Are you currently battling with customers adding your goods to the cart but not purchasing?
Well, you’re not the only one!
What is Lazy Cart Syndrome
The lazy cart syndrome (or cart abandonment) is a general problem for online shopping businesses, which occurs when a customer places products in their cart, but leaves the website before checking out.
According to BI Intelligence, over 70% of carts are abandoned globally, leading to a loss of $4.6T for ecommerce actors.
Unfortunately, the trend will continue because of mobile shopping. Despite that, there is good news.
You can cure the lazy cart syndrome. Even better, you can convert some of your abandoned carts. It’s all possible with the RIGHT strategies.
Luckily, this article contains some of the said strategies. But before we delve into curing cart abandonment, you must understand why customers are abandoning their carts in the first place.
Why Do Customers Abandon Their Carts?
Frankly, customers abandon their carts because they could. In other words, the reasons for cart abandonment are somewhat blurred.
Confusing?
Look back to your last cart. Why did you abandon it? Could you pinpoint any reason in particular?
Nevertheless, there are still a few known reasons for cart abandonment – backed by statistics. Here are some of them:
Confusing Checkout
One of the common reasons for lazy cart syndrome is the design of the checkout page. Is it straightforward? How many clicks before customers get to actually purchase the goods?
The longer the checkout process, the more confusing the steps will become. Ultimately, customers will lose interest and abandon midway.
Delivery Time
People want quick results. If possible, we all want products delivered to our doorsteps a few minutes after placing an order.
While instant order isn’t realistic, we often settle for 3-5days delivery. Now imagine what will happen when a customer, at checkout, finds that their order will take 2-3weeks to deliver.
Such customers will likely abandon their carts.
Security/Trust
Like late delivery time, we all dread insecurity; no one wants their credit card details stolen. And unfortunately, we live in an age where such are targeted by cyberbullies.
So, once your website looks off, is poorly designed, and without safety certificates, customers will often abandon their carts.
Website Crashes
Averagely, crashes are extensions of an unsecured website. Besides insecurities, crashes are proof a site isn’t functioning correctly.
Now, imagine that a customer experiences several crashes on a site while adding items to their carts. What do you think will happen?
A single crash is enough to induce cold feet. Multiple occurrences will unarguably make a customer red flag the said site.
Additional Charges
Charges like shipping costs and odd checkout fees can put off customers. In fact, they are the number 1 reason for cart abandonment.
Source: Baymard Institute
Besides customers not being able to afford the additional costs, hidden & “die-minute” charges ordinarily are red flags. They show that a business is not trustworthy.
Otherwise, the business should have been upfront about all charges.
Overall – you must fix your website and checkout page for the reasons discussed. That’s the first step to setting up your online shopping business for success.
Afterward, follow the specific tips below to cure lazy cart syndrome on your website:
7 Ways To Cure Lazy Cart Syndrome Using Text Messages – With Examples
In case you’re wondering, why text message and not email?
Texts have much higher open rates than emails, and are more suited to win over a “cart abandoner.”
Read more: Disadvantages of Email Marketing
Encourage Buyers To Subscribe To Your Texting Service
The first step to curing lazy cart syndrome is encouraging customers to sign up for text updates. And the best way to go about it is by adding a short form before the checkout page.
That way, you can send follow-up messages if customers abandon their carts.
Note: you must seek consent before texting prospects or customers. And let your consent message be clear and legible.
Example:
At the point of moving to the checkout page, add this:
Kindly tick the box to get text updates about order information and follow-up.
Send Reminders
While customers will have varied reasons for abandoning carts, a gentle reminder can help. Who knows; your website might be perfect, yet, a customer didn’t complete their purchase. Perhaps they forgot.
Either way, a reminder shows you care about the customer and would like to help. And while you’re at it, try a bit of humor.
Example:
Hey [name],
You likely forgot your cart with XYZ.com 😅. It happens – we understand.
You can jump right back and continue the purchase here [hyperlink to the checkout page]. CYA!
Add Images To Your Texts
While SMS is perfect for reminder campaigns, you can do better. Why not add images?
Instead of SMS, why not send MMS?
Sending an MMS reminder will not only remind customers of their cart. It will attract them further to what they are missing.
Pro tip: a collage of all the items in the cart might be too much. A mix of the top two products will suffice. And ensure you optimize the images – quality and size.
Example:
Hello [name],
These lovely products are sitting pretty in your cart. Won’t you claim them?
[Insert the image (collage) of the products]
Further reading: What is the Difference Between SMS and MMS?
Offer Discounts
There is a reason why Black Fridays and Cyber Mondays pull in the most sales annually. We love discounts – even if it’s just a 5% reduction.
And it gets better when the product/service is quality. Then, the discount will be a steal.
You can also adopt that knowledge to cure lazy cure syndrome. The chances are that customers are waiting for a price reduction. So, meet them at their level.
Example:
Hi [name],
Do you know that some of the products on your cart are currently discounted?
It’s our mid-year sale! Use code JULY15 for 15% off some products.
Introduce Urgency
Offering discounts is not enough; add urgency. Otherwise, customers will leave the carts abandoned and postpone the purchase.
But while introducing urgency, don’t force it. Subtly make customers see the rarity of each of your promotions.
Example:
Hi [name],
It’s our 5th anniversary in 2 days. And we’re offering a 50% discount on all our products.
Now is the perfect time to clear your cart. But you must act fast, this promotion is once in a blue moon, and only lasts for 5 days!
Offer To Help
In rare cases, customers are truly busy. They might be buyers for Fortune-500 companies or in their “busy time of the year.”
Either way, you can ease “purchasing processes” for these busy customers by handling their orders personally.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a template for this section. But here is what you can do:
- Find the customers that buy from you in bulk and regularly
- Save their order and shipping details
- Offer to complete the order for them monthly, weekly, or as agreed
Streamline Your Message To The Customer
This section is straightforward; personalize your message to the customer. Address them by their names.
More importantly, talk about the exact products. Don’t generalize!
Bottom Line
Overall, we understand that compiling a list of customer details and scheduling messages can be hectic. Fortunately, you can remove the stress with texting software.
With our product, Text.io, you can automate the ENTIRE process of curing lazy cart syndrome. And beautifully enough, we even have a demo.