8 Tips on How to Cure Lazy Cart Syndrome With Text Messages

We've all seen this firsthand: potential customers adding an item (or maybe more) to their cart, filling in all the product and payment details, ready to hit the "purchase" button. And then, bam! Last-minute abandoned carts. But ever stop to think, why does this even happen?

With this stat, this syndrome will sound more troubling. According to Baymard Institute, the average cart abandonment rate is just under 70 percent. That means roughly seven out of every ten shoppers won't complete their transaction. (Yep, you heard it right!)

Now, how did we get here? Who would have thought that the Lazy Cart Syndrome rate would be that high?

Hold on – what is lazy cart syndrome in the first place?

Grab a cup of coffee and get ready to learn about it, overcome it, and optimize your sales funnel.

What is Lazy Cart Syndrome?

The lazy cart syndrome (which you might also hear referred to as abandoned cart syndrome) is a common issue most online shopping businesses face. It takes place when customers add an item to their cart and are this close to buying but then leave the website just before completing the transaction.

We hate to break it to you but this trend is going nowhere while customers shop on their phones, because certain consumer behaviors will always stick around. However, the good news is that it's possible to cure the lazy cart syndrome.

Not only that! You can even recover some of your abandoned carts if you adopt the right strategies. Sounds tough? It can be. But it's certainly not impossible.

Lucky you! You've landed in the right spot to learn these strategies. But before that, let's figure out what's causing this syndrome in the first place.

What Causes Customers to Abandon Their Shopping Carts?

You can offer the best products in the world at unbeatable prices, but customers will still abandon their shopping carts; why is that, you ask? Well, sometimes the reasons aren't so obvious.

With that being said, there are a couple of red flag practices that definitely trigger the "lazy cart syndrome" among your customers. And here are a few of the most common ones.

Complicated or lengthy checkout

It shouldn't be a shock to hear that your counterintuitive checkout page causes your customers to abandon their shopping carts.

• It doesn't follow a logical pattern.
• The design isn't eye-catching.
• It requires endless clicks before the purchase.

So when your checkout process feels like solving a Rubik's cube, you don't need a marketing degree to know what happens next— your customers will just click away and abandon their carts halfway through.

Delivery delays

Marketing has taught us that all customers want quick results, even when it comes to delivery. Now, we get it – you can't magically deliver your products to doorsteps straight away.

But let's be real here: do you think waiting two weeks for an order won't make customers abandon their carts before purchasing?

And we’re not exaggerating when we say that this misadventure alone is capable of ruining your brand reputation and, of course, plummeting your sales like nothing else.

Unexpected charges

Imagine you're about to purchase a product online, the price is totally within your budget, the brand is super reliable and even the delivery time looks pretty decent. But just as you're about to hit that "buy now" button, hidden fees (shipping costs, taxes) pop up out of nowhere.

It's pretty clear that this is among the main reasons why consumers catch the "lazy cart syndrome."

Lack of convenient payment options

In the world of Fintech, not every payment method suits everyone. You might assume that offering the usual methods covers all bases, but what about customers living in far-off corners of the world? Their preferred payment methods might not even be on your list, and at times, certain platforms might restrict usage based on a user's country of origin. This is where AI in fintech can come into play as well, to help dynamically customize payment options to meet different demands across regions.

So yeah, these little details might not seem like much when you build your sales process, but for some customers, they can be a deal-breaker.

8 Tips on How to Cure Lazy Cart Syndrome with Text Messages

Using text messages in your retargeting strategy is a terrific idea, especially considering that texts have much higher open rates than emails.

But it's not just about open rate - Mobile online shopping has the highest cart abandonment percentage, which makes text messages powerful enough to cure this issue of "lazy cart syndrome."

Did you think we forgot about you? No way! That's why we've put together nine tips to win back those "cart abandoners."

Collect phone numbers

In our process of curing lazy cart syndrome, we obviously need to get phone numbers from customers and website visitors, and your best bet to grow your subscriber list is to add a concise form as part of the online checkout process or simply offer a coupon on their next purchase after signup.

And this is how you can run your reminder campaign for your customers right after they abandon their carts (shoutout to automation!). But always remember to get the green light from your prospects before running your campaigns because we don't want your brand to get tagged as spammy.

Allow two-way messaging

What if we tell you that you can prevent some customers from abandoning their carts right in their tracks with simple two-way messaging?

Because what some customers really want from you at that moment is a direct line to text your business for quick answers (right when they need it most). All of this eliminates headaches related to call waiting or getting transferred between departments.

So when you provide seamless and immediate assistance and engagement for shoppers' almost abandoned carts, chances are, you hit their pain point without them clicking away from the checkout page.

Offer irresistible discounts

Do you know what every customer wants? Discount, for sure! Nobody can resist this incentive, even if it's just a 10% reduction. This feeling of buying bargains never gets old. And this is precisely where text messages help out.

As we mentioned in the previous section, additional charges are the main reason why your prospects are abandoning their carts, so when your customer gets a text that goes something like this:

“

Hey Mark, did you know the wireless headphones you've got in your cart are now 20% off? Use the promo code TECHLIFE20 for an additional 20% off and enjoy your tunes. Come on, you're just a click away!

Chances are high that this engaging SMS will recover plenty of abandoned carts!

Add urgency

You could say that your customers don't like hot-ticket items, and we can agree, but then we'd both be lying!

Discounts are very tempting for sure, but nothing beats the impression of scarcity and adding a time clock to a purchase. When your prospects come across titles such as "Exclusive deal ending soon" or "limited stock," this "fear of missing out" subtly urges them to complete the pending transaction before it's too late.

Go ahead and incorporate this type of messaging in a Reminder Campaign to guide customers through your lead generation funnel and get them excited to hit that buy button.

Customize the content for them

Seriously, who wouldn't add customers to their SMS subscriber list and randomly send bulk text messages? This is like shooting in the dark and hoping something hits the mark.

Customers want something that would engage them. Something that would make them feel unique and the best option is to personalize your text message content by simply adding the client's name and the product they left behind in the cart in pre-set fields to your follow-up message, and you're good to go! See? That's all it takes!

Once your prospects and customers receive a message that's just for them, it won't just cure lazy cart syndrome but also encourage them to do the word-of-mouth magic recommendation for your business.

Add graphics to your message

People love visuals, and while SMS does an amazing job as a reminder, it won't support images. So, your one-stop solution could be sending an MMS instead of an SMS.

For those out of context, "Multimedia Messaging Service" (a fancy term but a simple concept) is the standard way to send messages that include visual content from one phone to another using the cell network.

Sending an MMS not only serves as a follow-up for customers with abandoned carts but also helps trigger that "Aha!" moment for them to complete their pending transaction.

But it's not just about aesthetics - a personalized text message combined with a user-centered design can encourage your customers to connect with your brand on a deeper level.

Facilitate payment operations

When designing your website, make sure it meets all the user-friendliness standards. We hate to break it to you, but if it doesn't, customers might just bounce—even if you've got the best value for the money in town.

Among the most valuable user-friendliness practices is facilitating payment operations, and to achieve this, consider sending an automated SMS (or MMS) text that will securely link back to the checkout page.

Avoid unexpected cost Increases

Saving the best for last, let's talk about the previously uncalculated costs.

As we've mentioned before, being clear about the final price of the item prevents sticker shocks when customers head to checkout and makes it a no-sweat situation for them to seamlessly seal the deals.

Mention all the potential add-on fees—like shipping and taxes—from the get-go in the initial price tag. Your customers will appreciate the transparency, and help nurture positive and long lasting customer relations.

Time to Cure the Lazy Cart Syndrome with MTA

There you have it! Now, we can safely say that we have told you as much about curing the lazy cart syndrome with text messages as you should know before you recover those dusty carts.

Depending on your business niche, you can create personalized SMS reminder campaigns for customers. And it's not as tough as you think. Mobile Text Alerts is a platform that can help you reach all your prospects in seconds. Give it a shot. It's just a click away!

But we're sure you still have a ton of doubts and questions about this. Well, what are we here for? Get in touch and lay it all out on us!

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Author Bio: Amine Boussassi is a marketing manager at Hustler Ethos. He is enthusiastic about productivity, project management tools, and everything in between. His overarching mission revolves around empowering companies to achieve high rankings on Google.