How to Reduce Shopify Cart Abandonment Using an AI Chatbot

Seeing your customers abandoning carts is the saddest thing. 

They add products to cart, hover over the checkout button and then they’re gone.

A Study by Baymard institute shows that 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned. 

While it’s painful to read the numbers, there are strategies that help you with it. 

In this blog, we’ll discuss the reasons for Shopify cart abandonment, remedies and how to use an AI chatbot to do that.

Reasons for Shopify Cart Abandonment

There is not one but many reasons why your store visitors don’t turn into shoppers. 

1. High extra costs

When customers find the total price is too high, they abandon carts. Unexpected shipping fees, taxes or other charges often kill a sale. 

2. Forced account creation

Many stores still require customers to sign up or navigate multiple pages which adds friction. Most customers will click away and never ‘sign up’ first. 

3. Slow shipping and delivery 

If shipping times are long, shoppers might leave your store. With many stores offering fast delivery today, shoppers expect a faster delivery of products. 

4. Trust and security concerns

Asking for credit card details or any other personal information can spook people. Any such doubts about checkout security can cause abandonment. 

5. Poor user experience

Most customers shop on their mobile phone since we have it all the time. If your site is slow or confusing on a smartphone, shoppers give up. Mobile carts are abandoned over 85% of the time due to site speed.

6. Just browsing

Some shoppers never intend to buy immediately. About 43% of the abandoned carts were the result of ‘just browsers’ or they may buy later. Many people often use the cart to check shipping costs and discounts. 

All these reasons can result in abandoned carts. Apart from the organic traffic you get, you might also spend on ads to bring in customers. In that case, cart abandonment can kill the customer acquisition cost (CAC) and affect Return of Ad Spent (ROAS).

Strategies to Reduce Shopify Cart Abandonment

There are many strategies to reduce Shopify cart abandonment in your store. They often work not just with one but a combination of few based on your store needs. 

1. Be transparent about costs

Make sure to display shipping, taxes and fees before checkout. Offering free shipping above a certain order value or embed shipping calculators before checkout. For this you can use a shipping cost calculator

Tip: Try showing shipping cost early before checkout to cut abandonment.

2. Offer incentives and rewards

Timely coupons and discounts can tip indecisive shoppers. Targeted coupon codes at checkout urge the customers complete the order. 

Tip: You can offer loyalty rewards, first-time deals or exit pops to encourage hesitant buyers.

3. Streamline the checkout

Reduce steps during the checkout like enable guest checkout and auto-fill information. Considering speed is crucial since two thirds of consumers expect to check out in under 4 minutes. 

Tip: By replacing the “confirm details” button with “continue”, you can improve your store’s cart-to-checkout conversions. 

4. Use an AI Chatbot

Show nudges from AI chatbots that prompt visitors to continue shopping. Having a chatbot on your store can have a positive impact on sales and customer experience. 

Tip: Having a chat widget means customers can get instant answers to questions. 

5. Offer many payment options

You don’t have to lose a sale because you didn’t accept the customer's preferred payment method. Shopify advises to accept major methods: credit cards, PayPal, Shop Pay, Apple/Google Pay, etc). 

Tip: Implement multiple payment gateways to capture more buyers. 

6. Send abandoned-cart emails and SMS

One of the most cost-effective remedies is a simple reminder through emails and SMS. In fact, such emails see about a 41% open rate. 

Tip: Send a follow-up email or text with the cart link and a small incentive (10% off) if possible. 

7. Use exit-intent popups

If a shopper is about to leave, you can display a popup with one last deal. These kinds of popups can convert around 17.1% of abandoning visitors.

Tip: You can use a “spin-to-win” discount or free gift to interrupt customers from exiting. But just be sure it’s timed well so it helps shoppers. 

AI Chatbot to Reduce Shopify Cart Abandonment

AI-driven tools and apps are widely used in Shopify stores to reduce cart abandonment. AI in the retail market is booming and is projected to reach about $15.3 billion. 

AI chatbots act as virtual sales assistants engaging with shoppers in real time. Unlike email or SMS, a chatbot can be used to show nudges about the product. 

AskTimmy is an example of a Shopify AI chatbot for this purpose. It offers 24/7 conversational support that can answer all customer queries related to your store. 

When a customer wants to know about shipping times, size guides or return policy, the chatbot can answer immediately. By being available around the clock, the AI chatbot prevents the friction that causes cart drops.

Beyond answering customer queries, AskTimmy also boosts conversions by suggesting products and bundle offers. 

So, try the AskTimmy app to reduce cart abandonment and increase sales. 

Here’s how to add an AI chatbot your Shopify store:

Shopify Cart Abandonment Recovery

Shopify cart abandonment is a persistent problem but it can be solved with the right approach. We discussed using a combination of multiple strategies to help reduce cart abandonment. 

AI chatbots add a powerful layer to handle customer queries and act as a shopping assistant. It’s like adding a new team member to your support team. 

Each recovered cart means more revenue. 

Try using an AI chatbot to reduce cart abandonment and increase your sales.

FAQs

1. What is an abandoned cart in Shopify?

Cart abandonment happens when a customer browses an online store, adds products to the cart but then leaves the store with purchasing. These can happen because of many reasons like high shipping costs, poor user experience, etc. 

2. What is the difference between an abandoned cart and an abandoned checkout?

Abandoned cart: Customers add products to the cart and fail to purchase. 

Abandoned checkout: Customer adds products to cart, initiates the checkout process and then fails to purchase. 

3. How to stop Shopify cart abandonment?

There are many ways to stop Shopify cart abandonment such as

  • Offer free shipping
  • Be transparent about cost
  • Offers incentives and rewards
  • Use an AI chatbot
  • Use multiple payment methods