When a customer adds products to their cart and then abandons it, this represents a significant loss for your online business. But if they abandoned their cart, it surely wasn’t for no reason. It might be due to high shipping costs, a checkout process that takes too long, a lack of trust, the requirement to create an account, and so on. Whatever the reason, you need to do everything you can to recover these abandoned carts. In this article, learn how to recover abandoned carts and what you can do to prevent this from happening in the first place.
Email Marketing: The Perfect Strategy for E-Commerce
Email marketing is the ideal technique forrecovering abandoned shopping carts.Email marketingallows you to reach out to users to actuallyclose the sale. This does not mean pressuring users who have abandoned their shopping carts with a series of spammy emails! If you do that, customers will almost certainly run away instead.
Abandoned cart emails are messages thatremind customersthat they’ve left their desired products or items in their cart. They give customers a second chance to complete their purchase. By successfully implementing this strategy, you’ll significantly increase your revenue.
To that end, you can set upautomatedabandoned cart emails. That way, once they’re enabled, every time a customer abandons their cart, they’ll automatically receive them. Now, let’s take a look at the most effective techniques for reaching out to your customers.
1. Make sure to time it right
In fact, timing is critical and very important when you need to recover sales lost due to abandoned carts. You must send follow-up emails at the right time. According to a study of 200 brands conducted by SalaCycle, it was found that when a follow-up email is sentwithin 20 minutes, the average conversion rate is 5.2%. For emails sentwithin an hour, the average conversion rate is 4.5%.More than 24 hours after a cart is abandoned, the emails customers receive achieve an average conversion rate of 2.6%.
All these statistics show that the best time to send the first follow-up email for an abandoned cart is right away. The key isnot to let 24 hours passbefore reaching out to the user. Why? Simply because you don’t want the customer to have had time to forget the products they wanted before they receive the follow-up email.
2. Pay attention to the visuals in your marketing emails
When a customer opens their inbox, the subject line is obviously the first thing they’ll see in the email you’ve sent as a follow-up. It’s therefore essential that this subject line be compelling enough to grab their attention. It should make the customer want to click on it to discover the email’s content. To do this, you must first ensure thatyour company or brand name is visible to the customer before they open the email. It must therefore be identifiable either in the subject line or in the sender’s name.
Next, the subject line of your email should beclear and specific, such as: “You left items in your cart.” Finally, you mustspecifically mention the nameof the category or product that was abandoned.
By including these three elements in your follow-up email, you’re sure to achieve your goal. However, there may be times when you’re stuck for ideas. In those cases, one of the following five elements will help you craft an effective subject line:
- Personal benefit: In this type of subject line, you’ll highlightthe specific benefityour customer will receive if they open the follow-up email;
- Curiosity: This type of item reveals just a little bit of information, thereby piquing the customer's interest;
- The offer: The subject line lets the recipient know that the email contains an offer (such asfree shipping or a discount);
- Scarcity or urgency: This item shows the customer that they should act now;
- Politeness: By including this subject line, you’re thanking the customer (the email recipient). And that will encourage them to open the email. You could say: “Thank you for stopping by and showing interest in this product.”
3. Customize abandoned cart emails
To encourage a customer who has abandoned their shopping cart to return and complete their purchase, one way to motivate them even more is to personalize the email. This will show your customer that you care about them. So besure to personalize your marketing emails as much as possible. The simplest and most effective way to do this is to include the user’s first or last name.
However, be sure to reassure the customer about the confidentiality and use of their personal information. To do this, adopta conversational, lighthearted, humorous, friendly—and why not a littleoffbeat?—tone. This will help you follow up in a relaxed atmosphere that inspires the customer’s trust.
Your emails should be written with customer service in mind. Therefore, include the customer service email address or phone number in the body of the email.Minimizethe impression that the email was sent by an automated systemas much as possible. However, be sure to keep your emails concise.Therefore, avoid including other promotionsin the body of follow-up emailsas much as possible.
See also: Why You Should Add a Chatbot to Your Website
4. Use a good design for your marketing emails
You know that in e-commerce, the design of your various marketing materials is an important factor. Your website, blog, and other pages must have an attractive design to draw in users. However, follow-up emails for abandoned carts are also marketing tools. It would therefore be a good idea to make sure they areresponsive, attractive, and persuasive as well.
5. Don't stop at sending just one marketing email
Generally, when you send the first follow-up emailbetween 1 and 3 hours aftercustomers have abandoned their cart, your conversion rate increases. If customers still haven’t returned to complete their purchase24 hours later, it’s recommended that you send a second follow-up email. Sending a second email could also help improve your conversion rate. But this is only true if your emails genuinely rekindle the customer’s interest.
A third follow-up email could be senta few days or a week later. As we discussed regarding timing, as soon as you notice an abandoned cart, you need to take immediate action to recover the sale. The more time that passes, the harder it will be to get the customer to return and make a purchase. Don’t forget that.
In addition, you’ll needto vary the content of the three different emails. Inthe first email, you can politely ask why the customer was unable to complete their purchase. Depending on their response, you can direct them to a customer support page or a help page. Inthe second email, you can remind them of the abandoned items while reiterating their various benefits. But try to tailor your second email to the customer’s response to the first email.
Inthe third email, for example, you can inform the customer of the expiration date for the items’ prices or the expiration of the shopping cart itself. It will therefore be up to you tovary the topics and content of the emailsbased on your e-commerce store.
6. Clearly and precisely list the item(s) that were abandoned
Before viewing your various products, the customer had certainly looked at others on other e-commerce sites. This means they likely still have a plethora of products in mind. As a result, you need to be veryspecific about the productsthe customer abandoned, since you’ll surely know which ones they were. So provide all the necessary details: size, color, price, purpose, benefits, features, etc. To take it a step further, you caninclude an image of the item in the email.
7. Create a sense of urgency through your content
You’re an e-commerce merchant. That means you need to be creative in capitalizing on the scarcity of sales. In fact, to grab the customer’s attention, you can create a sense of urgency. This can be included right in the email preview, the subject line, or the body of the email. The goal is to encourage immediate purchases.
For example, you can usecountdownsto encourage customers to take advantage of a limited-time offer. Above all, don’t be afraid to include emotional content in your emails. Incorporatecreative elementsthat can reignite customers’ interest.Stand out and showcase your brand.
8. Use social proof
You may notice that, despite your creative emails, some customers still haven’t picked up their products. To avoid situations like this, use social proof in your emails. In other words, show thempositive and compelling testimonialsfrom other customers who have purchased and enjoyed the same items they were interested in.
To achieve this, include a separate section in the email that highlights the best reviews from customers who have purchased the products in question. If possible, incorporatereviews of the service or product into the content. This technique is sure to convince hesitant customers.
9. Create Calls to Action (CTAs)
CTA buttonsmust be included in abandoned cart follow-up emails. The best approach is tolink the call-to-action button directly to the customer’s cart. It’s also a good idea to have the CTA automatically redirect the customer to a checkout page that displays all the items in their cart. This is preferable to redirecting the customer to a generic category or product page.
To encourage customers to click, your call-to-action buttons should also be eye-catching, featuring bright, vibrant colors, and the message should be written in all caps. You can phrase them like this:
- View your shopping cart;
- Go to the shopping cart;
- Complete your purchase.
10. Offer your customers a discount
Offering a discount shouldn’t be the first solution that comes to mind when trying to recover abandoned carts. It’s not highly recommended (some customers might take advantage of it), but it is a way to motivate customers who were put off by the price of the items. Only use this approach if the customer specifically mentioned price as the reason they abandoned their cart. You could offer a5% discount,which is a good option. This will give the customer the feeling that they have an opportunity they shouldn’t miss.
Techniques for Reducing Cart Abandonment
Now you know the different methods you can use to recover abandoned shopping carts. It's also important that you learn the techniques for preventing shopping carts from being abandoned.
Use the online chat
Online chat allows youto assist the customer throughout the entire purchasing process. A chat feature that is clearly visible and accessible throughout the purchasing process instills asense of trustin the customer. This allows the customer to ask any questions they may have at any time.
This technique works mainly because customers don’t have the patience to go looking for the page you’ve dedicated to customer service. With live chat, they feel like they’re talking directly to someone. So you’ll agree that a satisfied customer who has received good support all the way through the purchase processwill be less likely to abandon their shopping cart!
Streamline the purchasing process in your store
Carefully analyze the steps customers must take before making a purchase in your online store. Then try to streamline them if you find they’re too lengthy. And do this as much as possible!One of the reasons customers abandon their shopping carts is a lengthy or overly complex checkout process. A study by Baymard has confirmed this.
The more clicks a user must make before completing a purchase, the higher the abandonment rate will be. To track this, you can monitor the entire process step by step using the “Enhanced E-commerce” option in Google Analytics.
On the other hand, there’s the issue of payment methods. If, like payment platforms such as PayPal or Redsys, you redirect the customer away from the page to complete the transaction, you risk losing them. Follow Stripe’s exampleby integrating the payment step directly into your page. This prevents a third-party web page from interrupting the purchasing process.
To achieve excellent results on your e-commerce site, integrate the entire purchasing process—from selecting items to checkout—onto a single page. This will allow you to combine efficiency with speed. Your cart abandonment rate will decrease significantly if you implement this technique effectively.
Ask only for the necessary information
It wouldn't be a good idea to scare your customers away with your requests for information. Your website must truly inspire trust. For this reason, don’t ask for too much information, such as a landline number, date of birth, or other irrelevant details. As a side note, the Baymard study mentioned above also revealed that37%of shopping carts on e-commerce sites were abandoned because“creating an account was required.”
Give your customers the option to make their purchases just like regular visitors. They’ll feel more at ease. To process the order, askonly for the information that’s necessary.
Offer a convenient pickup option with fast shipping
When shipping times are too long, users are likely to abandon their shopping carts. If a customer has to wait three weeks to receive their item, they’ll lose interest. From the very beginning of the process, beprecise and clear about delivery times. But take the time to reduce them as much as possible. You’ll see the impact this has on your shopping cart abandonment rate. In addition,your customers need tobe able to receive their packages at a time that’s convenient for them. They need to be satisfied with the shipping and pickup options your e-commerce site offers.
Offer multiple payment options
Sometimes, when it comes time to pay for the selected products, the payment options you offer may not suit the customer. This can be frustrating for them. While this may be rare, it does happen. You don’t need to offer a wide range of payment methods. Instead, based on your target audience and their profiles,determine which options will be the most suitable. In any case, don’t forget thatyou need to be prepared. Whether it’s a payment solution through Stripe, credit card, PayPal, or your bank’s payment platform.
Adopt a transparent policy regarding shipping costs
Although we’ll discuss this at the end, this is the number one reason users abandon their shopping carts. If you don’t clearly specify the shipping costs at the beginning of the process, most customers won’t expect them to appear in the shopping cart. And they’ll then abandon the cart.
Just imagine this: you’re at the checkout in a supermarket, and suddenly 10% is added to the total price. You certainly wouldn’t be happy about that. That’s exactly how customers on your e-commerce site feel when this happens. And since it’s online, they simply won’t complete the purchase. So, don’t try to create hidden costs just to make a few extra euros off your customers. A strategy that benefits you might be to include shipping costs in the item’s price. Your selling point will then be free shipping. Your customers will certainly be delighted! So be transparent.
Recovering Abandoned Carts: A Summary
Ultimately, keep in mind that a shopping cart abandonment occurs when a customer does not complete the transaction, even though they have started selecting products. You’ll therefore need to use the effective techniques listed above to encourage them to follow through with their purchase. However, you should also adopt best practices to reduce your shopping cart abandonment rate.
So, do you find these techniques helpful? Do you have any others to suggest? Feel free to let us know in the comments.
