Optimizing your checkout to convert more and reduce Cart abandonment

Optimize the most critical point of your sales funnel with Shopify Scripts and Functions.

Your marketing campaign successfully drives traffic to your Shopify Plus store, where you offer competitive deals on your products. As a result, you notice a lot of visitor interest in making a purchase, but when it comes to completing the purchase, many shoppers drop off.

You are waiting for the cash register to go cha-ching, but nothing happens. It’s so very anti-climatic!

It is a waste of your marketing investment, and it is also frustrating and discouraging.

Don’t despair; there is a solution.

Checkout is the most critical point in your sales funnel and mission-critical to your business. It is where shoppers decide whether to complete the purchase or abandon it.

Eliminating friction and personalizing the checkout experience for your customers can make a big difference in your conversion rate.  One of the easiest ways to do this is with Shopify Scripts.

But what is Shopify Scripts?

Shopify Scripts are small pieces of easy-to-use code that you can copy and paste to optimize and automate the cart and Checkout.

You can use Shopify Scripts to creatively create discounts and promotions that are applied to a cart based on the items in that cart and other properties and customize the shipping and payment options available to your customers.

These optimizations can help you deliver a convenient, generous, memorable customer experience at the moment of truth, which helps reduce cart abandonment, improve conversion, and build loyalty.

Scripts are proven to drive Average Order Value.

Brands on Shopify Plus see a 20% increase in their average order value (AOV) when they use Shopify Scripts discount, shipping, and payment method customizations.

However, the one constraint with Scripts is that it is exclusively available to Shopify Plus merchants. This is why Shopify recently launched Shopify Functions, which is available to all merchants of all sizes on Shopify, not just Shopify Plus.

Confused? Now, what is Shopify Functions?

Shopify Functions basically opens up Shopify’s backend logic, which was historically locked down. This provides developers with the flexibility to inject custom code into Shopify’s backend logic to create unique promotions and checkout experiences.

It is a new way to extend and replace backend Shopify logic with custom code to meet the business needs of any brand on Shopify.

• No need to write code – Functions can be installed like any other app and configured directly in the Admin alongside out-of-the-box Shopify features.
• It is lightning fast at any scale – Since Functions run in line with Shopify’s global infrastructure, even your biggest sales events can be executed in under 5ms!
• Single source of truth – Discounts built with Functions are accessible in Shopify Analytics sales enabling merchants to review and optimize their discount strategies.

Currently, Shopify Functions supports Discount APIs allowing merchants to customize the order discount, product discounts and shipping discounts, but the Shipping and Payment Methods APIs are coming soon.

The Shipping API will allow you to hide, reorder or create new shipping discounts, and the Payment Methods API will enable the hiding or reordering of payment options.

Here are some of the most popular examples that you can use Shopify Scripts or Shopify Functions for discount, shipping, and payment method customizations.

1) Tiered discount by spend

This Script lets you offer shoppers a higher percentage discount when they spend more. Example: depending on your margins, you could offer a 10% discount if they spend $50 or 15% off on orders of $75 or more.

2) Tiered discount by quality

Like the tiered discount by spend script, this Script enables you to customize discounts based on the number of items the customer purchases of a particular type.

Example:
You could offer a 5% discount to customers who buy two items of the same type, say a pair of leggings or a 10% discount if they purchase at least three or
more pairs of leggings.

3) Bundle discount

Like the tiered discounts, this Script provides a discount when the customer adds a specific combination of items – or ‘bundle’ – to their shopping cart. Example: Offering 15% off their order when they purchase a pair of workout shorts, top and socks.

4) Buy one get one (BOGO) discount

If a customer purchases one item, say a pair of Jeans, you could offer them another pair free or at a discount.

5) Free gift with purchase

This Script lets you offer shoppers a higher percentage discount when they spend more. Example: depending on your margins, you could offer a 10% discount if they spend $50 or 15% off on orders of $75 or more.

6) Tagged or New Customer or New Subscriber discount

This Script enables you to offer tagged customers (e.g., VIP or frequent), first-time customers or new subscribers a specific discount.   This is a great way to reward customers, incentivize a purchase or capture a shopper’s email for future marketing.

7) Shipping rates for a specific zip code, province, or country

This Script allows you to show customers from a particular location a specific pre-calculated shipping rate and hide shipping rates that don’t apply to them.

Example: Customers in Ontario might be shown one rate and not the rate that would apply to customers in other provinces or states

8) Local delivery

This Script enables you to only offer customers near your headquarters or warehouse options like a guaranteed 1-day delivery or even a bike delivery. Neither of these selections would be visible to buyers outside the designated postal or zip code.

9) Free standard shipping for VIP customers

This Script enables you to only offer customers near your headquarters or warehouse options like a guaranteed 1-day delivery or even a bike delivery. Neither of these selections would be visible to buyers outside the designated postal or zip code.

10) Auto-select default payment method

This Script enables merchants to customize the Checkout by showing customers the most relevant payment methods. Example: Offer shoppers a convenient choice between PayPal, logging into their account, or utilizing Shop Pay; this reduces friction and lowers cart abandonment rates.

Where can you find Shopify Scripts and Functions?

Learn more about Shopify Scripts here and Shopify Functions here. You can download Shopify’s Script Editor to edit scripts from the Shopify app store.