How to Reduce Abandoned E-Commerce Carts With Email Marketing

We’ve all been there – you’re browsing an online store, you put some items in your cart, and then you exit before hitting “purchase.” This phenomenon is called cart abandonment, and even though it is common among all e-commerce stores, you can mitigate it with a tactful cart recovery strategy and email marketing campaign. Learn the leading causes of cart abandonment and 10 ways to improve your marketing strategies to convert abandoned carts into online sales.

How do you recover abandoned carts with email marketing?

Instead of viewing abandoned carts as lost sales, think of them as opportunities. Just because a customer leaves your site doesn’t mean you should stop communicating with them. One of the best ways to win over a potential customer who previously abandoned their e-commerce cart is through strategic email marketing.

Recent surveys show that 45% of all cart abandonment emails are opened. Additionally, the average abandoned cart email click-through rate is 21%, and the abandoned cart email conversion rate is roughly 10% (although rates vary by industry, device and recovery tactics). This gives you a great opportunity to create savvy and timely cart abandonment emails that resonate with your audience and increase conversions.

“Assuming the user is logged in when they abandon the cart, you will have their email address and can send them a reminder to complete their purchase,” said Harry Thakkar, partner at Avatria. “This type of email typically includes a list of items they left behind, some marketing copy focused on creating a sense of urgency and/or showcasing the products’ benefits, and potentially also a discount code to entice the user to come back and finish the transaction.”

Garin Hobbs, director of deal strategy at Iterable, suggested 10 ways to improve your cart abandonment email campaigns:

1. Replicate the abandoned cart in the email, showing the exact items the shopper left behind. Visually depict what they’re missing out on by abandoning their cart. There is often emotion at play in retail purchases, so use that to your advantage.
2. Display similar in-stock items to the customer at lower price points and/or with faster shipping. Give them the chance to add reliable and attractive replacement options to their cart.
3. Close the shipping gap by offering cheaper or faster shipping alternatives, such as curbside or in-store pickup, in your follow-up email. Of course, we are in the middle of a global pandemic, so provide high-touch options with caution.
4. Offer single-click, in-email purchase completion capabilities for customers to facilitate a faster purchase.
5. When you analyze your cart abandoners, segment those repeat gamifiers (customers who have a history of abandoning their cart and then converting when you offer a competitive coupon). Once you identify these customers, make sure to send them modest coupons. Recognize their value, appeal to their money-saving tactics, and make the sale.
6. Offer discounted shipping as an incentive to complete the purchase. This is a motivator to both the procrastinator and the proactive customer.
7. With companies like Amazon offering free one-day shipping, consumers expect the same from every brand. If a customer is concerned with shipping, follow up with an offer of free shipping if they reach a certain cart spend. This will not only incentivize greater spending, but show that your brand can compete with the conglomerates.
8. Synchronize messaging across email, mobile and web channels to create a reengagement ecosystem and a layered messaging scheme. This reactive workflow will enable you to message customers based on a series of anticipated user behaviors.
9. Use lifestyle content and imagery to illustrate how the product might fit into and improve the shopper’s day-to-day life. Brands that are not aware and empathetic won’t connect. We see the relevance of this tactic today; consumers are working from home, so fashion retailers that don’t shift to a casual style are losing loyalty.
10. When sending discounts and options to customers, remember that you must A/B test different messages, offers and calls to action in real time to determine what resonates with each consumer, down to the color of the button that generates more engagement. You’ll need to do this test for any campaign you run, at multiple intervals during the year. As customers change their preferences, change your marketing strategy.

“With the right optimization of timing, frequency, cadence, channel, and personalized content, offers and context, abandoned cart email performance can be improved up to an industry-standard recovery rate,” said Hobbs.