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According to a recent report by India Marketers, India’s average cart abandonment rate is around 51%.
To put that into perspective, That’s more than half of all revenue lost. (talk about opportunity costs!)
So, as one can imagine, cart abandonment is a severe concern for all e-commerce players.
Indeed, high shipping costs and mandatory account creation make up the majority of cart abandonment cases. However, payment-related issues are often undermined when businesses optimise their checkout pages.
And to a fault.
After all, 9% of all carts are abandoned as users cannot find their preferred payment method.
Given just how imminent cart recovery and conversion is, it only makes sense to dig deeper.
This blog will decipher how you can reduce your abandoned shopping carts by focusing on the right payment infrastructure and strategies. We will also uncover how to choose a payment gateway that can help you solve these issues through tailor-made solutions.
What is an Abandoned Shopping Cart?
An abandoned shopping cart is when customers browse online stores, add items to their shopping carts, and leave it without completing the payment (i.e. do not buy items after adding items to the cart).
Here are some of the most common reasons why people leave shopping carts unattended.
Why Do Customers Abandon Their Shopping Carts?
When any e-commerce website does not offer the convenience or comfort a customer looks for, it gets more abandoned carts. Let’s examine why customers don’t complete the payment and leave the shopping items in the cart.
- Time-consuming checkout experience: When customers have to spend a lot of time completing an online transaction, they are likely to leave the shopping cart. Hence, websites with complex and time-consuming checkout processes have more abandoned shopping carts.
- Absence of preferred payment methods: When you offer selected payment methods on your website, customers who don’t see their payment method available at the checkout will not complete the transaction (i.e. leave the shopping cart).
- Poor security standards: Customers are concerned about how their financial and personal information is used or stored on your website. They will abandon their carts when they don’t trust the security measures your website offers.
- Complex cost structures: Some websites add shipping costs, taxes, and service fees at the end of the checkout process. These additional costs are one of the most common reasons customers leave their shopping carts.
- Requirement to sign up: A forced account creation may get you increased cart abandonment rates. Customers don’t prefer spending time creating accounts or signing up on websites.
- Lack of offering ‘pay later’ options: Some customers spend more when you offer ‘pay later’ (instalment arrangement) options at the checkout. These customers leave their shopping carts if they have to make an upfront payment.
- Not displaying upfront total costs: Customers like to know how much they will pay for every item added to the shopping cart. Thus, they will leave the cart when they are unclear about how much they will pay at the checkout.
In a nutshell, it is mainly about the payment solutions you offer your customers on your e-commerce store. So, how does the right payment gateway help you in reducing abandoned carts?
Let’s find out!
How to Reduce Abandoned Carts With the Right Payment Gateway?
Payment gateways help merchants by offering their customers a payment solution that allows them to complete the transaction smoothly.
How to Select the Right Payment Gateway?
Multiple Payment Options
While some customers prefer making payments through UPI apps, while the others only prefer card payments. Hence, offering a wide range of payment options will help you reduce your abandoned shopping carts.
For example, Cashfree allows 120+ payment options to their merchant clients so that they can offer payment solutions to different segments of customers.
Robust Security Measures
Your customers will also look for security measures you provide when they provide their critical payment information (bank or card details). The right payment gateway will provide you with robust security standards to ensure the privacy and security of your customer’s financial and personal information.
Smooth Integration
Offering a convenient payment solution to customers requires proper and smooth integrations at various levels, for example,
- Web integrations
- UPI payment integrations
- Languages supported
- Mobile integrations
- Plugins provided
Customer-friendly Checkout Process
It is a fact that the cart abandonment rate is higher on mobile devices (89.65% to be precise) than the desktops. Thus, for the users who shop from their phones, your checkout process should be quick, easy to follow, and mobile-friendly. The moment they get stuck, they will leave the cart.
Popular Payment Methods
A survey suggests that 9% of cart abandonments are due to a lack of preferred payment methods at the checkout. It will provide your customers with ease of making payments.
For example, if people are willing to buy items when the instalment offers (EMIs) are provided at the checkout, they are more likely to complete the transaction from your website.
Moreover, customers always look to pay through their preferred payment method, which can change according to the customer’s geography. For instance, an Indian customer may prefer UPI, while an international customer may prefer to pay through Paypal.
Ensure that your payment gateway offers all these payment methods as options.
Guest Checkout Option
26% of the users leave their shopping carts due to time-consuming checkout processes (i.e. forced account creation requirements). Hence, you should select a payment gateway that lets customers complete their purchases without signing up.
Transparent Cost Structure
21% of the total cart abandonments are due to unclear pricing. As a merchant, you should display the costs that apply to purchasing items as clearly as possible. Customers don’t like additional costs added at the time of checkout.
Precise Return Policies
When selecting items, customers sometimes are unsure about buying them and hence look for product return policies (especially instant refunds). If you showcase your return policies clearly, they will complete the transaction.
Thus, selecting a payment gateway that helps you display clear return policies will help you reduce your cart abandonment rate.
Concluding Thoughts
When you simplify payment processes for your customers, offer an interactive payment solution, and be precise on customer policies, they are more likely to become loyal and regular customers. Having a correct payment gateway partner is, thus, quite effective in reducing abandoned carts.
