What Is Cart Abandonment and Why Should B2B Businesses Care?

If you run a B2B e-commerce business, then online shopping cart abandonment is always top of mind. Your buyer is almost there, last steps, yet they abandon before completing. The question is, why does it keep happening and, how to avoid shopping cart abandonment from happening moving forward? It’s time to address this crack in the B2B e-commerce experience and take the necessary steps to prevent it!

What is Cart Abandonment?

Cart abandonment is when a potential customer adds items to their online cart—seemingly with the intention of finalizing the transaction soon thereafter, only to exit the transaction process.

Why Does Cart Abandonment Matter?

A customer adding an item to their cart indicates that they’re motivated to buy, otherwise they would just scroll through the page. Cart abandonment midway through the process indicates that something has gone wrong. 

Why Does Cart Abandonment Happen?

Poor Overall Website Experience

Some of the major pitfalls on a website include a slow-loading speed, a general lack of information to distrust, and a lack of transparency around payment/transaction safety.

Regularly run site speed checks to ensure that your site is performing optimally. Ensure you have clear CTAs (Call-to-action) buttons that make it as easy as possible for shoppers to add items to their cart and move on to checkout. Provide an appropriate amount of information about your products, business and brand to help build confidence with your buyer.. Finally, indicating the measures you have in place to protect your customers’ private and sensitive information goes a long way.

Furthermore, as more B2B e-commerce transactions are taking place on mobile devices, it is vital to ensure that your website is optimized for mobile in addition to traditional web.

Poor Checkout Experience

Having now reached the checkout process, shoppers' expectations of an expedited process remain. Too many clicks, too many steps, and an excessive amount of information required to proceed creates the opportunity for buyers to lose interest. Again, ensure that the checkout process is optimized for mobile, and have a system in place to regularly go through the process yourself and ensure it is both functional and a pleasant experience.

Additional Hidden Costs

A lack of transparency when it comes to costs is an immediate cause for buyers to suddenly abandon their cart. Whether it’s any additional processing fees, shipping fees, or anything else, buyers should at least have some indication of this before reaching the very end of their purchasing journey.

Higher Than Expected Costs

After adding all of their items into the cart, the total value may come as a shock to the buyer. This does not mean that you're somehow “wrong” in your pricing, as presumably you’ve put a great deal of consideration into setting your pricing. Rather, it’s likely that the idea of having to pay the full value upfront and tap into their cash flow, or relying on business credit cards that ultimately drives buyers away.

Lack Of Payment Options

In addition to the “sticker shock” of the total order value, the lack of alternative payment methods means that there is no failsafe in place to reassure buyers that this purchase is feasible for them.. Taking the initiative to facilitate financing for your buyers puts you ahead of your competition. Consider that most small businesses have trouble accessing traditional finance, or do not have the immediate free cashflow to pay the full amount upfront.

Is It Possible to Reconvert Abandon-Cart-Shoppers?

It may seem like all hope is lost after a potential customer has abandoned their cart, but this is not the case. Depending on how far in the checkout process they got, if they have indicated their email address, or phone number consider retargeting them with an abandoned cart email or abandoned cart message. You can simply remind them that their items are still available, or you could even try to entice them with a promotion.

What’s Different About B2B Cart Abandonment?

Although cart abandonment exists in both the B2C and B2B space, there are still a few noteworthy differences. First is that generally B2B transactions are larger in value meaning that there is great financial consideration. Next, given that many B2B transactions are recurring, a single bad experience comes with a greater risk for sellers of losing multiple sales. Lastly, as the B2B space is still playing catch-up with what we have all become accustomed to as consumers, there is more space to optimize existing outdated processes such as the checkout experience to keep up with changing expectations.

What Else Can You Do To Prevent B2B Cart Abandonment?

In addition to taking all of the above points into consideration, another option for reducing cart abandonment is by offering a B2B BNPL solution like tabit to your B2B buyers. By offering a streamlined and flexible solution, buyers have the option to pay off their purchases over time, while sellers still get paid right away, improving cash flow for both parties. Again, any initiative taken by a seller to facilitate the transaction experience, such as flexible payment options, will be much appreciated by potential buyers.