Essential Abandoned Cart Email Guidelines for More Sales

The term ‘abandoned cart’ is quite self-explanatory, and encompasses when a person adds items to their cart while shopping at an online store and goes through one or more stages of checkout, but leaves the website without completing the order and making the purchase. Accordingly, an abandoned cart email is a follow-up email sent to that person as a prompt to finalize that purchase.

A Brief History of the Abandoned Cart

About a decade ago, up to 50% of the customers would leave their carts on online stores without completing their purchase. In contrast, more recent statistics given by Barilliance demonstrate an enormous spike in cart abandonment rates. This has without a doubt become a grave issue for e-commerce because abandoned carts mean lost sales.

But there is good news too. Morgan Jacobson, a marketing specialist, states in his blog that about half the people who engage in cart abandonment will complete the purchase once they are asked. The question is: What is the best way to approach a potential customer for them to resume their order up till checkout? It is not as difficult as it may sound. Here is a basic outline for creating an abandoned cart email:

●      Subject line

●      Introduction text

●      Items in the cart

●      Offers or discounts

●      Call to Action (CTA)

●      Checkout button (in the absence of a different CTA)

●      Reviews

●      Closing lines

The Details of an Abandoned Cart Email

When setting up to send an automatic abandoned cart email, make sure to use a friendly and welcoming tone. A too formal and dry email is less likely to bring action. There are a few elements of email sequence strategy that majorly influence the results. These are explained briefly in the following:

Timing

Time is of the essence. A reminder email should reach the customer within 6-10 hours of them leaving the cart. An email sent days later may carry the chances of them losing interest in their selected items.

Incentive

Give your customers an incentive to revisit your store and buy what they left behind. This is one of the most practiced techniques for writing abandoned cart emails. Mainly, an incentive may include an offer or a promotional discount. For example, you might add a promo code in the email which gives them 10% off on the subtotal of the cart.

Copy

Copy refers to copywriting, which should be captivating, snappy, and dynamic. If the text is compelling enough, it works to excite a person about their purchase again and leads them back to your website. However, the copy should not be too wordy; keep it concise and breezy.

Subject Line

The subject line is the first thing that will pass the customer’s eyes, so making it interesting and catchy should be a priority. It can be humorous, it might ask a question, or it might showcase a discount. Whichever style works best at intriguing and welcoming your customer, go for it.

Social Proof

This is where you showcase relevant reviews and credentials. In essence, this part is a strategy to show your customers what they are missing out on. It usually spurs them to complete the purchase as they are reminded again of why they wanted that particular item in the first place.

CTA (Call to Action)

CTA proves to be an encouragement, usually as a direct link to cart checkout. It can say things like “resume your order,” “go to checkout,” or “resume your order.”

Each of these elements builds up to a successful cart abandonment email if they are constructed with care and attention to detail. It can bring a conversion rate of anywhere from 10% to 50%. Apart from this, strengthening your bond with customers invokes brand loyalty.

What to Consider Within Your Marketing Strategy

Ecommerce marketing strategies to re-engage customers can be quite demanding, but they are fruitful. If you are running an online store, you have to be mindful of two things regarding abandoned cart emails.

Firstly, there are countless other stores for your customer to move on to; hence it is your ability to draw them back in that will make all the difference. And secondly, you will not get a 100% conversion rate. It means that 100% of the customers who left your store will not come back to complete their purchase upon receiving an email, but email marketing will still boost your sales considerably and build a strong customer base.

Another important guideline is to send more than one follow-up email. After the first reminder email, send another one after a few days as a follow-up. If there is no action still, after a few days, send another email that includes some offers for the customer. This practice has proved to be tremendously more effective than sending just a single email.

Although, you should make sure that you are not spamming your customer. Frequent emails that feel like spam are incredibly off-putting and may divert your customers.

Here are some examples of what you can write in your abandoned cart email. In the subject line, you might consider writing:

●      Did you forget about me, [their name]?

●      Let us take you on a cart trip. What do you say?

●      We’re ready if you’re ready.

●      Your [cart item name] is waiting for you.

●      Your cart misses you, [their name].

●      We’ve saved your cart for you, [their name]!

Make sure not to be overbearing or pushy in the subject line; only check up on your customer with a friendly tone. Regarding the CTA, use words like the following:

●      Complete your order

●      Buy now

●      Return to your cart

●      Complete checkout

These CTA buttons are likely to bring the customer back to your website with one click. Avoid directly asking the customers to pay; simply remind them of their potential purchase.

Make the Most of Abandoned Carts with Click Squad

For getting a greater insight on e-commerce and learning the latest strategies on digital marketing, you can contact Click Squad today. We have been in the business of cart recovery and digital marketing for many years, leaving plenty of happy clients in our wake. Call us for more information!