A smooth, uninterrupted shopping experience is a key factor in converting visitors into customers on your WooCommerce store. One common challenge that online store owners face is dealing with empty cart scenarios. For a variety of reasons, customers may abandon their carts before completing a purchase, leading to lost sales opportunities. Understanding how to handle and optimize WooCommerce empty cart scenarios can significantly impact your store’s conversion rate.
In this post, we’ll discuss how WooCommerce handles empty carts, why carts may become empty, and how you can take control of this situation to enhance your store’s performance.
What Does WooCommerce Empty Cart Mean?
In WooCommerce, an empty cart simply refers to the situation where customers have items in their cart, but they leave the site before proceeding to checkout. When a cart is abandoned, the items that were in it are removed, either due to the user leaving the store without completing the purchase or by the expiration of the session cookie that stores cart data.
An empty cart can result from a number of reasons: distraction, issues with the checkout process, unexpected shipping fees, or even issues with the store’s payment options. For store owners, it’s important to track and manage empty carts in a way that helps prevent lost sales and nurtures the customer’s journey towards a successful transaction.
Why Do Carts Get Empty? Common Causes
There are various reasons why customers abandon their carts and end up with an empty cart before making a purchase. Understanding these causes can help you address the issue effectively.
- Unexpected Shipping Fees or Taxes: One of the most common reasons for cart abandonment is unexpected shipping fees or taxes that appear at checkout. Customers may add products to their cart, but when they see the final price, including shipping, they decide to abandon the cart.Solution: Display clear shipping information on product pages or allow customers to check shipping costs before reaching the checkout. Providing free shipping or offering discounts for a minimum purchase can reduce cart abandonment due to shipping fees.
- Complex or Lengthy Checkout Process: A lengthy or confusing checkout process can frustrate customers and lead to cart abandonment. If a customer faces multiple steps, forms, or requires account registration to complete the purchase, they may decide to leave their cart empty.Solution: Simplify the checkout process. Enable guest checkout, reduce the number of fields to fill out, and use a clear, step-by-step process. Offering auto-complete options or social login can streamline the experience.
- Technical Issues: Errors like broken links, slow load times, or issues with the shopping cart itself can cause customers to abandon their carts. If the cart functionality is not working smoothly, it’s easy for users to get frustrated and leave.Solution: Regularly test your cart functionality and checkout process to ensure it’s working properly. Invest in high-quality hosting to improve website speed and responsiveness.
- Out-of-Stock Products: If a product in the cart becomes out of stock or is unavailable at the time of checkout, the cart may become empty, leaving the customer with no option but to abandon the purchase.Solution: Keep track of inventory and set up automatic notifications for customers about low stock or restocked items. Provide a “back in stock” alert option to encourage return visits.
- Price Comparison or Distractions: Shoppers often add items to their cart as part of their decision-making process. If they become distracted or find a better deal on another site, they may leave the cart empty without completing the purchase.Solution: Use targeted email campaigns or cart abandonment tools to send reminders and offers to customers who have left items in their carts. Providing time-limited discounts can create urgency and encourage customers to finalize their purchase.
How WooCommerce Handles Empty Carts
WooCommerce has built-in mechanisms for handling empty carts. When a cart becomes empty, either due to customer action or technical issues, the following steps occur:
- Cart Items Are Removed: The product data and associated details are removed from the cart.
- Customer Notification: WooCommerce may notify the customer that their cart is empty if they attempt to proceed to checkout. However, the cart will remain empty until they add new items.
- Cookie Expiration: WooCommerce uses session cookies to store the cart data. When the cookie expires, typically after a set period of inactivity, the cart is automatically cleared.
- Persistent Carts for Logged-In Users: If the user is logged in, WooCommerce attempts to store cart data persistently. This means that if a customer logs back into the site after abandonment, their cart may be automatically repopulated with the items they previously added.
Strategies to Manage and Optimize WooCommerce Empty Cart Issues
While cart abandonment is inevitable to some degree, there are effective strategies that can reduce the occurrence of empty carts and increase conversion rates.
- Use Cart Abandonment Recovery Plugins
A powerful solution to tackle empty carts is implementing a cart abandonment recovery plugin. These plugins send automatic emails or notifications to customers who have abandoned their carts, reminding them to complete the purchase. Additionally, many plugins allow store owners to offer incentives such as discounts to encourage customers to finalize their orders.
Popular cart abandonment recovery plugins for WooCommerce include WooCommerce Cart Abandonment Recovery, Retainful, and Abandoned Cart Pro for WooCommerce. These plugins track abandoned carts and help store owners retarget customers with personalized offers or reminders.
- Enable Cart Recovery via SMS or Push Notifications
In addition to email recovery, consider using SMS or push notifications to alert customers about abandoned carts. These notifications are more immediate and can often have higher engagement rates, especially if you use them for time-sensitive reminders or exclusive offers.
- Implementing Exit-Intent Popups
Exit-intent popups are a great way to catch a customer before they leave the site without completing their purchase. When a customer’s cursor moves toward the browser’s back button or close tab, the popup can display a special discount, free shipping offer, or simply remind them of the items in their cart. This tactic can help encourage users to complete their purchase before exiting.
- Offer Free Shipping for Large Orders
Free shipping is one of the best incentives to encourage customers to complete their purchase. Consider offering free shipping for orders over a certain amount. This can reduce cart abandonment caused by shipping costs, making the cart value more attractive to the customer.
- Show Stock Availability and Urgency
A sense of urgency can motivate customers to act quickly. Consider displaying low-stock warnings or creating urgency with a countdown timer. A plugin like WooCommerce Sales Countdown Timer can show a timer counting down to the end of a special offer, helping to nudge customers to complete their purchase before it’s too late.
- Use Trust Signals and Testimonials
Displaying trust signals, such as secure payment badges or customer testimonials, on the checkout page can reduce cart abandonment by providing reassurance to customers that their purchase is safe. Customers are less likely to abandon their carts when they feel confident in the website’s credibility and security.
How to Handle Empty Cart Data:
While cart abandonment is an ongoing issue for many eCommerce sites, you can still make the most of the data collected from empty carts. Here’s how to leverage empty cart data:
- Analyze Abandonment Rates: Regularly analyze your cart abandonment rates to identify trends. Look for patterns in products that are often abandoned, or times when abandonment is higher. This can help pinpoint areas for improvement.
- Track Reasons for Abandonment: Use surveys or exit-intent popups to ask customers why they abandoned their cart. Collecting feedback can help you identify pain points in the checkout process and refine the shopping experience.
Conclusion
Managing WooCommerce empty carts is an essential part of optimizing your online store. While cart abandonment is inevitable, there are plenty of ways to minimize its impact and increase conversion rates. By using recovery tools, simplifying the checkout process, and offering enticing incentives like free shipping, you can convert abandoned carts into completed sales.
By understanding the causes of empty carts and implementing targeted strategies, WooCommerce store owners can not only recover lost sales but also build long-term customer loyalty and trust. Regular analysis of your abandonment rates, along with the use of cart abandonment recovery methods, can help reduce empty carts and improve your store’s overall performance.
