• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, 6 hours ago

The software business is now almost totally online. But that leads to problems like cart abandonment, judging by a two-part study from Cleverbridge, conducted by Ascend2.  

Of the software vendors surveyed,  98% now sell online, and over 50% generate the majority of their revenue through ecommerce.  

But while 83% of sellers plan to expand internationally in the next 12 months, only 6% say they are doing so with ease.  

Moreover, 82% of vendors are suffering from double-digit rates of cart abandonment and nearly 50% are losing at least 25% of prospective orders to a "friction tax.”

Sellers point to the issues of too many steps (39%), payment method not available (36%) and unexpected taxes/fees (35). 

For buyers, the order is different. They blame cart abandonment on unexpected taxes/fees (48%), payment method not available (31%) and too many steps (30%).  

What brings a buyer back after cart abandonment? They cite:

• Discount or offer — 43% 
• Increased trust in the site — 40%
• Better understanding of the product — 37%
• Easier checkout — 35% 
• Reminder email or message — 22% 
• Nothing-usually don’t come back — 12% 

Once the purchase is made, software buyers expect the following: 

• Easy access to manage or cancel the subscription — 49% 
• Clear billing and received information — 48% 
• Prompt customer support — 42% 
• Refund or money-back guarantee — 40% 
• Confirmation emails and receipts — 39%
• Set-up help or onboarding — 30% 
• None of these are important — 2% 

However, sellers cite these challenges in retaining and growing revenue from existing customers: 

• Maintaining consistent communication with customers across segments (e.g., product updates, usage tips, etc.) — 35%
• Ensuring tax and compliance accuracy for renewals and cross-border transactions — 34% 
• Offering localized pricing — 30%
• Coordinating across systems (e.g., CRM, billing, email, analytics) — 30%
• Reducing involuntary churn (e.g., failed payments, expired credit cards and "dunning" - billing or collecting money owed)— 27% 
• Managing renewals and recurring billing at scale — 27% 

• Proactive customer outreach (e.g., customer support or success team follow-u)p  — 46% 
  
• Payment routing optimization — 45% 
• Automated card expiration or account update tools — 41% 
• Automated payment retries (e.g., smart retry logic, cascading attempts) — 40% 
• In-app or email prompts to update payment details — 39%
• Dunning email or SMS reminders (before or after payment failure) — 37% 
• Backup or secondary payment methods on file — 35% 
• We don’t currently use any specific systems to reduce involuntary churn — 1% 

Ascend2 surveyed 715 software sellers and 1,081 software buyers in June 2025.