Imagine this: a shopper comes across your website and finds an enticing experience offering. They read your product description, flick through your photos, check availability, and add it to their basket. The sale is within sight. You can almost smell the booking. And then…crickets.
The shopper closes their browser tab without making the final purchase.
This is called cart abandonment, and it’s a common occurrence. So common that according to research from Statistica, the average cart abandonment rate was 82% for the travel sector in 2022.
With a statistic like that, it’s no wonder that getting your customer from your homepage all the way to checkout is no easy feat!
However, you can gain insight into your business’s cart abandonment rate by looking at your booking funnel. With a clear picture of your funnel, you can identify at what stage customers might be leaving your website and put solutions in place to ensure they complete their booking.
After all, fixing potential leaks in your funnel is a much easier way to capture bookings than attracting brand-new customers.
So, let’s dive into three simple ways you can reduce cart abandonment below.
What causes cart abandonment?
Before we get into the solutions, let’s look at what causes cart abandonment in the first place.
Cart abandonment can happen for many reasons, including:
- Customers were just browsing
- They were turned off by the total cost, including taxes and fees
- They didn’t trust the site with their credit card information
- There weren’t enough payment options
All this can lead to you missing out on bookings from potentially interested customers.
How to reduce cart abandonment and get more bookings
While you can’t do much about customers who are simply browsing, you can increase your sales by fixing some of the other common causes of cart abandonment.
Here’s how to get online shoppers over the finish line.
1. Build trust with your payment process
As mentioned above, customers might jump ship if they don’t trust your website enough to share their payment details.
One way you can stop this is by making your website as secure as possible and keeping customers on it.
When you choose your payment provider, opt for one that doesn’t redirect customers to another platform when they want to book and pay. For example, with Checkfront Payments, customers can book an offering and enter their payment details without ever leaving your site.
2. Offer multiple payment options
Credit cards aren’t the only way to pay. In fact, trends in eCommerce suggest that shoppers are looking for more payment options than ever before.
Some of the most popular payment options for online shopping include:
- Credit and debit cards
- PayPal or ApplePay
- Gift certificates
- Alternative payment types, like Buy Now, Pay Later
Giving your customers as many of these payment options as possible can stop them from bailing on their booking. And online payment options like PayPal and ApplePay can reduce cart abandonment even further. They make checking out quick and easy as customers often have their payment details saved and ready with these payment options.
Want to offer a variety of payment methods? Checkfront Payments lets you accept payments with Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, PayPal, ApplePay, and GooglePay — just to name a few.
3. Offer buy now, pay later
As inflation rates soar and customers become increasingly aware of their budgets, paying in full upfront may become even more unappealing.
But, with Buy Now, Pay Later, customers can make a booking and make installment payments over time. Then, thanks to their ability to connect their bank account directly to the Buyow, Pay Later provider, they can enjoy no interest rates or extra fees.
In fact, it may even become the go-to payment method for some online shoppers. C+R Research found 38% of Buy Now, Pay Later users say it will eventually replace their credit cards.
While this method of payment might be new to you, research from Insider Intelligence states consumers are looking for Buy Now, Pay Later services because they:
- Don’t like using credit cards
- Want to avoid paying credit card fees
- Want to make purchases that otherwise wouldn’t fit in their budget
So, you’re convinced of why this option is so popular with online shoppers and eCommerce retailers alike. But, you’re unsure how to add this option to your online booking flow.Great news! Checkfront Payments exclusively offers Buy Now, Pay Later powered by Uplift, so you can give customers flexibility in both how and when they pay.
More about Checkfront Payment’s Buy Now, Pay Later feature
Now that you know why Buy Now, Pay Later can help reduce checkout abandonment and capture more bookings, let’s dive into the how.
How Buy Now, Pay Later works
Checkfront Payments is an all-in-one payment processor that lets you take payments 24/7, online or in person.
As well as accepting payments via options like Visa, Amex, and PayPal, we’ve now added Buy Now, Pay Later to the list!
Checkfront Payment’s Buy Now, Pay Later powered by Flex Pay option shows up directly on your payment page in your checkout flow, so customers can easily find and select it.
When they do, they’ll get to select a payment plan, allowing them to budget for your experience over a few months and purchase offerings they might have abandoned due to upfront cost.
Don’t worry, though – you’ll get paid immediately, just like when you get a booking with a credit card. Then, Flex Pay manages the loan to the customer, so there’s nothing else you need to worry about.
Plus, you can still offer refunds, either in full or in part. These will be automatically paid back to Flex Pay, which credits the customer’s loan.
What Buy Now, Pay Later looks like
On the customer’s side, Buy Now, Pay Later is part of a seamless booking flow. When they reach the payment page, they’ll see a “Pay Monthly” option with Flex Pay just above their booking invoice.
If they select this option, a Flex Pay pop-up will appear at checkout and they’ll be prompted to provide some information and start the approval process.
How to let customers know Buy Now, Pay Later is an option
As your customer’s check out, they’ll see Checkfront Payment’s Buy Now, Pay Later option appear on your payment page.
But, as this is a great selling point, you might want to make sure customers know this is a payment option you offer.Think about mentioning you offer Buy Now, Pay Later on your website, in your social media content, with automated SMS notifications, or in abandoned cart reminders as part of your email marketing.
Final thoughts
When it comes to how they make their purchases, online shoppers are demanding more flexibility than ever.
After all of the work you’ve put in to get customers on your website, losing interested customers at the final hurdle because you don’t offer their desired payment method is an easy problem to fix!
Minimize cart abandonment and capture every possible sale with Checkfront Payment’s Buy Now, Pay Later feature. You get your booking revenue up front, and customers get flexibility and peace of mind as they spread the cost into smaller payments over time. A true win-win.
Take your business to the next level
Online bookings. Outstanding support.
