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Cart abandonment is an ecommerce term that describes when a visitor on a web store leaves the checkout process before completing the purchase.
The cart abandonment rate is the ratio of the number of abandoned shopping carts to the number of initiated or completed transactions.
Although in brick and mortar stores cart abandonment rarely happens, in ecommerce it’s a widespread phenomenon that’s typical for online purchasing behavior. Shopping online, after all, is not as straightforward and easy as was predicted some 20 years ago. Hence, it’s hardly surprising that, before making a purchase decision, a typical buyer consults around ten sources of information on average, such as review websites, social networks, and search results, and compares at least five different websites, spending up to 20 hours researching online.
Research conducted by the Baymard Institute reveals that nearly one-third of customers abandon their carts due to a long or complicated checkout process. Fortunately, the research also indicates there are nearly 40 potential areas for checkout improvements. This means there are many opportunities to improve checkout flow and recover potentially lost orders. As mentioned, fixing major bottlenecks in the checkout process can translate to a 35% increase in conversion rates.
According to the Baymard Institute, an average ecommerce store has 23.48 form elements and 14.88 form fields for new non-account customers. These numbers indicate the shopping cart experience is a time-consuming process, which creates unnecessary friction between a buyer and a seller. Therefore, reducing the number of those elements and fields will lessen the shopping cart complexity and reduce the time it takes to complete all steps in a checkout process. On the contrary, a fully optimized checkout flow can have as few as 12 form elements and 7 form fields. This means there’s plenty of opportunities for improvement.
“An average ecommerce store has 23.48 form elements
and 14.88 form fields for new non-account customers.
A fully optimized checkout flow can have as few as 12 form elements and 7 form fields.
”
According to Statista, 30% of shoppers will abandon checkout if they have to reenter their credit card information, and 25% will do so if they have to reenter their shipping information; both account for 55% of shoppers who abandon the cart if they run into the above issues while using the site. One of a few ways to fix this is to automatically populate these fields with the shopper's billing information if it has already been entered.
“The optimal load time for websites
with peak conversion rates
ranges between 1.8 to 2.7 seconds.
”
“Extra costs account for 60% of cart abandonment.
”
Furthermore, retargeted ads can send 26% of shoppers back to the store. Such a percentage makes retargeting a highly effective strategy that's also worth considering in addition to emails.
To learn more about developing a post-purchase experience strategy, read our comprehensive article on the topic.
Although the average cart abandonment rate might seem unavoidable, the issue can be easily addressed by analyzing the store’s checkout flow and site performance. Addressing bottlenecks in the customer journey can significantly reduce the cart abandonment rate and boost conversions.
Thankfully, having a reliable ecommerce platform can help resolve these issues on multiple fronts. For example, integration with critical internal and third-party systems ensures that information on your site is updated in real time. Additionally, corporate account, catalog, and pricing management ensure the information is highly personalized and relevant to the specific customer.