Michael Jung November 29, 2020 Do you know that as many as 80% of online shopping carts get abandoned before customers buy their items from an ecommerce site?
Why do customers abandon their carts? Different reasons. Maybe the website crashed before they could finalize their purchase. Perhaps they found the checkout process too complex or time-consuming. Or maybe they decided to browse on a different website and forgot all about their unpurchased items.
Whatever the reason, shopping cart abandonment leads to a tremendous loss of sales for ecommerce stores. When more than three-quarters of your customers choose to leave your website without completing their purchases, that’s a lot of lost money.
Fortunately, there’s a very simple way to recover many of these abandoned cart sales and increase your profits. It’s called sending abandoned cart emails.
What is an abandoned cart email?
Abandoned cart emails help customers complete their orders and increase your business revenue.
An abandoned cart email is a follow-up message sent to a potential customer who added items to their virtual shopping cart but left your online store without buying them. It reminds your customer of what they left behind and offers them a way to return to your website and buy their item(s).
By sending these automated reminders, online stores see a rise in sales as shoppers return to their website to complete their purchases. This is an easy, effective tactic you can use to boost your small business’ sales — yet it’s a strategy many ecommerce sites still don’t use. By making it a regular practice, you can make your business stand out.
Why are abandoned cart emails important?
How effective is a well-crafted abandoned cart email? According to Annex Cloud, 45% of emails sent to follow up on an abandoned shopping cart get opened by customers and almost 11% of people who receive one return to the website to make a purchase.
Since abandoned cart emails can be automated, they’re a low-maintenance way to improve your business profitability. And since these emails are sent to customers who already visited your ecommerce store, began a purchase, and gave you their email addresses, you’re reaching out to people who’ve already shown interest in your business and merchandise.
Keep in mind that many customers who abandoned their carts didn’t mean to do so. If they left your store due to a technical glitch or because they forgot they had unpurchased items, there’s reason to believe they would have bought your product and even become regular customers. So it’s a good idea to send your email an hour after a customer abandons the cart.
By giving customers the option of returning to your website and completing their purchase, you’re not only increasing your potential sales revenue, but you’re also improving customer relations. This is particularly important if you’re running a small business on an ecommerce platform like Shopify or WooCommerce. Since the future of your business rests on the number of successful online sales, using an effective abandoned cart email helps strengthen your customer base.
Tips for writing an effective abandoned cart email
This is a great example of an abandoned cart email. It offers an image of the abandoned item, offers some fun copy and gives the shopper a link to reclaim the item.
This is a great example of an abandoned cart email. It offers an image of the abandoned item, offers some fun copy and gives the shopper a link to reclaim the item.
At its most basic, an abandoned cart email requires two things:
- A reminder of what they left behind. Make sure to display the items the customer gave up, indicate that their shopping cart has been saved, and offer a link that lets them easily return to the cart and complete their purchase.
- Enticing copy. An effective email needs to offer compelling copy not only in the body of the email but also in the subject line. It’s also a good idea to include images to enhance any written copy. After all, you want your customer to have a reason to open the email and return to your store.
Of course, to boost sales, your abandoned cart emails need to stand out from all the other marketing emails and reminders your customers get. Fortunately, there are plenty of additional techniques you can incorporate:
- Proper use of your brand. This goes beyond simply including your logo. Infuse your email copy with your store’s identity. If you sell pet items, for instance, you might incorporate pet images or encourage customers to “Fetch your items.”
- Photos of the merchandise. Some abandoned cart emails only provide a written list of the items the customer left behind. Effective emails, however, include images of the abandoned items to entice the customer. This can be done automatically — for example, Shopify abandoned cart emails customized through Constant Contact include images of each product.
- Brand imagery. In addition to pictures of the customer’s merchandise, emails can include photos related to your store’s brand or identity. Plenty of effective abandoned cart emails use animal photos to catch their customers’ attention. Others use pleasing images of beaches or vacation spots to induce positive feelings in their customers.
- Discount offers. Since an abandoned cart email is a form of marketing for your ecommerce store, you can offer a discount on the customer’s order if they return to complete their purchase. This can motivate those who abandoned their cart due to high shipping costs. Some customers may even add to their orders if you offer a discount.
- Reservation offers. Creating a sense of scarcity and urgency is a very effective marketing technique. Since you’ve already communicated that you’ve saved your customer’s cart, you can mention that it will be saved for only a set time. You might add that only a limited number of items are left in stock. Both techniques encourage a customer to finish a purchase before time runs out.
- Personalization. All abandoned cart emails should address the customer by name, preferably in the body of the email and in the subject line. This can be done through automation and gives your customers the sense that your store really cares about their business.
To get the desired response from your customers, it’s a good idea to use effective abandoned cart email templates when crafting your messages. You should also write multiple versions of your email — and send one an hour after the cart was abandoned, then another a day later, and a final message three to four days later. This improves the odds that your customer will return.
Creating a powerful abandoned cart email campaign
Launching an abandoned cart email marketing campaign is an excellent way to reclaim your lost sales and enhance your business profile among your customers. While abandoned carts are a problem in ecommerce, they also offer an excellent opportunity for you to reach out to these customers and strengthen your ties with them. By simply sending out effective automated emails, you can increase customer loyalty while improving both your present and future revenue.
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