If you aren’t properly remarketing for abandoned carts on your e-commerce site, you could potentially be missing out on large profits every month. Cart abandonment is common, and without reminders, many customers will never complete their purchase. Luckily, a simple abandoned cart email can save the sale and result in greater profits for your company.
What Is an Abandoned Cart Email?
An abandoned cart alert is an automated message that is sent to a customer who places items in their cart but doesn’t complete the purchase at checkout. These come in the form of SMS or emails that are triggered shortly after the cart is abandoned. This works with pretty much any online service that utilizes a cart system or checkout service, like Shopify. If you fit this description, abandoned cart messages can be a great tool for increasing sales.
Why Every Business Should Use Them
Every business should be using abandoned cart alerts as they are incredibly low effort and can result in an exponential amount of revenue that would have been lost. In the digital age, your website can exist as a single tab on a customer’s computer cluttered by dozens of other sites. Many individuals minimize or click out of tabs and forget about them for a while. Abandonment alerts help increase conversions by reminding customers they left something in their cart. This helps build trust by showing that your company is active, without having to spend more on advertising campaigns.
When and How to Send Abandoned Cart Emails
It is best to not send an alert immediately. Wait 1-2 hours for the first reminder, as no one likes to feel pressured to buy. If you wish to continue reminders after the first one fails, you can automate a second to send after 24 hours, and a third after 72 hours. Sending more than three reminders can feel aggressive and is not advised. In addition, you can add an incentive to your reminders like a promo code to give that extra nudge the customer needed to feel sure about the purchase. Most email automation tools like Mailchip and Klaviyo, come with a cart abandonment feature and templates to help simplify the set up process.
What to Include in an Abandoned Cart Email
If you’d like to write your email from scratch, there are some key components all should have:
- Clear Reminder: Mention what they left behind (product name/image)
- Call to Action: “Complete Your Purchase” or “Return to Your Cart”
- Sense of Urgency: Low stock, limited-time offers, or expiration countdown
- Optional Incentive: Offer free shipping or a small discount if needed
- Trust Boosters: Include reviews, guarantees, or customer service contact
Use some or all of these features in your abandoned cart messengers to turn empty carts into purchases. Additionally, use data from these messages to see what users respond to best and optimize further.
Design and Tone Tips
Abandoned cart messages should be clean and easy to read. Use simple graphics and a few sentences to get your point across. Remember, they are meant to be reminders, the customer has already shown interest in your site, so don’t use this as an opportunity to advertise your new collection. Also, make sure to keep the tone friendly and not pushy. Don’t go overboard with the sense of urgency or trust boosters as these can seem unwelcoming at a certain point. As you should with all emails, make sure they are mobile friendly and easy to read on a mobile device. Many individuals may leave their computer and only have their phone on them to see the message. Lastly, try to personalize messages with customers names and specific items left in their cart, this can be done on most mailing platforms automatically.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Some common mistakes to avoid when making your template include:
- Waiting too long to send the first email
- Skipping product images or item details
- Making the CTA hard to find
- Over-discounting too quickly which incentives abandonment
- Sending too many abandoned cart emails
It can be difficult to fine tune these details and get them right, which is why data driven optimization is so important with email marketing. Make sure to take advantage of real-time data analytics from services like Klaviyo when perfecting your campaigns.
Don’t Let Carts Go Cold
Abandoned cart alerts are one of the easiest ways to recover sales and considering they cost very little to manage, the return on investment is incredibly high. With modern automaton features, all you have to do is set it up once, and it will automatically run for you through your email service.
If you are looking to prevent cart abandonment on your ecommerce platform, contact RIse Marketing Group today for a free consultation!
