Want to Reduce Your Cart Abandonment Now?

We’ve all been there. You’re browsing the web and finding an item you want to purchase. But before checking out, you change your mind and move on. Unfortunately, most online retailers don’t do much to keep customers engaged after they’ve abandoned their carts. Whenever someone leaves their shopping cart, it is known as cart abandonment in eCommerce lingo. Using abandoned cart emails can help boost sales and stop revenue leakage!

In fact, eCommerce stores lose $18 billion in sales revenue each year because of cart abandonment. Are you one of those eCommerce store owners losing money on abandoned carts? Realize this; not doing anything about it is basically like not plugging leaks in your sinking boat.

So what can you do to avoid losing money with abandoned shopping carts? Every dollar lost on an abandoned shopping cart will hurt your bottom line. Now that is not what you want.

While it’s true that you can recover only a fraction of those lost sales through abandoned cart emails—let’s say 5%—this still amounts to millions of dollars yearly for some retailers alone. Any eCommerce retailer worth their salt will tell you that abandoned cart recovery is a crucial must-do task.

You can potentially stop revenue leakage with abandoned carts and reach new customers by emailing these shoppers at the right time.

This post will share tips on using email to close that cart sale and checkout. Let’s also take a look at different ways to close the sale. Okay, let’s get in on and dive deeper into this, shall we?

How to recover lost sales from cart abandonment with email?

We will now share how to use email to encourage online shoppers to finish their checkout. One of the best ways we have found is by strategically emailing shoppers. This strategy is known as an abandoned cart email campaign.

Send a reminder email!

An abandoned cart email campaign is when you send customers who have begun the checkout process but did not complete it an email. Your abandoned cart email is sent to the customer’s email address and mobile phone. This type of abandoned cart recovery email campaign is typically automated, so you don’t have to worry about it being implemented manually.

Use a socially oriented email!

The second cart abandonment recovery campaign type is similar to the first but adds social media accounts to the messaging sequence. For example, suppose a customer has started a transaction with your company and backed out before completing it.

In that case, they will receive an automated message that includes links to follow you on Facebook or Twitter and contact customer service via phone or email. This approach enhances your company’s social presence while increasing opportunities for converting abandoned carts into sales.

Like to learn more about email marketing? We recommend you read these articles:

Perfect Your Email Marketing Strategy Now
What is an Email Marketing Campaign’s Purpose?
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Can attention-grabbing subject lines increase open rates?

Yes, it can if done well. Your subject line is your first and most important chance to grab your reader’s attention, so you must make it count. Make sure your content is something the user will find helpful.

If you’re sending an abandoned cart email about a pair of shoes, don’t say, “You have one new message.” Instead, say something like, “Your gorgeous new shoes are here!” This system will help you better serve your customers, so they’ll return to your business for more purchases.

Keep it short and sweet. Your subject line shouldn’t be long or rambling. It should contain only one or two clear sentences that describe what the email is about without being overly wordy (you can always include more detail in the body).

Personalize each email as much as possible, and make sure it sounds like something you’d send to someone else. Use words like “you” instead of “your,” and talk about how excited they’ll be when they get their package in the mail; whatever makes sense based on your type of business. The more specific you get with this personalization process, the better results we’ll see from our efforts here today.

Like to learn more about writing better content? We recommend you read these articles:

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What are some helpful tips to increase your closing rate?

There are several ways to incentivize customers to complete their cart checkout. However, re-engaging those customers require a delicate balance of urgency and helpfulness. The following methods can help you strike that balance.

Do you know why your customer abandoned their cart?

  • First, try to identify why the customer left their items in their carts in the first place. If they left because they wanted more information about the product specs, it makes sense to include those specifications in your email (and highlight them).

Are you offering an incentive to urge customers to purchase?

  • Offer a discount code for that specific product. For example, let’s say you’re selling baby clothes at a local consignment shop. You could include a discount code for the item in question—say 25% off—and encourage customers to take advantage of it before it expires.
A discount abandoned cart email
An example of an incentivized email to recover an abandoned cart.

How informative are you to encourage cart closure?

  • With cart abandonment, If someone leaves two items in their cart, send them another email with details. It may include information about the savings they’d receive if they purchased all three things together instead of just one at full price.

Should I try bundled offers to close the carts?

  • If your business relies on subscriptions or recurring payments (like Amazon Prime), remind them how much they’ll save by purchasing multiple items as part of a collection rather than individually.

Are you offering multiple shipping options?

  • If someone abandoned an item because the shipping cost was too high for them and there wasn’t any way around it… well, maybe your email should offer some solutions. For example, you could suggest free shipping or expedited delivery options.

Can a deadline help?

  • Set a Deadline – Give them a deadline for when they need to complete their order before it expires in your email. With this cart abandonment strategy, the deadline is usually 24 hours from when they abandoned their cart, but it can be longer if you want even more time for them to complete the purchase.

Did you forget a CTA?

  • Remember to include a call-to-action checkout button in your email. Make sure there’s an order/add to cart button right where you’re already looking when you open the email. Use mobile-friendly email templates when you send messages to your contacts.

What can you learn from abandoned carts?

  • Abandoned carts are a huge opportunity to add sales. You can use this data to find out which products customers were most interested in and then advertise those products heavily in future emails or on your site.

One last thing to remember! When you’re preparing to send abandoned cart emails, you should ensure there are no surprises for customers when they return. For example, if a customer abandons their cart and returns later, everything should be as it was when they left.

abandoned cart emails
Some ideas for you on abandoned cart emails

FAQs

What is an abandoned cart email?

An abandoned cart email is a message that’s sent to the customer after they leave their shopping cart without completing the purchase. It gives them a last chance to complete the transaction before the offer expires. The email typically has a call-to-action button (such as “Checkout Now”) that takes them directly back through their abandoned shopping cart steps to complete their purchase without navigating your site.

When is it best to send an abandoned cart email?

There isn’t a golden rule for when to send abandoned cart emails. We recommend sending an abandoned cart message between 15 minutes and 24 hours after customers leave their carts to give potential customers time to decide whether to resume their shopping experience or place an order.

How often should I send abandoned cart reminder emails?

To determine how many customers return to complete their purchase, you can use Google Analytics to see the number of customers who abandoned their carts and then returned to purchase the item within three days. Once you have this data, create a segment in your email marketing software that contains all of the abandoned carts from the last quarter and use that segment as the basis for your cart abandonment campaign.

How do I know if I have any buyers in my database that are abandoned carts?

You can set up Google Analytics to track this for you, or many software programs will allow you to see this information in real-time or after the fact. For example, Shopify’s Abandoned Cart app allows one to see all the items someone added to their cart but didn’t purchase, so you can reach out to them and make some money.

What Should My Email Say?

In addition to providing instructions and a payment gateway, your email should offer a specific incentive designed around your product or service. For example, if you’re selling concert tickets, send an email offering fans 20% off their next order if they come back and complete their purchase.

How important is my email analytics?

Super important! After you’ve sent your abandoned cart email, you must monitor your analytics to see if your strategies are working. Test different email messages and discounts to see which makes the most sense for your business and its customers.

Final thoughts

Abandoned cart emails are a great way to recover lost sales from customers who leave without completing their purchases online. You should personalize them so they look like they were written just for each recipient.

FirstPage can help you send abandoned cart emails to your customers on your behalf. We believe that this blog post can help you understand how abandoned cart emails can boost your business. They may not be a cure-all for every retailer, but proper planning and execution can help recover hundreds or thousands of lost sales per month.

Saying that, many digital marketing tactics can be used to boost your eCommerce shop sales.

If you are interested in learning digital marketing tactics, here are some useful blog articles that we recommend you read:

Perfect Your Email Marketing Strategy Now
What are the top PPC ideas you ought to know?
Social Media Strategies: Successful Ones You Can Learn From
Helpful Content Tips: Get Noticed Before the Competition
6 Easy Digital Marketing Hacks to Increase Your Leads

If you are a busy business owner or leader, you may not have the time you need to maximize sales from your eCommerce store.

If this is the case, we encourage you to review some of our strategic digital marketing services:

SEO for your business to drive qualified leads
Social media management for improved brand awareness
Linkbuilding to drive organic traffic to your website
Top converting landing pages to convert your leads
Email marketing campaigns to bring in referrals

Of course, more than anything, we would love to help you succeed in eCommerce and solve your abandoned cart problems. If you have any questions, please contact one of our expert digital strategists. It is obligation free, and we would love to chat with you.