Cart Abandonment Solutions for Online Vape Shops: What Is Shopping Cart Abandonment & How It Works
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An abandoned cart is the result of a failed sale.
Regardless of how efficient your SEO strategy is or how much you’ve managed to increase the organic traffic to your website, that alone is not enough to turn your visitors into buyers.
You’ll need enough visitors to engage with your website long enough to decide to purchase an item and convert it into paying customers.
You may have made it 3/4s of the way through to the conversion journey; The visitor engaged with your content or website, clicked on an item, and added it to their cart.
And then, unexpectedly:
Decided to leave your website without making a purchase.
According to Geckoboard, the average cart abandonment rate sits somewhere between 68.81% and 74.52%.
Software solutions have evolved to make resolving the issue of cart abandonment a whole lot easier. Along with other strategies that every online marketer should have in their arsenal.
Table Of Contents
- What is Shopping Cart Abandonment?
- Why Are Online Shopping Carts Abandoned?
- Shopping Cart Abandonment Tools [How Does Cart Abandonment Software Work?]
- What Is Cart Abandonment Rate?
- Why Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate is Important
- How to Improve Cart Abandonment Rate [12 Solutions for Online Vape Shops]
- Wrapping Up
- References
What Is Shopping Cart Abandonment?
Shopping cart abandonment is when a potential buyer visits your website and adds a vape product to their cart to start a checkout process for the online order but leaves the website or drops out of the process before completing the conversion. All the items added to the shopping cart before the customer left the checkout process are considered abandoned items.
It’s impossible to determine a common reason why cart abandonment might occur as every instance is independent. The only certainty is that every cart abandonment will result in lost revenue for your online vape shop.
Why Are Online Shopping Carts Abandoned?
If you’ve ever tried to purchase items online, then you have probably been on the giving end of cart abandonment.
It takes zero effort to log on to your favorite online vape shop and fill your cart with items you might be interested in, only to find them on another website and abandon your previously started list. For example, Amazon has a great way to avoid that by giving the consumer the ability to create lists that don’t necessarily go in the cart immediately.
Because it’s so easy to fill up your cart, the customer could equally easily decide not to go through with the purchase and forget all about it without thinking it over twice.
These are the most common reasons why carts get abandoned:
1. Unexpected Costs
There’s nothing more annoying than filling up your cart with your favorite vape products to reach the checkout stage and realize that the shipping, taxes, and other fees were not included in the introductory price. Some sources claim that this alludes to almost 50% of cart abandonment.
2. Having to Create an Account
In an age where online shopping is the common denominator, you are probably familiar with retailers that prompt you to create an account before purchasing. Mainstream companies like Amazon and Walmart can do this without running too much of a risk of cart abandonment. Still, smaller vape shops might be giving their potential customers a reason to abandon their cart. Some users treasure their private information and don’t give it out to just any website.
3. Complicated Checkout Process
If there’s one negative thing about having access to all the products or information you need at the touch of a button, it has made online shoppers impatient. Additionally, the average person shops online because it’s fast and convenient to do so. If your checkout process stretches out too much, this might make the customer feel impatient enough to abandon their cart.
4. Item Price Seems Confusing
Customers want to know what they’re paying for. If the listing is not clear on what the product includes or the pricing seems to be off, shoppers are likely to abandon the cart.
5. Delayed Delivery/Shipment
With delivery services evolving to ship products in one to two days, a prolonged delivery time could very well be a reason to abandon a cart, especially when there are so many other options available on the market.
6. Limited Delivery Options
Added costs on shipping and delays in delivery are both common reasons for cart abandonment. However, a limited number of delivery options might also play a role in it. If customers are looking for a specific delivery time but cannot find it on your online vape shop, they might decide to go in another direction even after they have already filled up their cart on your website.
7. Slow Glitch-Filled Website
Bugs and glitches are not an uncommon thing to encounter on websites. Because customers have grown accustomed to expect websites to operate without interruptions or delays, even the most insignificant holdup might trigger a cart abandonment.
8. eCommerce Store Seems Insecure
Online fraud comes in an innumerable number of forms, especially when making purchases. That said, a cart abandonment could be generated if your online vape shop shows even the slightest hint of unreliability.
9. Inconvenient Return Process
Online vape shops probably don't have a huge issue with returns because most items are consumables and not incredibly expensive. But businesses that sell expensive items could be in trouble if their return policy is too strict. A strict return policy could give rise to cart abandonment.
10. Insufficient Payment Options
Different regions will have varied payment preferences. Bearing that in mind, you should accommodate your payment options to your buyers' choice or give them other options to choose from. If a shopper does not find the payment option they need, their visit will likely result in cart abandonment.
Once you've identified the causes for cart abandonment on your online vape shop, you'll be on a fast lane to reducing the cart abandonment rate. The question remains, how exactly is that done?
Shopping Cart Abandonment Tools [How Does Cart Abandonment Software Work?]
Abandoned cart technology has two main goals:
1. Recover abandoned carts and motivate the buyers to follow through with their conversion
2. Reducing the abandoned cart percentage that happens in the first place and improving shopping cart abandonment statistics
When a customer adds a product to their digital cart, it means they have engaged in the 'checkout process.' Cart abandonment software will grab that customer's details and archive them for future use in an automated email marketing string.
This email marketing chain will only be applied if the purchase isn't finalized. The emails will likely contain reminders for the customer to go through with their purchase or offer them aid. Still, the email's actual content will vary depending on the abandoned cart strategy that you decide your online vape shop to follow.
Emails will be sent at specific times with specific messages and in different formats to improve your vape shop’s cart abandonment rate. These could be pop-ups, items left-behind lists, and so forth.
What Is Cart Abandonment Rate?
Cart abandonment rate is the percentage of visitors who engage in the checkout process but decide to drop out before placing an order and completing the conversion. The cart abandonment rate is a way to identify potential customers interested in your vape products but, for some reason or another, decide not to follow through with the purchase.
Identifying those customers and engaging in cart abandonment strategies with them will allow you to improve your checkout process and minimize the reasons that prompt a shopper to back out of a purchase.
Why Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate is Important
Cart abandonment rate is significant because it will allow you to understand where your user experience is causing your vape shop to lose revenue. Perhaps it’s due to an ‘out of stock’ issue, pop-ups interrupting your visitors every 5 minutes, or an inconvenient checkout process.
By analyzing your cart abandonment rate, you will identify the causes for the abandonment and employ specific strategies to prevent them. Sure, the cart abandonment rate can also be improved with follow-up emails that prompt the client into purchasing the items left behind and recover a piece of the lost revenue this way. But this alone will not reduce the cart abandonment rate significantly.
How to Improve Cart Abandonment Rate [12 Solutions for Online Vape Shops]
As you can see, there are an insufferable amount of reasons why your cart abandonment rate could spiral out of control.
However, there is an equally extensive list of ways to deal with cart abandonment for your online vape shop.
1. Exit Intent Overlay
Exit intent overlays are lightboxes that track specific customer behaviors on your website and are triggered when a visitor is abandoning their cart. These lightboxes attempt to capture a lost conversion and retain the customer before leaving your online vape shop.
2. Identify Leaks in Your Conversion Funnel
The cause for abandonments could be located almost anywhere in your conversion funnel. By breaking down the steps, your customer has to go through at checkout. You can identify what is preventing your customer from confirming their order.
3. Cart Abandonment Remarketing Emails
If your customer has already abandoned their cart and left your website, cart abandonment software could be used to track them down and send them an enticing custom email that reels them back to your website to complete the checkout process.
Cart abandonment remarketing emails should not be mass emails, but customized content convinces your abandoning customers to come back to your vape shop.
4. SMS Remarketing Strategies
As our dependence on smartphones continues to rise, SMS or text messages are usually skimmed and engage with the customer faster than an email can. Although a remarketing email is more effective due to a more direct line to a ‘call to action,’ an SMS remarketing strategy is a nice feature when the customer needs contact immediately.
5. Use Remarketing Ads
Remarketing campaigns include reaching out to abandoning customers through online display ads that remind them of an item they already want. This is made possible by saving your visitor’s cookies and targeting them with ads when visiting other websites.
6. Provide Easy Access to Customer Support with Live Chat or a Chatbot
Live customer support is a fundamental component of a cart abandonment avoidance strategy. Suppose your customer can chat instantly with a person that will solve their checkout process issues or a chatbot that will point them in the right direction when they’re confused. In that case, the chances of reducing your potential cart abandonment rate are greater.
However, chatbots can be a double-edged sword. If the chatbot doesn’t solve your customer’s questions quickly and efficiently, the chatbot itself could likely become a cause for cart abandonment.
7. Display Social Proof & Trust Signals Throughout the Shopping Journey
The fear of online fraud has never been greater. As a result, customers have adopted a hesitant online purchasing behavior. A way to reduce their hesitancy and, in consequence, reduce the cart abandonment rate on your online vape shop is by including verified customer reviews, social media proof, trust badges, and certificates that will make your customer feel at ease.
8. Simplify and Optimize Checkout Process
A considerable part of a simple yet effective checkout experience allows your customer to understand where they stand in the process exactly. This can be done by showing the user a progress bar at the top of your website interface. Another good practice that helps avoid cart abandonment is to include a ‘review’ stage in the checkout process.
9. Guest Checkout
A guest checkout process does not require the customer to set up an account with your online vape shop before completing the checkout process. Having the option of a guest checkout simplifies the process and helps prevent cart abandonment rates from spiking.
10. Communicate All Costs Early
Avoid surprising your customer with unexpected costs at the end of their checkout process. Try to be as transparent as possible about shipping costs and taxes from the beginning.
11. Provide a ‘Save Your Cart’ Option
Many online shoppers will start browsing for items on one device and continuing their checkout process on another device. By allowing your customers to save their cart automatically, you are limiting the number of reasons they could have to back out of the purchase.
12. Upsell Alternative Product Recommendations at Cart and Checkout Pages
In the final stage of the checkout process, customers tend to think more rationally. Think of it in two ways. They could decide that they don’t need the items in their cart and abandon your vape shop, or they could offer additional items that fit their needs best or make their purchase more attractive. Consider this an opportunity for you to avoid cart abandonment and a chance to increase the value of the sale.
Wrapping Up
Cart abandonment is when an online customer browses for products on your website, fills up their cart, and then exits your online vape shop without completing the checkout process, resulting in lost revenue and, in most cases, unhappy customers.
There are several reasons why a customer chooses to abandon their cart halfway through checkout. Fortunately, there is also a long list of ways to get that customer back or prevent the abandonment from happening in the first place.
References
[1] Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate | KPI example. (2020). Geckoboard. https://www.geckoboard.com/best-practice/kpi-examples/shopping-cart-abandonment-rate/
[2] Egan, V. (2020, November 27). 9 Shopping Cart Abandonment Solutions That Actually Work. Yieldify. https://www.yieldify.com/blog/cart-abandonment-solutions/
[3] Beeketing. (2020, November 21). Chapter 7: How to Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment. Beeketing Blog. https://beeketing.com/blog/reduce-shopping-cart-abandonment-solutions-for-online-stores/
[4] Chalberg, M. (2021, January 13). 9 Reasons for Abandoned Carts: How to Convert Cart Abandonment. KORONA.Pos. https://koronapos.com/blog/reasons-for-abandoned-carts/#4
[5] Shewan, D. (2019, August 27). 13 Ways to Combat Shopping Cart Abandonment. WordStream. https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/03/17/shopping-cart-abandonment
[6] StackPath. (2020, July 2). Coredna.Com. https://www.coredna.com/blogs/abandoned-cart
[7] Ravishankar, S. (2021, January 12). Shopping Cart Abandonment in Ecommerce – The Ultimate Guide. Vue.Ai Blog. https://vue.ai/blog/ai-in-retail/shopping-cart-abandonment-ultimate-guide/
