According to an e-tailing group survey, nearly 60% of e-commerce retailers in the United States are experiencing shopping cart abandonment rates over over 20% so far in 2009.

Another study performed by Paypal and ComScore found that 45% of online shoppers in the United States abandoned goods in shopping carts multiple times over a three week period.  The study also found that the average cost of abandoned goods in each shopping cart totaled $109.

The Main Reasons For Shopping Cart Abandonment According To The Study

• High Shipping Costs: 46%
• Wanted to comparison shop: 37%
• Lack of money: 36%
• Wanted to look for a coupon: 27%
• Wanted to shop offline: 26%
• Couldn’t find preferred pay option: 24%
• Item unavailable at checkout: 23%
• Couldn’t find customer support: 22%
• Security concerns: 21%

How Can You Reduce Your Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate?

A high shopping cart abandonment rate is one of the most disappointing statistics to analyze as an Internet marketer.  So much hard work is put into bringing visitors to the site and taking them through the purchasing flow, it’s a real shame to see all that hard work wasted when a customer decides to leave your site without checking out.

To keep your abandonment rate at a minimum, make sure you:

• Offer multiple payment methods.  It’s important to offer all major credit cards, paypal and either an e-check or direct debit payment option.  Google checkout is another easy to integrate option that is increasing in popularity.
• Make sure your checkout pages include an icon that explains your checkout pages are secure.  Almost all SSL certificate providers offer the ability to add a clickable image on your checkout page that customers can click to verify your business details.
• Don’t over inflate shipping costs.  This may be an acceptable practice in late night infomercials, but its no longer tolerated by online shoppers.  When a customer finds the product they are looking for at a price they are willing to pay, an inflated shipping cost that doesn’t display until checkout is a slap in the face and a great way to lose potential repeat customers for life.

Shopping cart abandonment rates are an important statistic to be aware of and optimize for.  If you have any questions about how to track the rate of abandoned shopping carts, or what can be done to help lower the abandonment rate on your site leave a comment below.