Shopping carts that never made it to checkout are an untapped gold mine. Here’s how to win back customers and recoup your revenue.
Every day, hundreds of thousands of virtual shopping carts disappear into the internet ether. Seemingly eager online shoppers fill them with products, only to walk away before completing the transaction: perhaps shipping costs were too high; maybe the customer got distracted; or they simply decided to wait for payday.
Whatever the cause, these abandoned carts are a costly problem for e‑commerce store owners across the globe. In fact, it’s estimated that e‑retailers collectively lose more than $18 billion in revenue due to shopping cart abandonment each year.*
Meanwhile, research from the Baymard Institute found that nearly 70 percent of all shopping carts are deserted before purchase, highlighting the pervasiveness of the problem.
The good news is that businesses can win back these customers and recover lost sales with a smart and considered email strategy.
In fact, customer data management platform Klaviyo analyzed data from approximately 3,000 e-commerce clients over a three-month period and found that businesses that implemented abandoned cart email strategies recouped more than $60 million as a direct result.
First, a few basics…
What is an abandoned cart email?
Abandoned cart emails are trigger-based, automated messages that land in a shopper’s inbox, reminding them of the items they’ve left behind in their cart and enticing them to complete the transaction.
How? In short, with sharp, snappy copy, a sense of urgency and, often, an incentive or discount to get customers over the line.
Before you get started…
It’s important that these emails comply with privacy requirements. “Depending on where you're based and the applicable legislation, abandoned cart emails can often only be sent to [people] you have marketing permissions for,” notes Adeola Sole, consultant at Holistic Email Marketing. “Abandoned cart emails are seen as a form of marketing rather than a service-based email, like an order confirmation email.”
That said, a business can legally use a customer’s data if it was collected with their consent – when they sign up to a mailing list, for example, or if they filled out their email address at checkout.
In terms of tech, if you’re operating an e-commerce store using a major platform such as BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Wix and Ecwid you should have the tools to implement an automated email campaign. For a more sophisticated integration, specialized email marketing platforms such as Klaviyo, Emarsys or Omnisend let you create customizable and targeted email sequences, known as ‘abandoned cart flows’.
How effective are abandoned cart emails?
A well-executed abandoned cart email can be a highly successful sales recovery tactic.
In the aforementioned Klaviyo research, each abandoned cart email generated $5.81 in revenue. Analysis by marketing company Fresh Relevance found that abandoned cart emails promoted a 7 percent sales uplift for businesses.
Of course, the quality of each campaign will shape its results, but the potential to attract your customer with an abandoned cart email is uniquely high. The shopper has already demonstrated a desire to purchase your product, so your goal is to rekindle that desire.
“You’ve already got someone all the way down the [customer acquisition funnel],” explains Karyn Parkinson, director of Unstoppable eCommerce, an e-commerce growth agency and training academy.
In other words, nurturing and converting the sale will be easier and cheaper than starting from scratch with a new customer.
When should you send abandoned cart emails?
Parkinson suggests creating a sequence of three emails to maximize your chances of capturing the customer’s attention. “People don’t check and open every email, and they have to be in the right headspace to go through and make the purchase – to not have kids screaming in the background, for example,” she says.
“People don’t check and open every email."
That said, more than three emails can come across as spammy, and you don’t want to be pushy about the sale, especially in the early stages.
Email one: The gentle reminder (60 minutes after abandonment)
“This should be sent within an hour of the customer abandoning the cart,” advises Parkinson. “It’s a friendly reminder where you say, ‘Hey, we're holding on to your product for you – here's the link to go back and check out’.”
Subject line/messaging ideas: “Did you forget something?”; “We saved your bag”; “Your products are waiting for you!”.
Email two: The follow-up (24 hours after abandonment)
If the first email doesn’t convert, it’s time to kick off your nurture campaign with an automated follow-up. “This would be sent the next day, and you want to start to create [a sense of] scarcity or time sensitivity,” advises Parkinson.
"Create a sense of scarcity or time sensitivity.”
“Let the customer know the cutoff: For example, if they order the product today, it will be shipped in time for the weekend, or perhaps it’s running out of stock. You could also emphasize some of the benefits of the product and build in trust with an element of social proof, by showing five-star reviews or testimonials.”
This could also be a good time to remind the customer that you offer Afterpay and that they can buy the product they want but are not required to pay upfront.
Subject line/messaging ideas: “Our sale’s ending, your cart’s calling”; “Oh no, your cart is about to expire!” “Don’t forget you can pay in four with Afterpay.”
Email three: The last chance (48+ hours after abandonment)
“This email is sent on day three, or a couple of days later, and lets the customer know that this is their final chance to recover their cart,” says Parkinson. “Tell them that the items will soon be put back on the shelf, but that you can offer an incentive if they purchase within a set timeframe.”
This incentive might be free shipping or a discount code. “I wouldn’t offer this right away – only in the last email, as you don’t want to train people to abandon their cart,” explains Parkinson. “But [at this stage] it’s generally cheaper to give the shopper a 10 percent discount than to [try to] gain a new customer, using paid ads or another strategy.”
Subject line/messaging ideas: “Don’t let free shipping go to waste” or “Just for you: 10% off”.
14 tried-and-tested abandoned cart email strategies with examples
Before you devise your strategy, it’s important to understand why your customer deserted their shopping cart in the first place. “Shipping costs, a lack of social proof and a lack of trust are the main reasons for cart abandonment,” says Parkinson.
Her words are backed up by 2022 research by the Baymard Institute, which found that 48 percent of carts are abandoned because extra costs are too high. Obligatory account signup (24%), and delivery being too slow (22%) were also prevalent reasons.
In your email campaign, aim to offer fixes and solutions for the relevant pain points. This will not only help recover sales and increase revenue, but also improve the customer’s experience and enhance their relationship with the brand.
1. Offer a discount code
Here, apparel brand Bombas entices the shopper with a personalized and targeted discount code. Note that this discount is only available for the customer’s first purchase, which might even spur them to add a few more items to their cart. The copy – “There’s only a few clicks between you and these new comfy clothes” – highlights the simplicity of making this purchase.
Ingestible beauty brand Moon Juice does something similar, offering a $10 discount code to encourage shoppers to make their first purchase.
2. Be relatable
There’s no product pushing or sales spiel in this abandoned cart email from art and design retailer Poketo. Instead, it serves as a friendly reminder, using relatable copy and bright graphics to attract the customer.
Poketo follows this up with a reminder email featuring similarly friendly and relatable copy a few days later.
3. Optimize for mobile devices
According to the Baymard Institute, cart abandonment rates differ by device, with mobile phones responsible for the highest percentage of deserted carts (85.65 percent).
Couple this with the fact that an estimated 40 to 50 percent of all emails are opened on smartphones, and it’s essential that your cart abandonment email is optimized for mobile devices. Graphics should be clear, copy should be brief, and shoppers shouldn’t need to pinch or scroll to see the call to action.
4. Showcase the product
“Display the abandoned products within the body of the email,” advises Sole. “We can't assume that a person will remember all of the items they left in their basket, so it helps to showcase them in the email, which acts as a visual prompt.”
This email from fashion brand Lee Mathews clearly displays the abandoned shoes, for example.
5. Use humor
With our inboxes increasingly filled with spam and bills, a witty email can have significant cut-through – providing that it stays true to your brand identity. This abandoned cart email by Allbirds achieves exactly that.
6. Display social proof
A shopper who trusts your brand is more likely to make a purchase, so displaying customer reviews and testimonials can help build credibility. Adidas’ abandonment email shares a positive customer review, combined with catchy, fun copy.
7. Use real-life content
Parkinson suggests taking the concept of social proof one step further and displaying user-generated content. “Photos that customers have taken themselves – either with or of the product – are more believable than beautiful, curated images that the brand has taken, and helps to build that trust element,” she says. This could be as simple as displaying some images your brand has been tagged in on Instagram, as per the Adidas example above. Similarly fashion boutique Fox & Dove features images from its Instagram feed in its abandoned cart emails.
8. Use a high-converting subject line
Your email subject line is your first opportunity to grab the shopper’s attention, and studies show that simplicity works best.
In Klaviyo’s abandoned cart email study, subject lines that merely reminded the abandoner that they left something behind performed the best, with an average open rate of 47.67 percent. This led to a high revenue per recipient: $11.21.
Subject lines that contained either a percentage, dollar sign or the words ‘free shipping’ had a lower open rate of 38.31 percent.
“Personalization – putting the customer’s name in the subject line – can also make people connect with the email and be more likely to open it,” says Parkinson.
This is a tactic used by haircare brand Rumbie & Co which places the customer’s name in the subject line, which reads “Hey [name]!! You left something behind in your cart”.
British brand Sassy Shop Wax uses personalization within the body of its email, as can be seen in the abandoned cart email below.
9. Highlight your returns policy or a free trial
Shoppers want to know they have options and here, homewares brand Sardel gets ahead of the game by sharing its returns policy and emphasizing that this is a risk-free purchase. The clear layout and engaging copy are also draws.
10. Offer free or discounted delivery
High shipping costs are the top reason for cart abandonment, so offering onetime free delivery could be key to securing a customer who is on the fence. As noted above, only offer this incentive at the end of your automation email sequence. Free shipping was also offered in the Sardel email above.
Natalie Marie Jewellery uses its abandoned cart emails as a way to reinforce its brand values and points of difference, including insured shipping and Afterpay.
11. Create urgency
Scarcity is a powerful sales trigger, and letting the customer know that a product or deal is running out could urge them to return to their cart. This email from Levi’s combines a 25 percent discount with a 48-hour deadline.
12. Have a clear call to action
Your abandoned cart email should seek to make the purchase process as quick and easy as possible. A call-to-action (CTA) button – “Shop now,” “Complete my order” or “Take me to my basket” – will help streamline the customer’s experience and minimize the chance of them becoming distracted and dropping off. This Topicals email features the CTA “Continue shopping.”
13. Offer a quick-click purchase
“Take the customer straight to their saved basket rather than the product page,” advises Sole. “This will reduce bounce rate, and the likelihood of them completing the order is much higher.”
14. Accept alternative payment methods
According to the Baymard Institute, 7 percent of customers abandon their cart because an e-tailer doesn’t offer enough payment methods, which is why it’s important that you offer Afterpay. Highlighting that your business lets the shopper buy now and pay later – as displayed at the top of this email from Kind Is Cool – could be the final push the customer needs, especially for bigger-ticket purchases.
Measuring the success of your abandoned cart emails
An abandoned cart email is a mix of copy, creative design and calls to action – so how do you know which elements are working and bringing in sales? Remove the guesswork with A/B testing, which is the process of sending one variation of your email to a particular subset of your subscribers, and a different variation to another subset. The goal is to determine which garners the best results.
“You might send an emotive subject line to one subset, and an informative subject line to the other, and see which leads to more click-throughs,” Sole suggests.
Similarly, you can vary the headline, images, timing, or even offer different incentives, and measure which is the most successful. Keep experimenting and refining your recovery strategy, re-engaging your customers and boosting your bottom line, one email at a time.
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