How to Convert Abandoned Carts into Complete Sales with B2C Commerce Cloud?

Did you know that the average cart abandonment rate across various industries is a staggering 75.6%, as revealed by research from zippia.com? This statistic rings alarm bells for eCommerce businesses, particularly those entrenched in the digital realm. Cart abandonment remains a persistent headache for eCommerce teams.

To eliminate these challenges, Salesforce B2C Commerce Cloud has a robust strategy to reduce cart abandonment rates and convert those abandoned carts into paying customers. Whether it’s recovering lost opportunities, boosting revenue, or enhancing your customers’ experience, the Salesforce B2C commerce cloud has a knack for every challenge that’s bothering you.

What if we tell you that you can turn these abandoned carts into successful sales? Get into the deep insights of the blog to know what exactly is an abandoned cart and how you can convert them into complete sales.

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What is an Abandon Cart?

Online shopping cart abandonment occurs when a customer navigates through your e-commerce store, adds products to their shopping cart, but ultimately abandons the cart before completing the checkout process.

This is the last scenario you’d want your customers to experience while shopping on your e-store. Any item added to the cart by a shopper that doesn’t make it through the checkout process is considered an abandoned cart.

Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate Formula:

Abandonment Rate (%) = [1 – (Completed Purchases / Shopping Carts Created)] * 100

To calculate the Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate, divide the total number of completed purchases by the number of shopping carts created. Then, subtract this result from one and multiply the outcome by 100 to determine the abandonment rate.

This formula helps you assess what percentage of your website’s users express an intent to purchase by adding items to their shopping carts but still need to complete the transaction.

Stats around Shopping Cart Abandonment

Discover key statistics that shed light on the prevalent issue of shopping cart abandonment, providing insights into the challenges faced by e-commerce businesses and the opportunities for improvement.

• According to the Salesforce Shopping Index, the global cart abandonment rate has remained consistent year over year. Notably, desktop usage boasts a 76% cart abandonment rate, while mobile lags slightly behind at 85%. There’s clear room for improvement in streamlining the mobile checkout process.
• The Shopping Index also reveals that 15% of retailers have integrated personalized cart abandonment emails into their marketing strategies. Impressively, a significant 60% of these emails result in a sale within 24 hours, with customers spending an average of $36 per click.
• A TechReport study shows a cart abandonment rate of 65%, which translates to a substantial 97.9% gap in conversions. It’s worth noting that abandonment rates tend to peak between 6 and 9 p.m., with weekends being the prime time for shoppers to abandon 9 out of every ten carts.

Considering these statistics, e-commerce companies investing in Salesforce CRM technology must understand the psychology of customers who abandon their shopping carts. This is a significant challenge that every e-commerce business should address. Luckily, there are numerous strategies available to tackle this issue, and one of the most effective solutions is Salesforce B2C Commerce Cloud.

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Understanding the Causes of Shopping Cart Abandonment

The initial phase in resolving any issue is pinpointing the specific pain points and subsequently devising and executing solutions accordingly.

Here are some factors that elucidate why customers may abandon their shopping carts:

• Raised costs such as taxes, shipping, and other unanticipated costs: Picture this: you’re shopping online for a new smartphone, and as you happily add it to your cart, suddenly, you see extra costs like taxes and shipping fees skyrocketing the total. These unanticipated expenses can be a deal-breaker, making customers second-guess their purchase decisions. For example, if an online electronics store offers transparent pricing with no hidden fees, customers are more likely to complete their purchases without the shock of unexpected costs.
• Sophisticated Checkout Process: Think about a scenario where you’re trying to buy a pair of shoes online. However, the checkout process seems never-ending, with multiple pages, forms to fill out, and numerous steps. Each additional element in the checkout process adds complexity and increases the chances of cart abandonment. Customers prefer a quick and straightforward checkout, and a lengthy process can be discouraging.
• Mandatory Account Creation: Picture this: you’ve found the perfect outfit in an online store and added it to your cart. But when you proceed to checkout, you’re forced to create an account or log in before you can finalize the purchase. This additional step can disrupt the flow and lead to abandoned carts. Customers want a seamless shopping experience, and mandatory account creation can be a roadblock.
• Limited Payment Methods: When a customer is about to make a purchase and initiate the payment but can’t find their preferred payment at the checkout, it is a big turnoff point. Payment methods can be challenging. For instance, e-commerce giants like PayPal or Apple Pay offer various payment options, ensuring customers can choose the method they trust and are familiar with.
• Website Performance Issues: Imagine you’re shopping for a special gift online, and as you’re about to make the payment, the website crashes or shows errors. Such performance issues can be incredibly frustrating and drive customers to seek a better user experience on a different website.

Strategies to Transform Abandoned Carts into Successful Sales

1. Create a Sense of Urgency

Instill a sense of urgency on your page to capture the shopper’s attention. Utilize FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) to emphasize the potential loss of exclusive offers and special discounts that pique their interest. For instance, an online fashion retailer offers a limited-time discount on the most hyped dress in their catalog. Display a countdown timer next to the item to create urgency, encouraging shoppers to purchase before the offer expires.

2. Transparent Pricing

Online shoppers value transparency when it comes to store success. An alternative approach is to establish a threshold, allowing customers to surpass shipping charges or additional costs. Let’s take this as an example: There is an electronics store that clearly outlines all costs, including taxes and shipping fees, in the cart summary. This transparency assures customers that there are no hidden charges, leading to increased trust and completed purchases.

3. Incentivize Based on Cart Value

Reward shoppers based on their cart’s total value, providing gratification and significantly boosting checkout rates to achieve the ultimate Goal. For example, A home improvement store offers a tiered discount system where shoppers receive higher discounts as their cart value increases. This encourages customers to get more products in the card and enjoy greater savings.

Learn here tips to increase Sales with Commerce Cloud.

4. Targeted Abandoned Cart Emails

Retailers can convert more shoppers by employing targeted abandoned cart marketing emails. These emails are dispatched to shoppers at specific intervals, showcasing selected items, sharing testimonials from other customers, offering guarantees and refund policies, and delivering strong calls to action to entice them back to the site. The synergy of Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Salesforce Marketing Cloud enhances the effectiveness of targeted digital marketing.

5. Use a Series of Messages

Instead of sending a single email for cart recovery, consider using a series of messages. Sending multiple reminders can be more effective in re-engaging potential customers who abandoned their carts. However, it’s crucial to strike a balance. Sending too many messages can annoy customers and lead them to unsubscribe or mark your emails as spam. Three reminders are generally considered a good practice. For example, you might send the first email within a few hours of cart abandonment, the second one a day later, and the final one after a few days. Each email in the series can have a slightly different approach, such as a gentle reminder, a special offer, and a last-chance notice.

6. Use Time-Sensitive Discounts and Promo Codes

One effective way to encourage customers to complete their purchases is by offering time-sensitive discounts or promo codes. For example, you can include a limited-time offer in the cart recovery email, such as “Complete your purchase within the next 24 hours and get 15% off.” This creates a situation to act immediately and motivates customers to finalize their orders quickly to avail of the discount. Make sure to clearly mention the expiration time of the offer to create a genuine incentive for prompt action.

Get these tips to Optimize B2C Order Management.

7. Enable Basket Persistence Feature

Another thing you can do is enable the basket persistence and basket lifetime feature in Commerce Cloud that caters to both registered and unregistered customers. It gives customers control over shopping carts in times of timed-out sessions as well. By default, the system clears the cart when the session ends. For example, A subscription box service ensures that customers can maintain their cart’s contents even after they log out or close the browser. This persistence feature allows customers to continue building their ideal box over multiple sessions, increasing conversions.

8. Add Clickable Images of Abandoned Items

Visual appeal is a powerful tool in cart recovery. When customers abandon specific products, displaying high-quality images of these items in reminder emails can grab their attention and rekindle their interest. For instance, if a customer leaves a designer dress in their cart, including an image of the dress along with its name and price can be very effective. Clickable images make it easy for customers to return to their cart by simply clicking on the item they were interested in.

9. Employ Exit-Intent Pop-ups

There’s no harm in gently urging shoppers to confirm their intent to abandon their cart with an exit-intent pop-up. The key is to offer something compelling and irresistible, encouraging them to stay and complete their purchase. Take the case of an e-commerce website that detects when a shopper is about to exit the page with items in their cart. An exit-intent pop-up appears, offering an additional discount or a gift to encourage the shopper to stay and complete their purchase.

Read here the benefits of Commerce Cloud for eCommerce Businesses.

Step to Implementing Abandoned Carts Journeys with Salesforce B2C Commerce Cloud

Salesforce has devised solutions for handling abandoned carts, enabling businesses to convert them into completed purchases. Here are the key steps you need to follow:

1. Configure Email Sequences for Guests with Cart Abandonment

Many customers prefer guest checkout, but this often leads to cart abandonment. You can automate email sequences tailored to these visitors. Consider using pop-ups with personalized incentives and special offers to re-engage them based on their cart contents and location.

2. Craft Engaging Emails

To increase the likelihood of consumers opening your emails, employ effective strategies. Incorporate clickable images, provide pricing details of items in the cart, offer time-sensitive discount codes, and ensure 24/7 customer support information is available. Additionally, include a “Rebuild Cart” button in the email to conveniently direct consumers back to their abandoned cart, encouraging them to complete their purchase.

3. Utilize “Browse Abandonment” Campaigns

Create a “browse abandonment” campaign to capture customers who leave the checkout process. This campaign collects their email addresses, which is essential for re-engagement. This can be initiated by presenting an exit pop-up featuring an enticing incentive or by gathering email addresses from HTML sources or cookie records.

By adhering to these strategies, you can proficiently execute abandoned cart journeys and reclaim potential sales.

Conclusion

In the world of eCommerce, cart abandonment is a formidable adversary. With the right strategies and tools like Salesforce B2C Commerce Cloud and Google Analytics, this headache has a solution.

The battle begins with staggering statistics, revealing a consistent global cart abandonment rate, especially on mobile devices. However, the tide can be turned with the secret weapon of personalized cart abandonment emails, achieving a remarkable 60% conversion rate within just 24 hours.

At Cyntexa, we stand ready to recover all those lost opportunities and keep your eCommerce your cause. With our expertise, we’ll help you implement these solutions, allowing your business to reclaim lost revenue, elevate the shopping experience, and ultimately boost conversions. Bid farewell to abandoned carts and usher in an era of thriving eCommerce success.