How to prevent cart abandonment, according to behavioral science

As a retail brand, all of your marketing tactics, design strategies and business operations are designed to encourage happy, converted customers. That means overcoming a slew of challenges, cart abandonment being one of them. 

We talked to Valon Xhafa, founder of Behamics, a SaaS-provider designed to prevent cart abandonment with the use of behavioral science, about what causes consumers to leave their carts and how you can stop it from happening.

Consumers are busy and overwhelmed by shopping choices

Time is precious and when customers are spending their time with you, you want to make sure you’re helping them make the most out of it.

“There’s a biological clock in the consumer’s mind which means the consumer is not going to spend more than a specific amount of time with your brand,” Xhafa said. “Because our daily lives are so busy we might only spend five to ten minutes with a shop if we have enough interest. This means the brand has to provide exactly what the consumer wants so that the consumer can make the right purchase decisions.”

But that purchase decision doesn't always happen. Sometimes consumers visit an online store with the intention of making a purchase just to leave the site without looking at anything. Others will take their journey a step further and collect a few items, but not completely make it through the checkout process.

Sometimes high shipping prices catch the blame for cart abandonment. It’s a reasonable assumption — we know consumers feel pain over parting with their money. But unexpected shipping costs aren’t the only reason customers leave their carts behind.

“We know that prices are important to consumers, but it’s not really that important when you buy a t-shirt that’s $10,” said Xhafa. 

What is important, however, is how easy or difficult it will be for customers to navigate through your website or online shop. With consumers a goal they’re looking to achieve and only so much time to do it, everything they do with your brand is critical.

“[The buying decision process] starts as soon as they land on the homepage of the shop. The consumers, within the limited amount of time they have to shop, have to make a lot of decisions so that when they get to the cart they are convinced they have the right products and they’re shopping within their budget,” said Xhafa.

Cart abandonment occurs when consumers are met with the paradox of choice, a wide range of choices that are designed to make them happy but only leave them feeling overwhelmed.

“When there’s questions after questions on every single page, the customer has to make all of these decisions and if they don’t make the right one they’re just going to leave the cart because they don’t feel comfortable with their decision,” said Xhafa. 

These decisions are typical choices seen on e-commerce sites: item recommendations, marketing pop-ups, online forms and more. While these tactics can work out well for your brand, they can also frustrate customers who aren’t interested in seeing them.

“Let’s say I’ve found two different t-shirts and I decided on one. Then once I get to my cart, I get a recommendation for something else. Now, I have to make another complicated decision,” said Xhafa. “Upselling is great, it makes you additional dollars. The problem with upselling is that if you do it too much you can confuse the customers.”

For many first-time customers, online shopping choices don’t stop there. You’ve gotten their attention and you’re understandably eager to keep it, but asking customers to create an account or sign up for your email list right before they’re about to check out might not be the best option.

“Imagine the customer has decided to click the checkout button, but now they have to make another decision. Do I continue as a guest or should I register for an account,” said Xhafa. “If I’m interested in buying this product, dealing with lots of questions is going to turn me off.”

One way of eliminating the number of questions your customer has to ask themselves is by knowing your customer enough to determine the best option for them.

“You need to understand who your customers are. Does your customer know what [X payment plan] is and do they need extra time to pay for this product? The problem we have right now is that we have so much technology, so much information being thrown at consumers that they are just overwhelmed with everything," said Xhafa.

The way you tackle this problem is by segmenting the information that goes to your customers. 

“It’s really important to predict who the customer is before they even add something to their cart so that you know how to handle them,” said Xhafa. “If I’m a $10 shopper and I’m rushing to buy something, a pop-up asking for my email isn’t going to work for me. On the other hand, if I’m relaxing at home I have time to kill.”

Knowing who your customers are also means knowing what they’re interested in. Xhafa says customers are looking for two things: simplicity and support.

“Consumers are looking for simplicity. Humans are bad at making decisions. They need navigational support. When you’re in the store you have someone helping you out, but you don’t have that online. That’s why AI is so important now,” said Xhafa. “If you provide simplicity and support to your customers, they are more likely to convert."

Solving cart abandonment won’t happen overnight, but you can take steps to create a satisfying online experience for your customers that will help them make better purchase decisions. Being mindful of the behavioral science behind those decisions is a great place to start.