“Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.” – Donald Porter, British Airways

Smashing Magazine looked at the top 100 grossing e-commerce websites and found that on average, it took customers 5.08 steps to complete a checkout. Now, that’s way too many. The checkout process should be short and sweet.

One of the biggest reasons for cart abandonment is hidden costs at the end of checkout. And the two biggest reasons for unexpected costs? Taxes and shipping costs.

Another tactic you can use to reduce shopping cart abandonment is to create a sense of urgency. That means letting customers know that whatever discount or promotional offer you have won’t last forever.

The travel sector has one of the highest abandonment rates of any ecommerce vertical, at almost 85%.

Most shoppers aren’t going to forget what’s in their shopping cart, but like a progress indicator, including thumbnail images of the products they’ve placed in their cart can be another “grounding” technique that reassures the customer of what they’re purchasing.

Another tip: Clearly labeled button name that advises the customer where they are going next or what will happen when they click the button. For example, “Click here to confirm purchase” rather than “Submit”.

A small tweak, and yet a huge game changer at the same time, a progress bar is basically a finish line that motivates people to complete the shopping race.