7 Ways to Boost Your Checkout Rates with Coupons

The checkout page is fundamentally the most important page of your online store. It’s where you make money. Unfortunately, this is where most shoppers abandon their carts. Cart abandonment has become a major challenge in the e-commerce sector, and it’s making online stores to lose so much.

To address the issue, you have to know why your customers leave their carts after showing an intention to make a purchase. A majority of them do it because they are discouraged by the final cost. Others do it because they are distracted by ads.  There are some who don’t like going through a lengthy checkout process. So, what should you do to discourage cart abandonment and to boost checkout rates? Well, the solution is in offering coupons.

Here are 7 ways to do it:

1. Issue an Exit Intent Coupon

Some shoppers just need a last-minute discount offer to persuade them to close a purchase. An exit coupon is automated to pop up at the checkout when the customer shows an intention of abandoning the shopping cart. The coupon is likely to convince the customer to complete the purchase since it promises a significant discount.

2. Prompt a Free Shipping Coupon

Customers who buy in bulk easily get dispirited by the shipping cost that they see at the checkout. You can decide to encourage such customers by promising them free shipping coupons. It’s an effective strategy to encourage bulk buying.

3. Attach a CTA to the Coupon

Customers generally don’t like to be stranded on a product page. They want to be guided on what to do next. So, call to action terms like ‘go to’, ‘apply this’ or ‘proceed to’ are very necessary. To make the CTAs more exciting to the customer, you can attach them to a coupon. For example, you can give the customer the option of ‘apply this coupon to save’ or ‘Go to checkout to enjoy a discount coupon’.

4. Offer a First-Time Shopping Coupon

When a first-time shopper knows in advance that there is a coupon offer at the checkout, they’ll hurry to redeem it. In most cases, they’ll shop voluminously so that they can leverage the coupon.

5. Give a Minimum Purchase Coupon

In this case, not everyone is entitled to the coupon offer, but only those who meet a certain shopping limit. It’s an upselling trick that encourages the customers to increase their orders.

6. Offer a Soon-to-Expire Coupon

It’s important that you give your coupons a sense of urgency so that they look more persuading. The best way to do it is to put a close expiry date. The expiry date will push the customer to speedily go the checkout to redeem the coupon.

7. Follow Up on Abandoned Carts with a Customer Discount Coupon

It’s easier to follow up a customer who has signed up a shopping account since their emails are registered in your system. You just have to monitor the customers when they leave their shopping carts so as to follow them up with a hard-to-refuse discount coupon. The coupon will convince them to return to the checkout to complete the purchase.

Closing Thoughts

Coupons are effective tools for improving the checkout rates. Nonetheless, you have to use them appropriately and wisely not to hurt your store. Start by implementing the above tactics.

Dorian Koci
 

Dr. Dorian Koçi is a historian, Director of National Historical Museum of Albania and lecturer in Tirana State University, Faculty of History and Philology and New York University of Tirana.