How Live Chat Can Be Used to Tackle Basket Abandonment

Are you dealing with Basket Abandonment on the regular? The answer is yes if you’re a brand that sells any product online.

But what is Basket Abandonment, really? And how can we truly combat it?

Basket Abandonment Solutions That Work

Basket Abandonment is a general term to describe a customer leaving our websites during the checkout phase. But sometimes, if we use the broad definition, we’re not looking at the actual root of the issue. 

And Basket Abandonment is more prevalent now than it’s ever been. It’s not uncommon for Basket Abandonment to occur no matter what size a company is, from the larger to the smaller players in any market.

In this article, we’re going to look at some specific causes of Basket Abandonment and some concrete strategies to overcome them. 

Your Discount Codes Aren’t Working

The Challenge:

One of the most common practices to battle Basket Abandonment is to send an email with a discount code within 24 hours of the customer leaving your site. It seems like a sound strategy, right? Well, it may work, but it’s not the best strategy. 

Firstly, when sending a discount code, you’re operating under the assumption that the customer’s issue was with the price. But what if it wasn’t? What if they didn’t trust your brand or product enough? Or what if they thought your shipping was too high?

Or– even worse– what if they had no objections and simply got distracted with another task and never completed the purchase? 

One of the major issues with discount codes is that even if they do work, you’re also lowering your profit margin immediately and devaluing your product without ever knowing the customer’s true objections.

The Solution:

By engaging the customer during the checkout phase using live chat, you can uncover their true objections. 

Maybe they have an issue with how long shipping will take for their product to reach them. In that case, you can offer them express shipping options and save the sale. 

The examples we can use for this are endless because each customer is different, but by using conversation, you’re adapting to their specific needs in real time. This is a powerful tool to overcome Basket Abandonment.

The Behavior Signals of Basket Abandonment

The Challenge:

You don’t know when customers will abandon their baskets and leave the site. You’re relying on a static website to do the job of answering all of their questions and guiding them to a complete sale. 

The Solution:

There are certain specific behaviors that customers who abandon their baskets exhibit. And while it can be challenging– or impossible– for a standard website to detect these signals, if you have the right technology, you can save the sale at the perfect time.

But even if you could see some of these signals, how could you watch every customer visiting your site to save the sale? You can’t.

But what if you could, using live chat and cutting-edge technology.

One of the tactics that can be applied while using live chat is watching the mouse positioning of certain users. This is called ‘hover intent’. This technology uses smart positioning data to know when a customer may be getting ready to hit the x to close the window and leave the site. 

If a customer shows this behavior, the perfect, proactive message will appear, and if needed, a chat agent can be alerted immediately and jump in to try to save the sale in real-time. This mix of technology and a warm touch can do wonders to reduce Basket Abandonment.

A Broken Link in Your Buying Process

The Challenge:

For many online purchases, there are multiple steps to completing the sale from gathering shipping info, selecting color and size, entering credit card details and discount codes– and so on. 

While these allow your consumers to buy something from you, they can also be barriers. Often, if the customer hits a snag at any part of this process, it can easily lead to Basket Abandonment. (This is commonly known as ‘sequence break’.)

The Solution:

You can support your customer through the process by using live chat at the right time when there’s a break in the sequence. 

Some examples of this could be errors in the payment or a failed discount code. These things would typically result in a customer trying again but usually getting frustrated and leaving. 

Live chat technology identifies various breaks in your sequence and sends the appropriate proactive message to the client before they get frustrated or give up. Additionally, a live chat agent can step in at any point and assist the customer in completing the sale.

By providing this safety net for your customer, you can stop needless Basket Abandonment easily.

Overcoming Basket Abandonment Through Live Chat

Hopefully, you’ve found this article helpful in your journey to defeat the ever-present challenge of Basket Abandonment.

Conversational Commerce through live chat is one of the biggest, most powerful tools in your toolbox when it comes to consistently and efficiently overcoming Basket Abandonment. 

Here at The Chat Shop, we specialize in helping eCommerce brands of all sizes overcome Basket Abandonment at every turn. The methods we’ve listed in this article are just some tactics we employ to drive significant ROI for our customers. 

We always use a unique strategy because every company is different. Let’s talk today about what strategy might work best for you