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Increase Shopper Checkouts During Live Sales

Corey Wright

You can increase live-sale checkouts by using time-sensitive incentives, checkout rewards, shipping promotions, item discounts, and clear shopper education. These strategies encourage shoppers to complete purchases instead of leaving items in their carts.

In this article, you'll learn:

Why Should I Encourage Shoppers to Checkout During Live Sales?

When a shopper carts an item, the item may be temporarily held from other shoppers depending on your inventory settings. If the shopper does not complete the purchase, that inventory may remain unavailable until the cart expires.

Encouraging shoppers to complete checkout can help you:

  • Increase purchase conversions and sales.
  • Keep inventory more accurate during live sales.
  • Reduce the number of carted but unpaid items.
  • Create a more engaging and time-sensitive shopping experience.

You do not need to use every strategy in this article. Choose the incentives and shopper education methods that work best for your shop and audience.

How Can I Incentivize Shoppers to Complete Checkout?

CommentSold offers shops several options that make it easy to give shoppers well-timed incentives to complete their checkout process. While shops can easily enable the below options, an option's success will also rely on a shop's willingness to talk up or make the option known to their shoppers.

Reward Customers

  • Run "paid cart" giveaways. As you pause between items or break to encourage shoppers to check out, pick one or two customers who have already checked out and award them with account credit. Make sure to shout out to these customers so that other shoppers know the reward is real.
  • Enable or increase live sale bonus loyalty credit. Shops can offer bonus loyalty credit for purchases made during a live sale. Make sure shoppers know the bonus percentage and give examples: "Today's live sale loyalty bonus is 10%! Got a cart approaching $100? That's almost $10 FREE credit you can use on your next purchase with our shop!" You can change the amount at any time and/or offer it at specific live sale events (e.g., big promotions, new arrivals, final sales, etc.)
  • Offer mystery live sale bonus loyalty credit. If you have a behind-the-scenes team, have them periodically change the live sale bonus credit throughout the live sale (e.g., 5% up to 25% down to 15%, etc.). Let shoppers know the highest percentage you'll offer during the sale, and any time a customer hits that jackpot, shout them out so the rest of your shoppers can see the offer is real. 

Offer Discounted Shipping Options

  • Offer Free Shipping for Live Sales. Shipping costs can make or break a purchase for some customers. Eliminate that hesitation by offering free shipping for purchases made during the live sale. You can enable the Timed Free Shipping setting and set how long of a window, after adding an item to their cart, that a shopper has to check out with free shipping. You can even set purchase minimums to encourage larger sales. If you decide to offer free shipping during a live sale, remember to remind your shoppers throughout the sale. You might have late joiners who miss the announcement if you only say it at the beginning of the sale.

Discount Items During the Live Sale

  • Offer special item discounts that are only valid during a live sale. Take advantage of CommentSold's Schedule Sale feature to put items on sale during your live sale. You can promote them as "door-busters" and remind your shoppers that these items will return to their regular pricing after the live sale. This ups the urgency and can drive shoppers to complete their checkout process to secure that sale pricing.

Educate Shoppers on Benefits of Checkout

Education can go a long way in helping shoppers understand the importance of completing their orders during a live sale. 

While, as a shop, you're aware of the negative impact of abandoned carts on your business, when speaking to your shoppers, we recommend you keep your education talking points positive and shopper-oriented.

Here are two examples:

Instead of "Abandoned items tie up inventory and keep items away from shoppers who really want to purchase the item," consider "We want to make sure that those of you who love an item get that item, so if you're on the fence, add the item to your Favorites instead of your cart!"

Instead of "When shoppers abandon items, it makes it difficult for us to know what styles and items you love, which impacts our ability to restock items or discover new products," consider "We love discovering new products to share with you. You can help us by only carting items you plan to buy. That helps our team know what products y'all love and what new things we should be on the lookout for!"

You can also educate shoppers on how to remove an item from their shopping cart if they decide they don't want to buy it or if they accidentally carted the wrong size or color.

Additionally, you'll want to make sure you're educating your shoppers on alternatives to carting items:

What Is the Best Way to Increase Checkout Conversion During a Live Sale?

The most effective approach is usually a combination of clear communication and timely incentives.

Consider:

  1. Announcing your checkout incentives at the beginning of the live.
  2. Repeating important promotions throughout the sale.
  3. Using limited-time discounts or shipping offers.
  4. Rewarding shoppers who complete checkout.
  5. Reminding shoppers to remove items they no longer want.
  6. Encouraging shoppers to use Favorites instead of their cart when they are only browsing.
  7. Using waitlist and pre-authorization features for products that sell out quickly.

The goal is to make it easy for shoppers to understand when they should purchase, why completing checkout matters, and what alternatives they have when they aren't ready to buy.

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