How to Combat Cart Abandonment

Cart abandonment has a major impact on e-commerce businesses, affecting revenue, customer experience, and operational efficiency. Every year abandoned carts cost e-commerce brands $18 billion in lost sales revenue. According to research, the average global cart abandonment rate is 70%, meaning that e-commerce brands lose up to 75% of their potential revenue during checkout. Many of those lost sales can be traced back to friction and mistrust at the point of payment.  

To combat cart abandonment in e-commerce, especially in industries like retail, hospitality, or utilities, businesses can use Eckoh’s Secure Customer Engagement Solutions, which includes CallGuard, ChatGuard, Digital Payments, and Conversational AI Agents. Together, these solutions help reduce friction, restore trust, and guide consumers toward completed purchases in real time. 

The Point of Payment is a Source of Pain for Many Consumers 

While there are many reasons shoppers abandon their carts, the checkout stage, especially the point of payment, remains one of the most frustrating parts of the online journey. During this crucial moment, consumers often face multiple challenges, including: 

• Unanswered questions during checkout, with no easy way to get help in real time
• Fragmented support across channels, forcing them to switch platforms for assistance
• Lack of 24/7 support, leaving some shoppers without help when they need it most
• Data privacy and security concerns, especially when entering sensitive card information
• Limited payment options that do not reflect their preferred or trusted methods 

These issues compound consumers’ existing distrust. For example: 

• 80% of consumers say they worry about bad actors acquiring their card details
• In 2024, U.S. consumers lost $12.5 billion to fraud, a 25% increase from the previous year
• More than 1.7 billion consumer breach notifications were issued in the U.S. during 2024 

When trust breaks down in the checkout stage, even motivated shoppers abandon their purchase. Reducing this friction by offering secure, seamless, and supported payment experiences is critical to converting interest into revenue.  

How Does Eckoh’s Secure Engagement Suite Help Decrease Cart Abandonment 

Eckoh’s solutions have all the tools necessary to de-scope your entire contact center from PCI-DSS. Using solutions like CallGuard, ChatGuard, Digital Payments, and Conversational AI Agents, retailers can bridge the security gap and protect customers’ payment and personal data.  

What is CallGuard? 

CallGuard secures phone-based payments by intercepting sensitive data and removing it from the agent's environment, ensuring PCI-DSS compliance and reducing fraud risk. When customers provide their card details using the phone keypad (DTMF tones) or speech recognition, CallGuard detects these inputs and masks them, so the agent neither hears nor sees the full details. It also replaces real card numbers with asterisks on the agent's screen and suppresses tones in recordings, while securely routing the actual data to the payment provider.  

How Does CallGuard Decrease Cart Abandonment?  

• Builds trust at checkout:
• Cart abandonment often spikes when customers feel unsure about payment security. CallGuard removes that doubt by masking card details during calls, which boosts customers’ confidence in completing the transaction.
• Keeps customers on calls:
• Without CallGuard, agents often transfer customers to a different system or IVR for payment, adding friction and increasing the chance of drop-off. With CallGuard customers pay while staying connected to the agent, making the process feel simple, guided, and secure.
• Reduces wait times and frustration:
• Agents can take payments in real time, without needing to repeat card details or navigate menus. This shortens call durations, improves first-contact resolution, and prevents customers from giving up due to long or confusing payment steps. 

What is ChatGuard?  

ChatGuard lets customers securely complete transactions directly within a chat or chatbot session, ensuring convenience, security, and compliance, without redirecting them to external pages. With ChatGuard, card details are immediately tokenized and masked, preventing agents from seeing or hearing sensitive data, and agents remain present to offer support while payments are securely sent to the payment service provider. Also, ChatGuard is compatible with any chat platform or chatbot, requires minimal setup, and no heavy coding or system overhaul.  

How Does ChatGuard Decrease Cart Abandonment? 

• Improves conversions:
• ChatGuard keeps the customer in the chat window from inquiry to payment, which reduces drop-offs and abandonment rates.
• Builds stronger security and trust:
• All card information is masked from agents, making the process feel private and secure.
• Provides digital-first experiences:
• Customers increasingly want digital-first experiences and payment options. ChatGuard supports enhanced authentication with 3D Secure and modern payment methods, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal.  

What are Digital Payments? 

With Digital Payments, agents can trigger a branded digital payment form or secure link in real-time, whether customers engage via voice, chat, SMS, email, social media, or apps. The payment form opens in the customer’s browser or device and supports cards, digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal), and bank payments. 

How Do Digital Payments Decrease Cart Abandonment? 

• Creates an omnichannel experience:
• By allowing payments across any digital channel, Digital Payments helps contact centers eliminate friction and boost convenience. Customers stay in control, trust the process more, and are far more likely to complete the payment, which dramatically reduces drop-offs and abandoned transactions.
• Provides seamless agent-customer interactions:
• As customers complete or defer payment (via “pay later” links), agents receive real-time updates that include individual steps, completion, and status. Customers can pause and pay later via links that last up to 24 hours
• Enhances conversions and brand consistency:
• Digital Payments allows customers to remain within a company’s branded environment, while choosing payment options that they trust, such as: Apple Pay and digital wallets. This reduces friction, lowers abandonment, and boosts revenue by meeting modern payment expectations 

What is a Conversational AI Agent? 

Conversational AI agents can engage in natural, human-like conversations with users through text or voice. Their goal is to understand and respond to customer questions, complete tasks, and solve problems without the need for a live human agent. AI agents use Natural Language Understanding (NLU) to understand user intent, even with varied wording, slang, or typos.  

How Do Conversational AI Agents Decrease Cart Abandonment? 

• Provides real-time 27/4 support:
• If a customer has a question about pricing, delivery options, promo codes, or returns while checking out, the virtual agent can respond instantly, 24/7. This prevents frustration, reduces drop-off, and keeps the momentum going.
• Re-engages customers:
• Conversational AI agents can trigger context-aware messages when users are stalling. For example, AI agents can ask, “Need help completing your purchase?” or “Have a question about payment options?” This re-engages hesitant buyers before they abandon their carts.
• Offers omnichannel continuity:
• Customers can start their journey in chat, switch to voice, or return later without losing progress. This seamless handoff across channels ensures that shoppers can complete purchases on their terms, even if they pause mid-process. 

Reduce Cart Abandonment with Eckoh 

Cart abandonment remains one of the most pressing challenges for e-commerce and contact center-driven businesses, especially at the point of payment, where trust, convenience, and support often fall short. Eckoh’s secure customer engagement solutions directly address these friction points by making payments feel safer, simpler, and more responsive across every customer touchpoint. 

With solutions like CallGuard, ChatGuard, Digital Payments, and Conversational AI Agents, businesses can confidently reduce drop-offs, improve conversion rates, and deliver a payment experience that meets the expectations of today’s digital-first consumer. Reducing cart abandonment is not just about salvaging lost revenue; it is about rebuilding trust, removing friction, and creating a seamless journey from conversation to conversion.