Effective strategies for shopping cart optimization

Strategies for simplifying the checkout process

Customers don't want to waste unnecessary time when shopping online and want to be able to keep an eye on the items in their shopping cart at all times. Find out exactly what you can do to achieve this below:

Place the shopping cart button across the top

Your online shoppers want to be able to add items to their shopping cart quickly and easily from the product detail page. The same applies to other pages, such as the category page or the home page. To ensure that this works smoothly, it is a good idea to have a prominent shopping cart button on these pages as well. Of course, this only applies to products that online shoppers have purchased frequently, e.g., in an online grocery store. If you have already purchased a certain product (pasta, oil, pesto...) several times, you no longer need to look at the product detail page. The same applies to cosmetics (mascara, shampoo, toothpaste...) or pet supplies (dry food, litter, treats...). Shopping cart optimization therefore makes sense at this point and enables products to be added quickly.

Provide guidance via your shopping cart icon

The shopping cart icon in the top right corner of the online shop is familiar to every online shopper. It navigates your online shoppers to the checkout, but it can also be used to orientate them to the items in their shopping cart. For this purpose, the shopping cart icon can be enriched with the following information:

• Number of products: A counting function in the shopping cart allows the number of products to be indicated by a number in front of the shopping cart symbol.
• Price: With each newly added product, the total amount is recalculated and displayed below the shopping cart, for example.
• Product images: By moving a product to the shopping cart, the product image can be displayed, for example, under the shopping cart icon.
• Shopping cart preview: A shopping cart preview allows products to be moved directly to checkout without opening the shopping cart page.

Shopping cart preview in the Ex Libris online shop (source: screenshot from exlibris.ch)

Provide a wish list feature

Online shoppers like to use the shopping cart as a wish list function if there is no separate wish list function or if this can only be used after registering. Nevertheless, it is important to have a separate wish list function. If online shoppers add products to their shopping cart but only want to buy some of them, the other products have to be deleted and may be lost as a result.

A separate wish list function allows you to optimize your shopping cart by saving products and simply moving them to the shopping cart when you want to buy them. A wish list can also be shared with other people, for example, to create a birthday wish list for the next children's birthday party, as is already possible on Amazon. The wish list function also makes sense for products that require more consultation and have a longer sales cycle, such as bathroom installations. The required products can be moved to the wish list until the necessary details have been clarified.

We are interested in hearing about your experience! Are there any other strategies you use to simplify the checkout process in your online store? Share your experiences with us in the comments section!

Strategies for increasing shopping cart value

Product recommendations are an important tool for increasing the value of the shopping cart. They inspire your online shoppers with additional products.

Use product recommendations in your online store

Your shop system usually offers the option of displaying product recommendations. However, these recommendations are mostly based on top sellers or recently viewed products. If you want to go one step further, you can personalize the product recommendations and display them individually for each customer.

To do this, you use the click and purchase behavior of the respective customer and all online shoppers. This works via a recommendation engine that is connected to a knowledge base and uses artificial intelligence methods. Customer responses to individual product recommendations are also transferred to the knowledge base, leading to optimization of product recommendations. This increases the relevance of the recommended products. Various strategies, such as upselling or cross-selling, can also be used as a basis for this.

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Place product recommendations on various pages of your online store.

Product recommendations can be placed on various pages of the online shop. On the shopping cart page, for example, it is advisable to offer additional products that complement the original product or inexpensive cross-sell items that are often purchased together with it. Ankerkraut (known from "Höhle der Löwen") increased the shopping cart value in the shopping cart layer through the use of cross-selling recommendations. Try the Cart Layer Widget in the shopping cart layer and increase your shopping cart value.

Cart layer widget with product recommendations at Ankerkraut in the shopping cart layer (source: screenshot from ankerkraut.de)

In addition, product recommendations can be displayed on the home page, product detail page, category page, content page, wish list, blog articles, etc. What they all have in common is that they inspire your online shoppers and thus increase shopping cart value and sales.

Would you like to learn more about where you can use product recommendations and what you need to consider depending on their placement? Then read our blog article Inspiration made easy: How to use product recommendations effectively in e-commerce.

How about you? What strategies do you use to increase shopping cart value? Feel free to share them with us!

Strategies for preventing shopping cart abandonment

The shopping cart is considered the last mile in the ordering process. Every customer lost here is painful and will ultimately have an impact on sales. It is therefore very important to optimize the shopping cart at this point and convince potential customers shortly before they complete their purchase that they can complete their purchase in your online store. You should therefore pay attention to the following elements:

• Confirmation sentence: By adding a confirmation sentence (compliment) on the shopping cart page, such as "You've picked out some great products," you can reinforce the desire to buy and prevent shopping cart abandonment on an emotional level.
• Product photos:Product photos are important so that your customers can recognize the product they have added to their shopping cart. Otherwise, your customers will have to return to the product detail page to make sure they have added the right product to their shopping cart.
• Price information: Price information and the total amount in the shopping cart are must-haves. You probably wouldn't sign a purchase agreement without price information either.
• Quantity: Thequantity of products should also be included, as it is easy to accidentally add two items to the shopping cart.
• Delivery and payment terms: Providing information about the expected delivery time, the exact delivery costs, and the available payment methods ensures transparency when shopping and eliminates uncertainty. To make your online shop legally compliant, it is essential that you also provide information about shipping costs, payment methods, and delivery times during checkout.
• Trust elements:Especially for high-priced and unknown online shops, trust elements are essential to give your customers a good feeling when shopping.

If you would like more information about the checkout process, we recommend reading our blog article Discover revenue potential in your checkout process.

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