15 e-commerce tips for the cart to ensure the customer completes the purchase
Abandonment of the cart in the last phase of the shopping process is a sore point for many e-shops. Are you one of them? If so, you should definitely read these 15 points, which might help you discover why people are abandoning their cart in your e-shop and not completing the purchase. What can you change to prevent this?
1. Motivate the customer to take advantage of the benefits of their account
The moment the e-shop recognizes the customer (for example, when they enter their email address at a certain step in the e-shop), you should remind them of all the benefits that come from signing into their account. Examples include loyalty points, unused discount coupons, and similar perks that can motivate them to make a purchase.
2. Don't overdo it with cross-selling
If you use cross-selling on your website or offer the customer the option to buy related products, do it only once. Otherwise, you might unnecessarily confuse them. Especially if they have already added a product to the cart as part of cross-selling. There is a minimal chance that if they chose a toothbrush and added toothpaste in the product detail through recommended products, they will consider buying another toothbrush in the cart.
UIČKOVSKÝ TIP: Having trouble setting up recommended or related products/services for cross-selling? Leave it to artificial intelligence. Automated recommendations, which we developed at ui42, select exactly those products or services that the given customer is most likely to be interested in. You can read about how exactly they can save your time through automation and increase conversions in this article.
3. Discount coupons? Yes, if you have any active
Discount coupons are a big draw that can motivate a purchase. But what if you don't have any active at the moment? Displaying an empty column in the cart can unnecessarily prompt the customer to search for discount coupons outside your site. And the chance that they will return to complete the purchase starts to fade away…
4. Stock availability: Display or not display in the cart?
Do you have all the offered products in stock? Then this information is unnecessary in the cart. Especially if the customer is shopping on mobile and you are trying to arrange the content layout as efficiently as possible within the responsive design. However, the opposite is true for e-shops with many branches or external warehouses, where delivery/availability of goods may vary. In that case, it is better if the customer sees summary information about the availability/delivery of all items in one place. If you were also considering giving them the option to split the order into multiple packages in case of different delivery times, you should also take into account the logistical costs that come with it.
5. You can wrap up shipping and payment after selection
Of course, not in a package. Once the customer in the cart chooses a method of shipping and payment, the ideal solution is to make the other options invisible except for the one selected, so they don't unnecessarily confuse them. The option to change this choice can be, for example, by clicking on a visible button "CHANGE". Similarly, as with stock availability in the optimized mobile version of the cart, these informations take up unnecessary space. A great solution is the so-called accordion expandable bar, which the customer can expand if they decide to change their choice.
6. When purchasing on installment, monitor the ratio of interest versus approved applications
That is actually the most important number that will give you a picture of whether installment sales are an option that brings you something. It often happens that potential customers spend a much larger budget within paid campaigns, but the number of resulting approved applications is too small and the revenue from them does not even cover the advertising costs.
7. Verify the functionality of payment gateways in each browser
Did you know, for example, that the Chrome browser blocks the option of payment through Google Pay? To avoid similar scenarios, test all payment options across all browsers (in both mobile and desktop versions). This eliminates the risk that the order will hang in the system without payment and saves you time/costs associated with rectification (communication with the customer, administration, etc.).
8. Buttons in the cart should clearly navigate the customer
Should the buttons in the individual steps of the cart have an arrow or just text? And text in the sense of "NEXT" or more specifically, for example, "NEXT TO SHIPPING"? You might say – a detail. However, with the number of customers who abandon carts, even that matters. Even an inconspicuous arrow encourages the user to move to the next step. At the same time, if they know what awaits them in the next step, they can orient themselves in the entire shopping process faster. The problem can again be the mobile version, where stacking buttons with longer text underneath each other is not very suitable. However, you can solve this by optimizing – shortening the text in CTA elements for mobile versions.
9. Make it clear in the billing and delivery address
Do you know which is more important for your customer? It depends on whether they are shopping for a company or as a private individual. The most important thing, however, is that both are clearly and distinctly marked (ideally also in your e-shop administration), because a subsequent change in the invoice brings a large amount of time and financial costs and administration. The ideal scenario is to list the billing address first and in case it does not match the delivery address, offer this as an option within a drop-down menu.
10. Don't miss out on orders due to bad ZIP code column settings
Each country has different rules for determining the postal code and therefore different formats. If you set the rule that the ZIP code can only be a 5-digit number, as is the case in Slovakia, you can easily lose orders from abroad (Romania has 6-digit ZIP codes, Hungary and Austria have 4-digit ones, …). You can keep the validation for other characters, such as letters and automatic removal of spaces, but we recommend setting a wider range for the number of digits.
11. Facilitate data entry with autocomplete tools
An example is Foxentry – a prompter for filling in data from the first letter. Thanks to autocomplete tools, you significantly speed up the process of filling in data in the shopping process and contribute to a positive user experience. And it is precisely this that is the reason why the customer not only does not abandon the cart, but even returns to shop again in the future.
UIČKOVSKÝ TIP: Even more tips on how to improve the cart, especially from a UX perspective, can be found in the article by our UX specialists Don't despair over abandoned carts.
12. For corporate customers, verify VAT payers
Again, a tip that can save you a lot of piecemeal work if you don't verify this information. If the corporate customer is a VAT payer and you charge them the full amount including VAT, you need to rectify it. For compliance with accounting, additional contact and administration are necessary, which costs you a lot of time (for example, with card payment you do not even have an account number to return the amount to).
13. Checkboxes before the grand finale – which yes and which no?
Even before the customer clicks the holy grail of all buttons in the e-shop – "CONFIRM ORDER", there are several checkboxes they must go through. Do you know which are must-have and which do not need to be in the cart?
Registration
The registration checkbox is not mandatory. On the one hand, you do not have to mention it at this point at all, and on the other hand, it should not be mandatory for the customer to register if they want to shop.
Consent to the processing of personal data and age over 16 years
Really only a minimum of e-shops in Slovakia work with the information of how old the customer is in order to be able to process their personal data. According to GDPR regulations, directives, and the Personal Data Protection Act, however, it applies that if a person has not reached 16 years of age, then consent to the processing of personal data must be given by their legal representative. Therefore, this information, or checkbox, as well as consent to data processing, should be part of the checkbox journey before confirming the order.
Satisfaction surveys with the purchase
If you want to send the customer, for example, a Heureka evaluation form with feedback on the purchase after making a purchase, you should verify their consent that they wish to receive such an email precisely through a checkbox.
Sending marketing offers
In some e-shops, you will encounter that the customer can choose whether they want to receive marketing offers, for example in the form of a newsletter. This checkbox is not among the mandatory ones, but it is up to each e-shop to consider whether to incorporate it.
Terms and Conditions
For the trade to be legitimate, the customer should agree to your terms and conditions. Therefore, in addition to requesting their consent, do not forget about the possibility of showing them to the customer for review as part of internal linking. This is also related to two other important documents to which the customer should have quick access at this step – the Complaints Procedure and the Form for withdrawal from the contract.
14. Unsuccessful payment? Offer an alternative
For a variety of reasons, it may happen that the payment cannot be made. What in this case? Do not leave the customer wondering whether it was successful or not and directly offer them the option to retry the attempt or choose another payment method.
15. If the customer has already abandoned the cart, lure them back
How? Simply remind them. For example, through effective remarketing on social networks or create an attractive offer for them through a discount coupon via a newsletter or targeted SMS. The foundation is to capture people who abandon the cart and create a system of notifications that can motivate them to come back and complete the purchase.
3 bonus tips to get the customer to complete the purchase
The data actually suggest how many potential customers will do so. Therefore, you should pay sufficient attention to measuring them, for example using analytical tools such as Google Analytics, Matomo, or Optimizely. One way to find out where exactly the problem occurs in the cart is through professional UX testing, which can reveal up to 80% of errors.
Do you know how long the e-shop should remember the contents of the cart? It depends on what type of goods you sell. If it is about everyday consumption products (food, medicines, clothing, etc.), a visible countdown for reserving the contents of the cart can motivate the customer to complete the purchase. Another case is, for example, building materials or goods where a longer period of interest in purchase is assumed. Then it is, on the contrary, an advantage if the customer returns after a longer time to the e-shop and the goods they put in the cart are still waiting for them (however, be careful to verify stock levels).
The last tip on how to fine-tune the cart to the last detail is to give the customer the option of feedback. A solution can be a button or element through which they send you information about a specific problem they encountered. You can also use this element in other parts of the website.
Do you already have an idea of what could be the stumbling block in your cart? We hope these tips will come in handy. However, if you are not sure how to implement them or are looking for experts to help you fine-tune your e-commerce project, contact us.
