How to Use Shopify Abandoned Cart Report to Improve Conversions

Did you know that only 3 out of 10 customers who put products in their shopping carts make it to checkout and complete their purchase? 

All ecommerce companies deal with abandoned carts. So what if there was a way to get more customers to complete their purchases? 

After a lot of research by the team at Postalytics, we bring you a guide that will help you calculate your Shopify cart abandonment rate and actionable tips on how to reduce the same.  

Let’s get started. 

What is the Shopify Abandoned Cart Report? 

An abandoned cart occurs in Shopify when a customer adds an item to their cart but doesn’t follow through with the purchase and complete checkout. 

Shopify saves this cart abandonment information for three months. You can see all the individual abandoned cart details by going to your Shopify admin, clicking “Orders,” and then the “Abandoned checkouts” tab.  

You can also choose to generate Shopify abandoned cart reports via email or the export functionality to analyze your metrics further and take steps to gain more conversions. 

Why Do Customers Abandon Carts in Shopify? 

Shopify cart abandonment is a common problem for every business. Here are some of the main reasons why customers abandon their carts. 

High Shipping/Hidden Cost 

Many Shopify stores only show the product cost on the product page. When customers go through the checkout steps, they might discover that the shipping or hidden costs like service fees or convenience charges are too high. 

A good practice is to be fully transparent and showcase the delivery and total cost on the product page. 

Requires Account Creation 

Customers no longer want to fill in multiple fields to make purchases. So, when prompted to create an account, many might delay their purchase or choose a different online store with a more straightforward checkout process. 

This is why many Shopify stores offer the functionality for shoppers to create their accounts by simply clicking “Sign up with Google” or “Sign up with Facebook.” 

Complicated Checkout 

Online shoppers abandon their carts when there’s a complicated checkout process, or it is time-consuming and requires too many steps. For example, if customers have to add their address details every time they want to make a purchase, they will likely get frustrated and go elsewhere for that product. 

Instead, saving these details and minimizing the number of steps is a better option. 

Price Concern 

Customers may choose not to complete their purchase if they see that the total price is higher than the one shown on the product page. This especially happens for low-cost products, but the customer needs to pay extra charges like delivery, maintenance, etc. For example, paying a high delivery charge for a bottle of shampoo. 

The site is Untrustworthy with Credit Card Information 

When customers feel that the site is not secure or that their credit card information may be misused, they avoid sharing these details and thus give up on the purchase. This is why many Shopify stores now use popular payment gateways like PayPal, Amazon Pay, and Klarna; because customers have likely used them before, they trust these services. 

Site Crash/Slow Page/Error Message 

Website speed and responsiveness are important reasons your customers may leave without purchasing. To avoid this, you must constantly look for these bugs and errors and ensure your site functions smoothly. 

Comparison Shopping 

With so many options, customers often surf different stores or look for options before purchasing a product. For example, if they discover they can get the same shoes at a lower price elsewhere, they will likely abandon the cart in your online store.  

Issues with the Return Policy 

If customers have faced problems with the return process in your Shopify store or find the return policy very complicated, they might choose not to buy from your store. If you have different return rules for different products, this should also be highlighted in your policy. 

Not Enough Payment Methods 

If you only have a few payment options that shoppers do not prefer, you might lose out on a huge chunk of your revenue. These shoppers might flock to other stores that provide enough payment methods and sometimes even Cash on Delivery. 

Where to Look for Abandoned Cart Report? 

The Shopify cart abandonment rate is calculated by getting the difference between the number of successful sales and the number of visitors who have added a product to the cart.  

To put it simply, the formula looks like this: 

Multiply this number by 100, and you’ll get the final rate. 

To calculate this rate in Shopify, go to Dashboard via Analytics through the Shopify admin tab. Then, under the dates section at the top, select the period you want to calculate the cart abandonment rate. The dashboard will reload, and you can head to the online store conversion report. Here, you’ll find information on the number of sessions added to the cart and the number of sessions that completed the checkout process. 

Once you have this data, you can calculate your Shopify abandonment cart rate using the following formula: 

Abandoned cart rate = [(added to cart sessions – # of sales) / added to cart sessions] * 100 

How to Reduce Abandoned Carts? 

Here are some tips on reducing people from leaving your store without completing their purchases. 

Grab the Attention at First Glance 

With the decreasing attention span of shoppers, you need to grab their attention immediately. This means you can’t have a slow-loading product page or unwanted information on the page that distracts the shoppers. 

Look at how this Shopify store only shows limited details on the page and offers detailed information via dropdowns if the shopper wants to check that out.

One important takeaway is that the top of your product page must have stunning visuals and limited information to intrigue the customers. 

Address Why People Abandon Their Carts 

You must understand the pain points of your shoppers that lead them to leave their purchases unfinished. Ask yourself questions like, “Which points make the customer abandon their carts?” or “How can we capitalize on the shopper’s motivations that lead them to purchase from us?” 

Some common pain points are: 

Remove Hidden/Shipping Cost 

You can integrate the shipping or other hidden costs like maintenance or convenience into the total cost. If not, you can show the breakdown on the product page so the customer is not left in the dark while performing the checkout steps. 

You can even showcase shipping costs for different locations by allowing shoppers to insert their pin codes. 

Clear Payment Method Information 

When shoppers aren’t informed about the payment methods before the checkout process, they may find that their preferred method is unavailable and abandon their carts. A reason why Shopify stores should display clear payment method information either at the bottom of the product page or in a place where users can easily view the details. 

Streamline the Payment Process 

Instead of having multiple steps for the payment process, limit the steps and make it easy for shoppers to finish the payment. You can even provide the option to save their payment details so they don’t have to enter them manually every time they want to purchase a product.  

Here’s what it would look like. 

Image source 

Highlight Return Policy 

The return policy has made it easy for shoppers to buy products without hesitation because they don’t have to worry about how they would look or if they would like the product when it arrives. In such a scenario, you should highlight your return policy (if available) to encourage customers to purchase.

Here’s how GREATS showcases its return policy along with FAQs that shoppers generally have. 

Showcase Customer Reviews and Testimonials 

How often have you decided not to purchase a product because there were no reviews or testimonials? Many times, right? That’s because reviews and testimonials add credibility and trust, influencing shoppers to take the next step.  

You can even encourage your shoppers to share pictures along with their reviews.  

Look at how Love Hair showcases testimonials and reviews on each product page. 

Address Checkout Page Technical Problems 

Are you noticing an increase in the abandoned cart rate recently? It could be because of a bug or technical error in the checkout process. Keeping an eye on these problems is paramount because you’d lose a lot of revenue otherwise. 

Use Customer Psychology to Influence Purchasing Decision 

Many psychological biases and effects are at play when shoppers decide if they want to purchase a product. Here are three of them you can capitalize on: 

• Loss aversion: The experience of losing something is more powerful than gaining the same thing or amount. This is why ecommerce companies use powerful words like “your cart” instead of “cart” – it helps to foster an emotional connection between the shopper and the purchase.
• Unconscious preference: People gravitate towards things they associate with themselves. For example, putting more emphasis on the “People who bought this also bought..” section can encourage shoppers to purchase other items, even if they don’t purchase the original item. 
• Acts of closure: You can make people feel good about their product choice by adding a positive message and social proof. This can help reaffirm the customer’s intent to buy or nudge those on the fence towards completing their purchase. 

Use Live Chat/Chatbots 

When you go to a traditional store, you can easily solve your product concerns by talking to the sales rep. Live chat does the same when applied to the product page. Shoppers can easily share their concerns and get them answered immediately.  

This also builds trust in your brand by showing the customers you care about their buying experience. 

Diversify Content 

Are you only using photos on your product pages? While photos are great, many shoppers like seeing the product in action through videos. For example, if you’re selling lawnmowers, you can have a video that displays how to use the machine correctly. 

Master & Dynamic, a premium audio Shopify store, showcases a small video displaying all the prominent features of the earphones on its product page.

Clear Call-to-action 

Your “Add to Cart” button should be prominently visible on your product pages. If the shopper has to spend time finding that CTA, you’re most likely to see a lot of bounces. While this button should stand out from the rest of the page, ensure it looks cohesive with the design of the product page. 

Use Shopify Abandoned Cart Report to Increase Conversions 

Here are three simple ways to use the abandoned cart report to increase your conversion rate: 

Mail Remarketing & Reminders 

You can use direct mail/email remarketing to reach out to those shoppers who added products to their cart but failed to complete the purchase for some reason. 

Here are three simple steps to ace this: 

Understand the volume you need to send 

Figure out the shoppers you’d like to send the direct mail/email to. You can consider factors like their past purchases, the total amount of the abandoned checkout, their behaviors, etc. 

Create converting copy 

Your remarketing direct mails and abandoned cart recovery emails must be persuasive for shoppers to take action. You can even perform A/B testing to nail down the perfect copy that converts. 

Include personalized & special offers 

With Postalytics, you can automate direct mailing by setting up triggers to reach out to those customers that have abandoned their carts. 

Social Media Remarketing 

You can set up remarketing ads on social media, encouraging the shoppers to visit your store and complete their purchases. The likelihood of completing the purchase increases by seeing the same products they wanted to buy earlier. 

Send Coupons 

Who doesn’t like getting discount coupons and offers? The more relevant these offers are for the products the shoppers were trying to buy earlier, the better. With Postalytics, you can create these coupons within minutes and even track their redemption via QR codes. 

Final Thoughts on Using Shopify Abandoned Cart Report to Improve Conversions

Reducing your Shopify cart abandonment rates can be important in increasing your overall revenue. You can even use Shopify and Google Analytics to find the most popular and eye-catching products and the most commonly abandoned ones. 

With Postalytics’ Shopify and Zapier integration, you can instantly create and send personalized postcards with a physical, visual reminder of what the shopper is interested in.  

Learn more about how to use this integration to add incremental sales.