Cart abandonment is no longer something that only happens occasionally. Statistics from Q2 2017 show 77.3 percent of all online shopping carts were abandoned without purchasing. This makes it more the norm than the exception, but that fact doesn’t help healthcare companies working to maximize their sales. What does help, however, are targeted digital marketing actions aimed at giving shoppers another chance to complete their purchase.
Remarkably, this Hubspot article reports that, as of 2012, "only 19% of even the top 1000 ecommerce companies engage in any kind of shopping cart abandonment recovery."
Here is what you should be considering if your healthcare company experiences high levels of cart abandonment.
1. Identify the Trigger
Good analytics processes can help you identify the reasons for cart abandonment. Before you head out, digitally-speaking, to track down the culprits and bring them back into the fold, it’s important to know why they left in the first place.
Analytics will be able to give you some clues by showing where the customer left during the ordering process. If the cart was abandoned during the shopping, it’s possible the user was simply interrupted or ran out of time. On the other hand, if abandonment occurred during the checkout process, it could be that shipping and handling fees were prohibitive, or the user encountered a problem with the system.
Other common reasons given for cart abandonment are: having to create a new account, concerns about payment security, a long or confusing checkout process or an unsatisfactory return policy, according to this Baymard Institute article. For successful recovery of the sale, it’s critical to determine whether the cause is a business issue or a technology challenge.
2. Plan Your Approach
Once you know what the reason is for the cart being abandoned, you can plan your digital marketing approach effectively. According to Business Insider, the total value of abandoned cart sales is $4 trillion, of which 63% is recoverable. That’s a lot of money to let go without a fight.
Some of the methods proven to be helpful in bringing back errant customers include:
- Automated, nurturing email campaigns
- Targeted social media posts
- Retargeting ads
The key to getting results from these actions is to customize the content and make it valuable enough to encourage the user to return and complete the purchase. A strategic approach could include communications tailored to the stages at which carts were abandoned, so you address the scenarios most likely to have led to this situation.
3. Realize the ROI
This might feel like an additional task you’re being forced to deal with. After all, you’ve already done the marketing and other processes required to offer your product or service for sale—it seems unfortunate that you now have to nurture unruly buyers to get them to actually purchase. Given the statistics, however, it might be a function to factor into your costings, because cart abandonment is not likely to go away anytime soon.
Learning why the customer decided to abandon their cart is key to addressing the situation and the best time to reach out to that customer is immediately following the abandonment itself. The customer is likely to still be on the device they were using to place the order, so an immediate email follow-up to query the reason for abandoning the order is most likely to get the best response. Once the reason is received and categorized, you can (hopefully) address the problem, correct it and reap the benefits of decreased future cart abandonment. If the email is properly crafted, you might even be able to salvage that sale.
Cart abandonment in healthcare sales doesn’t have to be a deal-breaker. Boost your company into the top 20% of performers by being one that follows up abandoned orders. You’ll also build on your reputation as a company that provides excellent service – even before you make the sale.
KBK Communications knows the healthcare industry and we want our medical equipment and supply manufacturing compatriots to achieve your growth goals with successful digital marketing strategies. Contact us here to learn how we can help.
