Best Practices for Shopping Cart Page Optimization

Best Practices for Shopping Cart Page Optimization

Research by the Baymard Institute indicates that the average cart abandonment rate stands at 70.19%.  This average is computed based on 49 distinct studies of e-commerce shopping cart abandonments.

It is shocking to know that only 29.81% of the visitors make a purchase. A huge chunk of revenue is lost and when these losses pile up, the e-commerce stores either become bankrupt or lose out to their competitors. To reduce the percentage of cart abandonment rate, and to enhance conversions and revenues, it’s vital to optimize the shopping cart page.   

What is Shopping Cart Page Optimization?

Shopping Cart Page Optimization does not revolve around a single process, it is a whole bunch of processes that need to be implemented to gain one main motto, i.e., enhanced revenues via shopping. 

Shopping cart page optimization is all about minimizing and easing the process required to complete an online purchase transaction. When the shopping cart page is optimized, the visitors can smoothly and easily complete their checkout process and make their desired purchase instantly. 

Examples: Implementing a user-friendly checkout page by minimizing the options in the shopping cart, enticing designs, ample payment options, clear pricing, etc.  

All these options help increase the conversion rates by decreasing the cart abandonment rates.

This blog focuses on the best practices that can be implemented for optimizing the shopping cart page.

Best Practices for Shopping Cart Optimization:

  • Create a Detailed Product Summary:

Your shopping cart page is the last page of the checkout process. Since the main goal of the checkout process is to ensure a successful purchase, your cart page must be precisely detailed about the product (placed in the cart) and its pricing.

The best option is to highlight all the product details of the selected item on the shopping cart page so that the customer can take a final purchase call instantly rather than moving back to the product pages. Even the pricing along with discounts and shipping charges (if any) should be mentioned clearly. Example: The name of the product, its specifications, color, quantity, etc. should be stated to help customers make happy purchases.

  • User-Friendly Colour Code:

85% of the customer’s purchase decision is influenced by colors – Market Splash.

Using color psychology is a wonderful option to reduce the cart abandonment rate. Colors play a vital role in customer’s behavior, thinking, product perceptions, brand awareness, purchase decisions, etc. 

Shoppers love clear UX designs and bright, unique, and attractive colors that instantly grab their attention and trigger their emotions.

Example: Red stands for brightness, blue calms your mind, green stands for eco-friendliness and freshness whereas, black stands for wealth and luxury.

Colors enhance sales, so optimize your shopping cart page by incorporating relevant colors that instantly sync with your products and connect with your customers for better revenues.

  • Website Should be Safe and Secure: 

Attractive prices and vibrant design and colors are all useless if your site is vulnerable and unsecured. The URL of your e-commerce store should commence with https and should have a padlock in the address bar. 

These are trust signs that are visible when your website is secured with an SSL (Secure Socket Layers) certificate. In the absence of these trust indicators, a warning alert will be displayed to visitors viewing your site which hampers your brand reputation.

Encryption security displayed on your shopping cart page helps in keeping your site and customer information safe. It also enhances customer’s trust in shopping from your store thus creating loyal customers.

  • Provide Multiple Payment and Shipping Options:

Lack of payment options can increase the cart abandonment rate. Customers add products to your cart for shopping, but if they fail to find their desired payment option, they are bound to be disappointed. Many customers shuffle to competitors to purchase products with their desired payment options. Ensure customer convenience by incorporating a variety of payment options and shipping options against your products.

Examples: Payment options like Credit Cards, Cash, Paytm, PayPal, Digital Wallets, etc. can be incorporated on the shopping cart page. 

  • Mobile-Friendly Design:

Research indicates that 79% of shoppers purchase via smartphones. To entice this huge market of mobile e-commerce users to access your site, it is necessary to optimize your site for multiple devices. Ensure that your shopping cart page as well as your checkout process is mobile-friendly.

Tips:

  • Minimize the codes
  • Compress the images
  • Resize the screens 
  • Mobile-friendly buttons for processing the purchases.

This move goes a long way in reducing the cart abandonment rate and increasing the store revenues.

  • Offer Live Chat Support:

Customers are unable to physically see the products in online shopping and hence, it is common for them to have queries regarding the products, prices, or purchases. 

Example: Queries regarding product warranties, refund policies, discounts, etc. need to be addressed.

If these queries are not cleared, customers are bound to abandon their carts and move elsewhere. Store owners need to clear their confusion so that customers can positively make their purchase decisions. 

Offer a live chat support option to your customers and place it on the shopping cart page. This will help in instantly resolving customer doubts regarding your products, prices, etc., and will motivate them to make a purchase. 

Such real-time responses can help in increasing store reputation and revenues.

Few More Best Practices:

  • Permitting Guest Checkout
  • Offering Free Shipping
  • Permitting 1-click Checkout 
  • Displaying Trust Badges & Site Seals
  • Reducing the Form of Fields
  • Cross-selling & Upselling of Products

All these options can also be implemented to reduce the cart abandonment rate.

Wrapping Up:

Converting passive visitors into active customers is not as easy as it seems. With the growing competition amongst varied e-commerce stores, you need to ensure that visitors access your site and are motivated to stay.  Attractive store products and cost-friendly prices will further motivate them to make a purchase decision.

The final call is to ensure a smooth, easy, and quick online shopping cart checkout process that can not only increase the revenues of your e-commerce store but also improve cart abandonment rates. Implement the above-mentioned steps to create happy and loyal customers. Best Wishes!!

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