payment method.
Complexity of checkout page
Traditionally, the checkout process is through multi-step checkout. In multi-step checkout, customers have to constantly click the “Next” button, which is a hassle to say the least. In pages using multi-step checkout, customers tend to waste much more time, which in turn will decrease customers’ satisfaction. Also, in multi-step checkout, customers usually have no idea when the checkout process is going to end. This has a negative psychology effect on them.
The Solution of One Step Checkout
Steve Jobs has once said: “If you define the problem correctly, you almost have the solution”. In the absolute effort to bring an end to the problem of cart abandonment, the Magestore team have gathered and created a wonderful solution: The One Step Checkout Extension for Magento. Understand the root of the problem, Magestore team has integrated many different features in One Step Checkout Extension. Shipping issue transparency is solved with One Step Checkout, thanks to all shipping information displayed in one page. One Step Checkout also allowed optional guest checkout option, which is convenient for customers without an account. One Step Checkout Extensions also accept all basic Magento payment methods, which should give customers to different options for payment.
