Cart abandonment is a serious issue worldwide, and nowhere more than in the U.S.
North America has the highest cart abandonment rate in the world:82.29% — compared
with 80.01% for Europe and 80.48% for the Asia-Pacific region, according a recent study by SaleCycle.
But cause and effect are not always clear. Just what makes people halt a sale that
is already in progress?
A study last year by Brandwatch found that shoppers often abandon carts for emotional reasons — for instance, financial fears, procrastination and wishful
thinking in the first place.
But a new report from BigCommerce shows that they have a much more hard-headed concern: Shipping.
This study focuses on customers
in Australia and New Zealand, but we bet it’s the same here in the U.S.
It starts with small items. For 69%, even a charge of $5 to $10 would cause them to abandon a cart, up from
62% last year. But fewer would quit over a charge of $4 or less.
For large products, 28% would leap for a charge of $100, but that’s down from 33% last year. And
38% would jump over a cost of $50-100, versus 36% last year.
In addition, the following percentages are also likely to abandon in instances of:
- A
checkout process that is too difficult — 36%
- Poor returns process — 35%
- No product reviews —
28%
- Slow checkout processing — 28%
- Being required to register for an account before checking out —
24%
- Getting distracted — 20%
- No personalized offer — 16%
- A website that doesn’t remember me —
13%
On the other hand, 95% say they would shop with a brand again if they are offered:
- Free delivery — 95%
- Good-quality
products — 89%
- Fast shipping — 76%
- Easy returns process — 69%
- Good customer service —
70%
- Personalized offers/discounts — 69%
- Flexible payment options — 38%
- Personalized checkout experience —
39%
Email is widely used to reverse cart abandonments: 91% of consumers have received an email reminder. And 35% of emails contained a discount code or voucher to
encourage completion.
Moreover, 32% completed the purchase, up from 16% in 2021.
In general, email is by far the most popular
channel among shoppers: 42.1% have made a purchase after receiving a message. Every channel is in the single digits, although 47.1% have made their purchases without receiving any communications.
And, 48% of consumers would rather receive delivery updates via email, compared to 28% for SMS. Last year, 42% cited email and 33% SMS.
BigCommerce
surveyed 5,692 consumers in January and February.