Reduce Mobile Cart Abandonment Using These 5 Tips

Mobile cart abandonment is a major issue for ecommerce retailers, why? Because the majority of online traffic comes via smartphones, yet mobile conversion rate and online sales are lagging behind the traffic growth. 

This is a giant missed opportunity and with digital tech showing no signs of slowing down now is the time to create a strategy to reduce your mobile cart abandonment rates and improve your mobile conversion rate optimisation. 

SaleCycle witnessed over 150 million conversions in 2020, so in this article we will share up to date mobile traffic trends and cart abandonment statistics, along with tips on how to grow ROI in the mobile traffic channel. Especially since mobile commerce (m-commerce) is expected to contribute to 73% of all retail online sales by 2021. 

According to SaleCycle client data, in 2020 mobile traffic accounted for 68% with online sales from a mobile device at 56% – compared to desktop. This trend looks set to continue as modern digital advancements grow. Plus, research by Google found 6 out of 10 shoppers say the ability to shop via mobile is an important factor in brand selection.

While we understand online traffic on mobile is increasing, and in fact online traffic overall, globally is increasing it presents an opportunity for retailers to recover high-intent sessions that have abandoned. For example, SaleCycle data finds 58.3% of visitors show buying intent but will abandon. So what can brands do to temp users back? The solution is browse abandonment emails, which can be used to remind users of the products they were interested in. With most people using their mobile device for emails it is a key solution to this problem and browse abandonment emails are also opened 80.9% more than traditional emails. 

1. Improve Your Checkout Process

The checkout process is a key part of the customer journey. For example, mobile add-to-cart-rates according to SaleCycle client data is at 9%, however, mobile conversions sits at 1.81%. In this trend we notice mobile add-to-cart rates are higher than desktop but conversion rate is lower. Therefore it’s vital to make the checkout process smooth and well-designed. If it’s too “fiddly” or complex, this gives your visitor the opportunity to go elsewhere and forget that they want your product or service.

Ao.com have a great checkout process, and it’s often the finer details which help make buying high ticket items easy on a mobile. First up is usually the delivery address. By using an address lookup, entering your address takes seconds rather than minutes navigating multiple lines on a small keyboard. ​​​​​​​

Next up, delivery date. Often calendars can be awkward on small mobile phone screens. Having to pinpoint tiny squares and swiping to change months can land you back on the product page. Having to start again can sometimes be enough to make users give up altogether.

Instead, take a look at scrolling menus. They’re a lot more user friendly, using the design of the mobile phone’s operating system. It’s also a great touch to add the Free Delivery options on here. Our survey found free delivery was one of the most important factors that consumers use when deciding to complete a purchase.

If you only show what is necessary for that field users can complete the form more easily.

Although this is something small, you want to make this process as easy as possible. 

2. Offer a Variety Of Payment Methods

A survey done by SaleCycle found 7% of travel bookings were abandoned due to lack of payments. We can assume that amount of payment integrations on mobile is smaller than desktop. However, this is picking up speed as we see payment methods such as PayPal, ApplePay and now WeChat come into the market. The mobile payments market is rapidly expanding and leaving plastic cards behind. To put this into context, Paypal currently have more than 200m active accounts which plays perfectly into keeping the whole purchase on mobile.

But for most websites, the key has to be choice. By giving the user multiple payment options, you are covering a larger customer base. 

3. Give Customers Confidence

Ecommerce average order value via mobile for example SaleCycle data found mobile AOV in the retail sector was still lower than desktop. In the travel sector mobile AOV is significantly less than desktop. This suggests  there is still a perceived stigma around buying on mobile, although this is becoming less common.

To address this, you can give your customer the confidence that if something goes wrong, you are at hand. The importance of customer service is paramount for improving your conversion rate and customer retention.

A really simple way to do this, is to use what you already have. A phone.
Using a call me feature shows your visitors that there is someone there to help them out and solve problems and queries. Which is great to have throughout the whole buying process, but even better to show on exit intent (when the visitor is about to leave your website) to give that personal touch – and hopefully avoid abandonment.

4. Site Speed

Site speed is a critical factor for ecommerce. Slow site speed can have many negative impacts on both micro conversions and online sales. Site speed is also a ranking factor to improve your SEO visibility. According to research by Google, 53% of mobile users abandon websites that take longer than 3 seconds to load. Don’t put all of your hard work to waste by not having your website speed in top shape! In that time visitors can be switching between different tabs and apps, and you don’t want to get lost in the mix.

5. Multiple Sign Up Options

Although the guest checkout can be beneficial when looking from a time perspective; by taking a long term view of customer loyalty – you always want a visitor to make an account with you.

By encouraging visitors to create an account you can get more information about them, their habits and assurance they are connected in some way with your brand.

Social media covers a large percentage of our apps (and time). Some visitors will be happy to use existing login details from Social Media as quicker sign up options and so won’t be put off by the prospect of repeating their details in ‘another form’.

There may still be other fields to complete, such as address & payment information, but helping shoppers saves time will make them feel batter about using your site.

Summary

Aside from recovering abandoned sales and learning how to reduce cart abandonment there is bigger picture here. It’s about driving loyalty through great customer experiences.

When people have a negative mobile experience with a brand, they are over 60% less likely to purchase from that brand in the future, than if they had a positive experience – so make it right!

Reviewed by Brad Ward
Written by SaleCycle
— Updated on 09/03/2021