Recent research conducted by Gigya with UK consumers found 60 per cent had abandoned a purchase because the website had made them fill out a lengthy or complicated online registration form. Furthermore, four in five had abandoned an online registration form because they were concerned about the type of information requested.
To shed light on the pitfalls and provide tips on how to counteract abandoned carts, here are three reasons customers are doing it – some of which might come as a surprise.
Lengthy registration forms
Registration fatigue is a real threat to purchase conversions. Our poll concluded the reasons customers favour social login are overwhelmingly related to ease and convenience – 59 per cent of respondents choose it because they don’t want to spend time filling in online registration forms and 46 per cent don’t want to have to create yet another username and password.
To reduce the barriers to entry for shoppers, allow them to register for an account via their existing social identities while also offering reasonable form fields that don’t ask for unnecessary information.
Using social login provides brands with permission-based access to users’ social data, which can be used to auto-populate form fields for a faster, streamlined checkout process. It also gives a clear sense of what information is being shared, helping to build trust. This provides brands with deep insights into your customer interests, activities and friends in a transparent way, which can be used to personalise interactions and experiences.
Single channel experiences
These days, consumers aren’t just shopping on their desktops: they’re browsing their favourite online stores on their smartphones and tablets too. According to Tradedoubler, 50 per cent of shoppers use their smartphone or tablet for shopping activity every week and almost a third do so nearly every day.
As customers browse, they generally leave items in their shopping carts for possible future reference, when and if they do decide to complete the purchase. In this sense, the online shopping cart is fast becoming a sort of pseudo shopping list for customers to save items for future purchases. Noting that customers are engaging across different channels and using shopping carts as research tools in addition to actual purchase points, it’s important to recognise the varying roles carts play in the overall shopping experience and the importance of enabling customer identity across channels.
Sheer timing
According to a report by eMarketer, 57 per cent of shoppers abandoned carts because they aren’t ready to purchase and want to get an idea of total costs with shipping. Another 56 per cent abandon because they simply wanted to save them for later. Today’s businesses must learn to thrive in a landscape that empowers consumers to compare prices and shop around before clicking through to make that final purchasing decision. In order to stand out from the competition, businesses need to build brand trust and establish long-term, authentic relationships with their consumers.
One approach is to create a space for customers to leave feedback on products through an identity-based ratings and reviews platform. By facilitating two-way conversations marketers can build an on-site community while nurturing transparency.
To re-engage shoppers at different stages of the journey, marketers can personalise email campaigns to remind them of items in their shopping carts. Remarketing also allows customers to be reached via targeted ads highlighting an offer or a brand’s shipping and return policy.
In order to win the fight against shopping cart abandonment, businesses need to consistently engage customers across different touch points by eliminating the barriers to entry, connecting with shoppers over multiple devices, and re-engaging them at different stages of the purchasing journey.
Brian Sullivan is SVP of Client Services at Gigya.
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