I regularly listen to the WP eCommerce podcast to keep on top of what’s happening in the industry. This instalment covered abandoned carts.
There’s a few gold nuggets of information that are worth sharing (in bold). I’ve added my own notes after to elaborate further on the points.
- 70% of carts are abandoned. Ouch.
- Average order value is $54+.
It’s easy to multiply this out by a cart figure on your website to find a dollar value for these abandoned carts – it’s an issue worth addressing. - Most people abandon because of unexpected costs — share the costs up-front (or minimize them!).
If your customer has already mentally prepared themselves to spend $49 on the clothing they found on your store, no wonder they are leaving when they see $16.95 shipping! I always recommend a retailer try their best to offer free shipping, even if it means a small across the board increase in prices. - Shipping costs matter. 6/10 are conscious of shipping costs.
People love free shipping. There’s nothing better than hitting /checkout and seeing a nice big “Free Shipping!”. That customer will be back. - Don’t ask the customer for things you already know!
Do you have the customer card details on file (… tokenised, I hope), shipping address on file, and preferred shipping notes on file? Show it all pre-filled and let them ‘next, next, next’ their way through if they can. There’s nothing worse than trying to enter your address on a mobile phone keyboard at a store you’ve purchased from before.
Cart Abandonment
The second part of the podcast is a big ad for a specific cart abandonment solution, but there’s still great information to keep in mind when devising your cart abandonment strategy.
- Send 3 emails. Play with intervals
- Reinforce policies.
Shipping, returns, did you have any issues? As a store owner, you know your potential customers are skimming over everything, including all of your super important policies. Why not include them in your cart abandonment emails? Mention free shipping, free returns, next day dispatch. - Make sure the customer can hit reply. It’s amazing the things you’ll find out if you keep an open communication channel between you and the customer. Make it clear they can hit ‘Reply’ to send an email direct to yourself/sales team. That way, if their payment method isn’t working or they’re unimpressed with shipping, you can still capture them. Put your ego aside and get that sale! It’s not just about the sale either — this potential customer could be back a few more times, after such a positive experience.
- Play with intervals. It’s important to track metrics on conversions for different intervals (6 hours + 1 day + 3 days… 1 hour + 3 days + 7 days… etc) to see what converts best.
Listen in at https://player.fm/series/wp-ecommerce-show-1451968/the-science-of-abandoned-carts-with-beka-rice-wp-ecommerce-show