How Building a Relationship with Your Customers Can Help You Overcome Abandonment Challenges

Last month, we released a resource to help you prevent cart abandonment. 

Writing that piece got me thinking… abandonment is often a symptom of a greater problem. And like most problems, too often we work to solve it when it happens instead of preventing it in the first place. In other words: we spend our time pulling the weeds when we could apply a weedkiller to prevent them from growing at all. 

So, how do you kill off cart abandonment before it grows?

• It All Starts with Trust
• Challenge #1: A Reputable + Trustworthy Company
• Challenge #2: A Product or Service that is Worth the Price
• Build a Bond with Your Customers

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It All Starts with Trust

Whether they balk at the price, are skeptical the product will work, or simply got distracted, cart abandonment often begins with a lack of trust. If they bonded with your brand, believed your claims, and were sure you were the best solution for their problem, it’s unlikely they’d disappear halfway through the buying process. So, how can you cultivate trust as a brand?

By building a relationship with your customers before they begin to fill their cart and check out, you prevent the abandonment obstacle. Let’s break this down into 2 parts:

1. A customer doesn’t trust your company’s ability to make a good product or service
2. A customer doubts the benefits are worth the cost

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Challenge #1: A Reputable + Trustworthy Company

In 2022, 5 million new businesses were started. That’s 42% higher than pre-pandemic levels! Between new and existing businesses, social media platforms are increasingly crowded with ads from companies trying to sell products.

With so many new products and services, it makes sense that a consumer’s default response includes some healthy suspicion. Your challenge is to prove that you are a reputable, trustworthy company that can solve their problem. How? Let’s take a look.

Does this sound like you?

1. Your marketing is more focused on selling your product than connecting with the consumer.
2. Your site makes no effort to build a custom experience for a visitor.
3. Your primary selling strategy is to push generic sales and coupons until someone finally commits to purchase.

What to do instead:

1. Most businesses are started by people who see a problem that needs fixing. Connect emotionally with people in your marketing. Acknowledge the pain and consequences they face from a problem. Then come in with your solution.
2. Without a custom experience, some visitors may find shopping on your site to be too one-dimensional. Customers today want to know you care about them enough to personalize their experience. If you’re not, they may leave your site for someone who will. Optimize your user’s experience and find ways to have a conversation with them.
3. Consider the customer who comes to your site for the first time, and before they can even read what you’re about a pop up takes over their entire screen, with exclamation marks screaming, “Take 20% off your next order!!” They haven’t even had a chance to decide if they want something, why are we showing them a coupon already? Overused sales and coupons do not build customer loyalty, only those looking for a cheap deal. Instead, use personalized discounts at strategic moments to close the sale.

Practical steps to take on your site:

1. Whatever widget you choose to use (lightbox, sidebar, banner) use copy and visuals that include acknowledgement and empathy for a problem your company solves. If using a quiz or form, ask customers to share the problems they're facing to show you both care and have custom products that can help.
2. Use a quiz to identify what your visitor is looking for, then promote those products to them. Identify if they are a returning customer and use their name in a banner. 
3. Create dynamic coupons that offer a discount only for the items you know someone is shopping for. This coupon shows you listen and want to help them buy that product they’ve been eying. Instead of a generic coupon that only pushes them to “Buy Now! Buy Now!”

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Challenge #2: A Product or Service that is Worth the Price

Consumers make purchasing decisions based on whether something seems “worth it.” When given the choice between a fresh, organic dinner for $35 and a highly processed, drive-thru dinner for $12, the health conscious will choose the former every time. The two meals accomplish the same objective: to eat dinner. But the organic meal is more valuable to this customer and therefore worth the price.

You may be experiencing cart abandonment because the customer was never quite convinced that your price was worth it. Maybe they found someone who sells something similar for less. Maybe no one sells what you do exactly, and that makes them wonder if your product or service will work. Whatever the reason, it’s up to you to prove your value.

Does this sound like you?

1. You sell products in an already saturated market 
2. Your products are pricier because they are made using complex technologies, ingredients, etc. that bring the price up.

What to do instead:

1. Find what about your products is novel, what about your company is unique, and differentiate yourself from the competition (e.g. you may offer custom fitting or use organic ingredients) Consider: why would they buy your swimsuits for $60 when they can find something similar at another store they already trust for $25? If you can’t answer this, customers may find something similar and buy it instead.
2. Your customers may not understand your product fully. Get them emotionally connected with the depth of your product and why it’s better than cheaper alternatives.

Practical steps to take on your site:

1. Customize the copy in your banner to promote what makes you unique. In your quiz, ask questions and display results that demonstrate the unique value you bring. (e.g. Do you provide custom fits? Add a fit finder quiz!)
2. Educate your customers while having fun at the same time! Use a tool tip during a quiz or display a detailed product overview in the quiz results. Write a resource like an ebook that unlocks the details of your product, ingredients, or technology and use a sidebar to get people to download it.

Build a Bond with Your Customers

There are many strategies out there to help you prevent cart abandonment as it’s happening. Once the cart is full and the customer is walking away. But there is so much more to avoiding cart abandonment! Creating a relationship and personalized experience with your customers from the start is the best way to build a bond. Customers who have bonded with a brand become loyal returning customers. Loyal customers don’t abandon carts and come back to spend again.

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Start using widgets to personalize your user experience today! Here are a few more resources to get started:

• The Pop-Up Teaser
• Using a Marketing Toolbox
• Solve a Problem Using the Marketing Survey

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