How to Reduce Cart Abandonment with Live Chat

Damilola Oyetunji

Content Marketer

Starting a new e-commerce business isn’t easy because you’ll have stiff competition. The main goal is to convert visitors into customers, and that’s a significant challenge.

Shopping cart abandonment is the biggest deterrent to your ROI. People like to browse your listings and often add items to their carts, but they leave without purchasing anything. Though it’s a pain, you can resolve this issue.

You must learn how to engage visitors immediately and proactively before they leave to bag that sale. Live chat can be a big help here. With personalized support and nudges at the right time, you can deal with cart abandonment effectively.

Building a strong e-commerce customer service team is essential. This article discusses what cart abandonment is, how live chat apps work, and why they should be the go-to tool to deal with the problem.

Understanding Cart Abandonment

Cart abandonment means that customers put products in their virtual shopping carts and don’t go through with the purchase. 

Much research has gone into finding out why customers abandon their carts. Bymard conducted a recent survey showing that 58 percent of customers claimed they weren’t ready to buy or were just browsing. 

Other reasons included not trusting the website with their personal information (18 percent), having to sign up for an account (24 percent), and additional costs being too high (48 percent).

What Is Live Chat?

There’s a raging debate in today’s marketing world between live chat and phone support. Buyers now want real-time engagement and support as quickly as possible. This just isn’t feasible on the telephone or through email. 

E-commerce stores are now turning to the best live chat software options to grow their businesses, but what is it, and how does it work?

Live chat is a tool used to connect customers with human support representatives. Users can resolve their issues in real time and get answers quickly. This means they spend less time reading through a knowledge base to find a solution.

Chatbots also offer real-time support, but they’re powered by AI. Instead of this, live chat features real humans.

Overall, live chat uses instant messaging and a private browser window. When the customer clicks a button or link, they start talking to a real person. Usually, the software is embedded within the website code, so you must learn how to add the widget to your site. You can decide which pages have the icon and can usually customize the widget’s design, too.

Implementing Live Chat to Reduce Cart Abandonment

There are many ways to reduce cart abandonment, including:

• Better Checkout Experiences – Reduce shopping cart abandonment by lowering the total number of clicks from discovery to checkout. When there’s less friction on the journey, the ordering process is hassle-free and lessens the points when customers might drop out.
• Multiple Payment Methods – Cart abandonment often happens because there are few payment options. Customers want the best deals, so they might choose PayPal with its pay-in-four design or a credit card to get cash back. If their preferred payment mode isn’t available, they’ll bail.
• Offering Checkout Options – You can also provide a better shopping experience when you allow checkouts for guest users. They don’t have to create an account, which takes longer. However, you will likely lose valuable customer information this way.
• Nudging Customers to Finish the Purchase – It’s possible to reduce cart abandonment significantly when you prompt people to complete their purchases right then because of an incentive. 

Providing a better checkout experience will require you to overhaul your UX/UI system on your website. Other options might be challenging because of legal issues. However, proactively nudging customers with live chat is highly beneficial. With a few great responses, you can be up and running in no time!

Strategies for Using Live Chat to Reduce Cart Abandonment

When using live chat to reduce cart abandonment, nudges are the best solution. However, the strategies you use should focus on these three things:

• Detect – You must know when cart abandonment is likely to happen.
• Personalize – Make sure you personalize the prompts according to the user and situation.
• Nudge – Nudge people into your desired action with the right message.

You can detect potential cart abandoners by analyzing their browsing patterns and learning about their historical tendencies. Many people wait until Black Friday sales hit to get the best deal. 

Once you learn when people might bail, you must get the user’s attention beforehand. Many approaches are available, such as phone calls, direct engagement on the site, emails, and SMS notifications. 

Studies indicate that about 45 percent of customers are likely to shop on sites with personalization. They expect brands to remember their past interactions, regardless of when they took place. Such customization shows people that you care.

Traditional nudges (phone calls, SMS, and emails) have these issues:

• Less customization
• Frustrated customers
• Low response rates

Instead, you should engage your customers directly on your website when the right time comes. Proactive live chat prompts can help you. Here are a few tips to assist:

• Who Sees the Prompt – You need to learn how to detect abandoners. This depends on many factors, including your domain, industry, and size.
• When They See It – Timing is crucial. Your prompts should come when customers are indecisive or hesitant, which is where a nudge is relevant.
• What Style – Your prompt could contain images, text, button CTAs, animations, and more. Make sure you personalize the message to the user.

Best Practices for Utilizing Live Chat Support

Understanding why your site requires live chat software is only the first step. You now have to focus on the best practices for using it effectively.

Here are the best practices to be aware of when using live chat support:

• Strategically Placed Chat – Your live chat button starts the conversation, so you want it in a place people often look. If a customer needs help, they should immediately see the icon. Most websites put it in the bottom-right part of the page, causing the user’s eyes to immediately travel to it.
• Low Response Times – Live chat software helps you connect with customers immediately. However, putting them on hold voids that benefit. People want instant responses, so it’s best to have agents waiting and ready to assist. You may also list your operating hours to avoid misunderstandings.
• Co-Browsing – Co-browsing lets the agent access the customer’s view for better guidance. It’s often called screen-sharing, and it creates a more direct communication channel. Your team doesn’t have to explain a process in text and can show customers what to do.
• Track Metrics – There are a few key metrics you should be tracking when using live chat. You can measure the service level and performance based on your goals. Pit that against your company’s KPIs to indicate areas of improvement. Things to check include the number of chats, first-contact resolutions, and first-response times.
• Start the Conversation – You must be proactive, and the first step is to have that live chat button available. Use it to offer information and help, reaching out to customers when they need it most. It’s also possible to automate the tool, allowing you to approach them first. For example, you could say: “I noticed you browsing [product.] Here’s more info.”
• Ask for Feedback – Set it up so that when the user closes the live chat conversation, they have a chance to rate the experience. You can do thumbs-up and thumbs-down or allow them to type responses.
• Be Professional – When an agent talks to a customer, make sure they understand the importance of reading messages carefully and proofreading before sending anything. Answer the question without much fluff.

Conclusion

Cart abandonment is a real issue that can negatively affect your ROI and cause you to provide sub-par experiences. Though you have many ways to reduce this problem, the most effective and scalable method is to use live chat apps to prompt potential customers into completing their purchases.

Personalized messages delivered at the best times can do wonders for your business. If you’re ready to try a live chat tool to help you reduce cart abandonment, Chatway is an excellent solution.