If you're an eCommerce store owner, you probably know the struggle of working hard to get people to your site, only to see them leave without buying anything. It's a common problem and one that can be frustrating to solve. After all, what good is traffic if it doesn't convert?
What makes it even worse is that you have a variety of products that people should be interested in. But for some reason, they're not adding them to their cart. This is where your add-to-cart rate comes in. In this article, we'll discuss what it is and how you can improve it.
The add-to-cart rate is the percentage of visitors to your site that add at least one item to their cart during the session (which you can also think of as their visit).
The reason it's so important to keep track of this metric is that it's a good indicator of how well you're doing in terms of product selection, site usability, marketing efforts, and more. If people are coming to your site and not adding anything to their cart, it's a sign that something isn't quite right. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to fix it if that's the case.
If you haven't been tracking your add-to-cart rate, it's never too late to start. Just use the following formula:
Add-to-cart rate = # of visitors who added items to their cart / total # of visitors x 100
For example, if you had 1,000 visitors to your site last month and 100 of them added an item to their cart, your add-to-cart rate would be 10%.
For your add-to-cart rate calculation, it's important to be consistent with the time period you use. Whether you track it monthly, weekly, or daily, just make sure you always use the same time frame so you can accurately compare your results over time.
Next, to be able to accurately gauge whether or not you're doing well, you need to know what is a good add-to-cart rate, to begin with.
The average add-to-cart rate is around 5%, while anything higher than 8.1% is considered good (actually, it would put you in the best 20% of all eCommerce stores).
Of course, these are just averages and benchmarks. The important thing is to focus on your own store's add-to-cart rate and track it over time. As long as you see an upward trend, you're on the right track.
Now that you know what the add-to-cart rate is and how to calculate it, let's discuss a few ways you can improve it.
Most often, people don't add items to their cart because they're not convinced they should. And a big part of that has to do with your product pages.
To increase your add-to-cart rate, you need to make sure your product pages are up to par. They should be well-designed, user-friendly, and informative. They should also do a good job of selling the product.
To do this, you need to make sure your pages include:
Another reason people might not add items to their cart is that they're worried about the shipping costs. In fact, shipping is one of the top reasons people abandon their carts, and it wouldn't be a surprise if it's affecting your add-to-cart rate as well.
To combat this, one thing you can do is offer free shipping. Even if you can't afford to offer free shipping on all orders, you could consider doing it for orders over a certain amount. Or, you could use it as a marketing tool and offer free shipping for a limited time.
One of the downsides of shopping online is that you can't talk to a salesperson in person. This can be a big problem if people have questions about your products and they can't get answers in a timely manner.
That's why if you don't have a live chat feature on your store, you should consider adding one. This will allow people to get answers to their questions in real-time, which could help increase your add-to-cart rate. Not to mention, it'll give your customer support a chance to build relationships with customers and upsell your products.
Lastly, what can discourage people from adding items to their cart is having to create an account before they can checkout. For some people, this is just too much of a hassle. Instead, they'll just abandon their cart and buy from a store that doesn't require them to create an account.
To mitigate this, you should consider offering a guest checkout option. This will allow people to checkout without having to create an account. And while they won't be able to take advantage of some of your loyalty programs, it could still encourage them to add items to their cart and buy from your store.
The Bottom Line
The add-to-cart rate is an important metric to pay attention to because it can give you insights into how well your store is performing. If people are regularly adding items to their cart, it's a good sign that they're interested in your products.
Of course, there's more to making a sale than just getting someone to add an item to their cart. But it's a good place to start. As long as you follow the tips above, you should be able to increase your add-to-cart rate and make more sales.
And if you need help, we at ConvertedIn can help you pinpoint the areas of your store that need improvement and offer guidance on making the necessary changes. Just contact us today to get started!