7 Best Practices For Abandoned Cart Emails

If you’re a retail marketer, you probably feel the pain of the abandoned cart. Over the past 3 years, the number of abandoned carts has consistently increased, and in 2018, statistics showed that 75.6% of carts were abandoned.

That means only about 24% of potential transactions actually get completed, and there are a variety of reasons for this:

1. High shipping costs
2. Buyer not ready to purchase
3. High product price
4. Buyer wants to take time to consider
5. Shipping costs weren’t clear
6. No guest checkout option

But, before you sink into a pit of abandoned cart depression, there is a solution: the abandoned cart email. These emails are actually some of the highest performing marketing emails out there. 46.1% of people open cart abandonment emails, 13.3% click inside the email, and of those clicks, more than 35% end up buying something. To top it off, the average order value of purchases through cart abandonment email is 15% higher than usual purchases.

We’ve compiled a list of best practices so that you get the maximum benefit of your abandoned cart emails. 

Get the timing and frequency right

As with many things in life, timing is everything. You want to make sure that you engage with the buyer while they still have that shopping urge and your business is still at the top of their mind. Therefore, it’s most effective to send first email after an hour of abandonment. 

You don’t want to just rely on one email, however. A sequence of 3 or so emails has proven to be more effective than just one. In fact, users of Omnisend have seen 69% more orders with a 3 email sequence. than marketers sending only one email. 

Here are some stats on the effectiveness of sending emails on the following schedule: 

• Email 1 – Sent one hour after cart abandonment, 20.3% Conversion Rate
• Email 2 – 24 hours after cart abandonment, 17.7% Conversion Rate
• Email 3 – 72 hours after cart abandonment, 18.2% Conversion Rate

Craft an effective subject line

As with all marketing emails, subject lines are crucial. With your abandoned cart subject lines, you want to keep it simple, but also, in the words of Marie Kondo, “spark joy”, offer excitement, pique their interest and even play on their sense of FOMO.

Here are some examples:

Don’t miss out! Your cart is expiring soon. (Creates urgency, plays on FOMO)

Can’t decide? Your {product name} is waiting for you. (Ultra-personalized, reminding them in the subject line what is in the cart)

Empty your cart with free shipping. (Incentivizes the shopper to complete their purchase)

Remind them what they left in their cart

This seems like a no-brainer, but it’s incredibly important. You want to trigger the feelings that the shopper had when they first put the items in their cart. You can do this in the subject line, as mentioned above, as well as in the body of the email itself. Images and product information, pricing, quantity available are all useful pieces of information to trigger the shopper’s memory and inspire them to return to complete the purchase. Plus, having the product imagery in the email makes it more visually appealing.

Write some enticing copy

Just like the subject line, you’ll want to keep the email copy simple, yet persuasive. Playing on FOMO, creating a sense of urgency that the items won’t always be available, and rekindling those warm fuzzy feelings about the products are all goals for your email copy. In this case, less is more, and the product imagery will most likely be convincing enough. 

Probably the most important part of your email copy, however, is the CTA. Make sure it is visible, explains what to do (go to cart, claim your items) and is easy to see. In fact, the CTA is so important that you could consider including it at both the beginning and end of the email.

Incentivize the buyer to complete the transaction

Offering a deal for the shopper to complete the transaction can be an effective tactic, particularly with the later emails in the sequence. It’s unnecessary to offer a discount in the first email, but if after 2 emails the shopper hasn’t reengaged, offering some sort of incentive can be the one thing that helps the buyer pull the trigger on their purchase.

Incentives can be things such as percentage or dollar discounts, free gifts, or free shipping. Free shipping is actually 2x as effective as percent-off offers, most likely due to shipping being a primary reason why people abandon their carts in the first place.

Make support easy 

It’s always a good idea to make sure the shopper feels supported in their purchase, so making it easy for them to connect with customer support not only makes it easy to get their questions answered, but also creates a sense of trust. 

If they abandoned their cart because they had a question about a product, or had a technical difficulty, having easy access to an actual human will reduce friction and make it easier for the customer to complete the transaction. And, if the customer support experience was superior, that’ll be another reason for them to come back for future purchases. 

Customize and personalize

Knowing how important personalization is to engage email recipients, you can take advantage of including advanced personalization throughout your abandoned cart emails. Beyond the obvious things such as name and of course, cart contents, there other ways you can make the experience even more personal.

For example, you can offer other product recommendations based on browsing history. How great is that? You can get them to return to their cart and create the potential to add more to it.

Other ways to personalize could be to customize the design of the email itself based on any data you collect about the shopper, such as location, gender, age, shopping/browsing history, and more. You can even design the email to reflect the weather the shopper is currently having in their area! 

The ultimate point is, the more you personalize, the more the shopper feels like you are truly talking to them, and creating a stronger bond between them and your brand.

Are you ready to get personal with your abandoned cart emails? Let Zembula show you how! Contact us to book a demo.