Did you know that the average cart abandonment rate is around 70%?
That means seven of every ten customers who initiate the checkout process abandon their carts!
In the world of e-commerce, cart abandonment is a challenge many businesses face. A potential customer visits your online store, adds items to their shopping cart, and then…leaves without completing the purchase.
What do you, as the business owner, do?
Let’s dive into the issue of cart abandonment and see how you can solve it!
Recovering Abandoned Carts with Free Shipping
In today’s competitive market, addressing cart abandonment is essential if you want your business to succeed (which we have no doubt you do!).
If you understand the reasons behind cart abandonment, you can gain valuable insights into customer's pain points and develop strategies to tackle them and increase your chances of
- recovering lost sales
- increasing your conversion rates
- and driving revenue growth
Understanding the psychology of cart abandonment
To effectively address cart abandonment, it's crucial to delve into the psychology behind this phenomenon and understand the common reasons why potential customers abandon their carts.
What are the main reasons for cart abandonment?
The main reasons for cart abandonment include high or unexpected fees, such as shipping charges and hidden costs. A lengthy or complicated checkout process and lack of trust or security concerns also contribute to cart abandonment.
High or unexpected fees
Customers are highly price-conscious. When customers encounter unexpected costs during the checkout process, like high shipping charges, taxes, or hidden fees, it can lead to cart abandonment.
No one likes surprises that inflate the final cost of the item they are considering buying.
Lengthy or complicated checkout process
In the words of Sweet Brown, “Ain’t nobody got time for that.”
Customers want simplicity and efficiency when making a purchase. If the checkout process becomes overly complicated, requires too many steps, or demands excessive information, it frustrates customers, ultimately leading to cart abandonment.
Lack of trust or security concerns
Like never before, security is vital in customers' decision-making processes. If your website doesn't seem trustworthy enough or if customers have concerns about the safety of their personal information, they may hesitate to complete the purchase – and what?
Right, abandon their carts.
Let’s say you have resolved the first two reasons customers abandon their carts and only have to turn your focus to your shipping costs.
Good for you, because this is a big deal!
Extra costs, such as shipping, tax, and other additional fees, lead 48% of visitors to abandon their carts.
Customers have come to expect free or very affordable shipping options. They often compare the total cost, including shipping, to alternative options available to them.
So when faced with unexpectedly high shipping fees, they may reconsider their purchase and seek better deals elsewhere.
Reduce abandoned carts with the power of free shipping
One powerful solution to this problem is the strategic implementation of free shipping.
By offering free shipping to your customers, you create a compelling value proposition that directly addresses one of the most common reasons for cart abandonment.
By implementing free shipping, you can encourage customers to complete their purchases and enhance their overall shopping experience.
Why is free shopping so effective in reducing abandoned carts? Well, free shipping makes customers feel they are getting a better deal.
This perception of added value can increase customer satisfaction and create a positive association with your brand. It also serves as a competitive advantage, motivating customers to choose your products over others that may still charge for shipping.
Plus, free shipping is a powerful motivator. It is much more likely that hesitant customers will complete the purchase if they know they won't face any additional costs. And free shipping leads to better customer satisfaction and enhances the overall shopping experience.
The Role of a Free Shipping Bar
You don’t need to go and offer worldwide-forever-free shipping to succeed, though. You can set a threshold customers must surpass to qualify for free shipping or offer limited-time flash free shipping deals.
This is where a free shipping bar comes into play.
A free shipping bar creates a sense of urgency and scarcity
One of the key benefits of a free shipping bar is the sense of urgency and scarcity it builds among customers.
By displaying a clear message indicating a limited-time free shipping offer or even having a countdown timer to go with it, you create a sense of urgency and FOMO in customers' minds that motivate them to take immediate action, reducing the likelihood of cart abandonment.
FOMO drives customers to make purchase decisions quicker since they want to secure the deal and take advantage of free shipping before the offer runs out.
Moreover, you can further push the power of the free shipping offer and play the scarcity card. You can tap into customers' FOMO by indicating the limited availability, for example, mentioning that the free shipping offer is valid for the first 100 customers only.
A free shipping bar increases Average Order Value
Another significant benefit of a free shipping bar is its potential to increase average order value. Setting a minimum order value to qualify for free shipping encourages customers to add more items to their carts to reach that threshold.
The free shipping bar prominently displays the remaining amount needed to unlock free shipping. Customers are more likely to add additional items to their cart to meet the free shipping threshold, which leads to larger purchases.
As customers strive to reach the minimum order value, they are more likely to explore additional products and make additional purchases, ultimately not only proceeding with their purchase (no abandoned cart!) but also increasing their average order value and driving conversions.
If you are looking for more ways to boost AOV, here’s a list of Shopify apps that help you increase your average order value.
Which free shipping bar for Shopify should you choose?
Essential Free Shipping Bar stands out as our top choice when selecting a free shipping bar app for your Shopify store.
It offers a range of impressive features to help you optimize the impact of free shipping and convert more abandoned carts into successful sales.
With its intuitive and user-friendly interface, Essential Free Shipping Bar ensures a smooth experience, even if you are not a tech guru. You have complete control over your free shipping bar’s design elements, from choosing the color scheme to selecting fonts, sizes, and messaging. Or you can skip this step and pick one of the app’s pre-made templates that are versatile and would look great in any Shopify theme.
We love Essential Free Shipping Bar because it’s 100% mobile-friendly, ensuring a smooth experience and maximizing the chances of conversions across different devices. Without slowing down your store, too!
Regardless of the size of your business or the products you offer, you gain access to a powerful tool that can help you optimize your free shipping strategy.
Final word
Cart abandonment is frustrating for e-commerce businesses. The key is conquering the power of free shipping. And a free shipping bar can play a pivotal role in this.
By integrating a free shipping bar into your store, you can create a seamless and persuasive customer experience and eliminate hesitations and concerns related to shipping costs – a significant factor of cart abandonment.
It acts as a gentle push, reinforcing the value proposition and driving customers toward purchase.
