What is your company’s average e-commerce cart abandonment rate? In a recent meta-study, the average cart abandonment rate was nearly 80%. When it comes to e-commerce, cart abandonment is a huge problem, and is the leading cause is unexpected shipping costs. In a survey of e-commerce shoppers, nearly half (49%) cited high additional costs — shipping, taxes, and other fees — as the primary reason for cart abandonment.
Here are four ways to help prevent shopping cart abandonment due to high shipping costs.
1. Transparency of costs
Online shoppers value transparency. Fully disclosing shipping costs from the outset is critical. Another option is to bundle the cost of shipping into the product and offer “free” shipping to your customers. The trend of offering “free” shipping continues to rise, but so too does the challenge of mitigating the risks and costs associated with it.
2. Shipping with the correct mode
Should you be shipping certain products via Parcel or LTL? Dimensions and weight are big factors in determining the cost of any given shipment. The only way to ensure accurate pricing is to rate each shipment with each mode per your specific carrier contracts, including any known accessorial fees. Let’s also not forget the middle ground between LTL and Parcel. Read “Ground with Freight Pricing, Multiweight, and Hundredweight” to learn more.
3. Rate for least-cost carriers
Many companies use 150lbs as the only determining factor when deciding whether to ship a product via Parcel or LTL. Undoubtedly, these companies are missing out on cost savings by not rating for their least-cost carrier option. At the end of the day, you want to know that you are using the most cost-effective solution for your company without sacrificing service or quality for your customers.
4. Remove the guesswork with technology
By building systems that support multi-mode and multi-carrier rating for e-commerce platforms, Logistics Service Providers (LSPs) take any guesswork out of the pricing equation by providing real-time ratings for every shipment across all relevant modes.
Your customers will benefit by having shipping costs (when applicable) immediately available during checkout, and your business will benefit by reducing your overall cart abandonment rate and increasing sales.
