Many e-commerce business owners struggle with cart abandonment issues. Some customers abandon their carts and do not make purchases because the cart does not function as intended. When customers repeatedly abandon carts on your e-commerce website, your sales are affected negatively. Not only that, your customers may end up not returning to your e-commerce website because the ecommerce cart functionality is not good. Therefore, you may be wondering how to prevent this from occurring. There is a lot you can do to increase your e-commerce cart functionality and we will cover 9 of them shortly.
E-commerce Cart Functionality: What is it?
E-commerce cart functionality is the feature on your e-commerce website that is used to enhance buying and selling on your website. It includes features that make it easy to streamline and automate the buying process for your customers. This makes it extremely important that the e-commerce cart functions well.
E-commerce Cart Functionalities Your Store Must Have
Every e-commerce cart has different functions but the most important one is creating a seamless method for your customers to buy things and make payments on your e-commerce store. Therefore, the functions influence the features that should be added. However, the basic ones are:
Read More: 9 Ways To Increase Your Ecommerce Conversion Rates
1. Secure Checkout For E-commerce Cart
Businesses thrive when customers trust that the business owner is providing them with what they want and that their information is secure at the same time. For e-commerce business owners having a secure website checkout is important in attracting and retaining customers. Many people quickly notice that a website lacks security and consequently leave, and the same thing occurs when they intend to proceed to the checkout in an e-commerce store.
To ensure your e-commerce cart functionality, your cart must be secured. One way to do that is to buy a secure e-commerce cart. Therefore, you can get cheapest wildcard SSL certificate, single domain or multi domain. These SSL certificates ensure that the information your customers input on your site when checking out their products is safe. It is safe because the information is well encrypted, and hackers cannot decipher the information to use it negatively.
2. Multiple Payment Options
The days when customers only used their MasterCard or Visa to pay for goods they shop on e-commerce websites are over. E-commerce cart functionality that does not accept multiple payment options from customers ends up losing those customers. The payment options currently available are endless, and your cart should have the functionality of accepting various payment options.
Now, not only do customers use MasterCard or Visa, but they also use PayPal, Bitcoin, Apple Pay, Android Pay, Venmo, etc. so, accepting all these methods of payment and more ensures you can cater to a variety of customers because you accept a wide range of payment options.
3. Personalized Product Recommendations
There are times your customers click on a product and end up not buying because they do not have enough money to buy immediately. Sometimes, when they come back to your ecommerce store, they want similar products relating to the one they had initially chosen.
This makes it important for your e-commerce cart functionality to have personalized product recommendations. It will help your customers make their decisions quicker and faster. It saves them the trouble of constantly searching for what they will like. This feature will make use of your customers’ browsing history to tailor recommendations that will fit your customers.
4. Branded Cart
E-commerce business owners are constantly competing for their customer’s attention and purchase. They must constantly stand out from the crowd and one way to do that is to have a unique brand. Your e-commerce store and your social media should have a cohesive brand identity, voice, font, colour palette, etc. doing this helps your customers to easily spot you.
For your e-commerce cart functionality, you should have a branded cart that reflects your brand. There are templates you can follow online to help you achieve that. Nevertheless, ensure that the cart is consistent with your brand identity while also aiming for the cart to function well.
5. One-page Checkout
Imagine standing in a long queue at a supermarket waiting for a checkout. Sometimes, frustration sets in, and you leave to search for another supermarket with a shorter queue, which makes the checkout process easier for you. The same applies to your customers who want to pay and check out their products. Your e-commerce cart functionality should have a one-page checkout. Most customers will not want to go through lengthy checkout processes.
Your e-commerce website can have an express checkout process where customers who have previously bought from you will be able to access their previous details and checkout. Alternatively, you can have a guest checkout where customers do not need to create an account before checking out their goods. Simply give customers a simple and one-page checkout process.
6. Transparent Fees and Costs
Some customers abandon their carts when they want to check out because of the hidden fees, costs, or charges they were not initially aware of. So, for good e-commerce cart functionality, you should provide a breakdown of costs, fees, and charges. Customers should know the exact amount they are paying and the reason behind charges such as taxes, shipping fees, and other fees. Providing detailed information about these charges is crucial.
7. Product Reviews
For many people, seeing product reviews will help to affirm their decision of buying a product or not. Most e-commerce owners know that their customers are only seeing the images or videos of their products. Since the customers cannot physically touch and inspect the goods, it is important to add product reviews from people who have used the products. This social proof can make people follow through with their initial decision of wanting to buy a product.
8. Mobile-Friendliness
Your e-commerce website should be accessible on all devices, especially on a mobile device. For a good e-commerce cart functionality, mobile friendliness is important. Most of your customers access your e-commerce store through their phones. So, when your website is not mobile-friendly and unresponsive, they may switch to your competitor.
So, ensure that the images of your products fit all devices. Look at the fonts on your e-commerce store and adjust them accordingly. Your checkout page should be easily navigated on the mobile device and write your product description well.
9. Product Table For E-commerce Cart
The e-commerce cart functionality you should not neglect is the product table because it helps customers go through the products they had selected, remove the ones they no longer need, and make the purchase. Some customers end up not buying products because there is no product table, everything is scattered and they cannot seamlessly review their products before making a purchase.
There are plugins you can use for your product table. With these plugins, you can add and remove more columns to the product table where necessary. It is also easy to change the title of the product table. Your customers will be able to compare products and review them easily before paying which leads to customer satisfaction.
Final Thoughts
The nine e-commerce cart functionalities that are here are the important ones you need if you want to ensure that your customers do not abandon their carts. When you include these functionalities in the cart of your e-commerce store, you will make it easier for customers to make their purchases and greatly reduce cart abandonment issues that often come up. Ensure you implement these changes on your e-commerce cart functionality.
Leave a Reply