3 Tips for Better Abandoned Cart Emails

Online shoppers have an average shopping cart abandonment rate of almost 70 percent, according to the Baymard Institute. And while this number may seem daunting for ecommerce businesses, it’s not all bad news. There are tons of useful tactics available to recover some of those customers who put products in their cart but don’t make it all the way through to checkout. One of the most effective? Sending abandoned cart emails.   In fact, according to Salecycle, 28.3 percent of all ecommerce revenue comes from successful abandoned cart emails. BigCommerce data even shows that some brands have reported an increase in revenue from 8 percent to a whopping 20 percent after sending abandoned cart emails.   So - how can you turn your next abandoned cart into a sale? Keep reading for everything you need to know about these helpful purchase reminders.  

What is an abandoned cart email?

Often, when online shopping, a customer will add an item (or items) to their cart but won’t make a purchase immediately. An abandoned cart email is the term used to refer to the automated email reminders sent to those customers who added products to their cart - but then left the website before checking out. It’s just one of many emails you should be sending your customers as they go through the buyer journey. And the point? To encourage shoppers to return to your site to finalize a purchase.   Ideally, an abandoned cart email will include friendly, encouraging messaging, plus a link that allows shoppers to pick up right where they left off - with the items they were interested in - to make the purchasing process easier.  

How to create successful abandoned cart emails

1. Timing is everything

For an abandoned cart email to succeed in driving a customer back to your website to complete a purchase, it’s critical to get timing right. The ideal timeline? Send your first email an hour after a cart has been abandoned on your site, to capitalize on the window when they’re most interested in purchasing the product they abandoned. If you wait too long between the customer visiting your site and sending the abandoned cart email, it’s more likely that they’ll lose the purchasing urge that led them to add the item to their cart in the first place.  

READ MORE: Check out this post from Marketo on the perfect timing for abandoned cart emails.

2. Focus on frequency

The frequency of the emails you send to shoppers is also key to a successful abandoned cart strategy. Try to aim for a total of at least three abandoned cart emails. Following your first email to the shopper an hour after they’ve left your site, send a second reminder email 24 hours later. Then, send a third and final reminder about the item they’re missing out, about 3 days after the initial cart abandonment (this is a great time to offer a can’t-miss deal or discount on the item in question).  

‍READ MORE: See examples of great abandoned cart emails from Shopify.  

3. Craft subject lines that convert

An attractive subject line can make a big difference in open and click rates - and those 2 metrics will drive the success of your abandon cart emails. While the best subject lines should grab the attention of your customer, that doesn’t mean they need to be fancy or complicated. Often, keeping things clear and simple is best.  For instance, calling out a discount or announcing a perk like free shipping is a great way to incentivize those receiving the message to not only open the email, but also to return to your site and complete their purchase. (Just be sure to avoid these common spam trigger words).  

‍READ MORE: 75 awesome retail subject lines, from Campaign Monitor  Crafting a solid email marketing strategy is no simple task - especially when it comes to segmenting out audiences like “customers who abandoned a cart.”

But psst - Glew has pre-built customer segments that can be pushed automatically to your email provider, including one for abandoned cart. Sign up for a free trial today to see our customer segmentation and other ecommerce analytics features.