The Power of Cart Abandonment Campaigns

Recover Lost Sales, Improve Customer Experience, Increase Revenue, and Gain Valuable Insights with Cart Abandonment Campaigns

I should start by defining what cart abandonment is here. It is when a potential client starts the checkout process by adding items to their cart, but for some reason, they never complete the order. And, believe it or not, this happens more times than most of us care to admit. Which is precisely why a cart abandonment campaign is so important.

Cart abandonment emails can be sent to the cart abandoners to entice them to come back and complete their purchase. While you might not think it, cart abandonment campaigns can be highly effective. According to a recent Benchmark by Klaviyo, businesses can regain between 3-14% of lost sales with the right abandon cart strategy.

With a well-designed cart abandonment campaign, you can bring these customers back and turn them into paying customers.

Reasons a customer might abandon their cart

  • Extra costs like taxes and shipping fees
  • Time consuming and difficult process
  • Unable to see or calculate costs upfront
  • Security concerns
  • Limited shipping options
  • Slow delivery
  • Return/Refund policy
  • Too much upselling
  • Lack of payment methods available

Identifying an abandoned cart is not always easy. You can set up proper goals in your Google Analytics to track this. Or sometimes the platform you are using for your cart will track it for you. For example, in Keap, while it doesn’t track perfectly, I’ve added a tag to anyone who clicks to visit the sales page. If that prospect who clicks to the sales page doesn’t buy in the first 30 minutes, we start an email campaign to bring them back.

Best practices for creating effective cart abandonment emails

You don’t want to overthink this. I find keeping things simple works best.

  • Provide a clear summary of what’s in the cart
  • Have a clear call to action
  • Don’t go overboard with discounts and bonuses
  • Personalize emails
  • Use customer reviews or testimonials

Elements of cart abandonment emails

  • Snappy subject line
  • Introduction
  • Description of what is in the cart
  • Offer or discount
  • Call to action/checkout button
  • Review or social proof
  • Closing text

I like to do a simple cart abandonment email campaign with 3 emails. One to remind them of what they left behind. This email will be short and to the point. The second email is an incentive email to offer additional savings or a bonus to buy now. And finally, a third email to remind them the additional savings will expire and the benefits of buying this product.

Here are a few reasons why you need a cart abandonment campaign:

Recover lost sales: The most obvious reason to use a cart abandonment campaign is to recover lost sales. By reminding customers of the items they left behind, you can encourage them to complete the purchase and convert them into paying customers.

Improve customer experience: A well-designed cart abandonment campaign can also improve the overall customer experience. By providing customers with personalized recommendations, you can show them that you care about their needs and preferences, which can increase customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Increase revenue: Cart abandonment campaigns can also help you increase revenue. By offering discounts or promotions to customers who abandon their carts, you can incentivize them to complete the purchase and potentially increase their order value.

Gain valuable insights: Finally, cart abandonment campaigns can provide you with valuable insights into your customers’ behavior. By tracking the reasons why customers abandon their carts, you can identify areas for improvement in your checkout process and make changes to optimize your conversion rates.

Optimize your cart abandonment email campaign

The timing of your emails will most likely vary. But we find the ideal wait time to send your first email is about 30 minutes and definitely no more than an hour. Remember the first email will not be a sales email, it’s just a reminder of what they left behind.

Personalization! Recognize that this prospect is a person and show them that in your email. Be personal and conversational with your tone.

You might want to try A/B testing different messaging to see what works better for your audience. This will help you to refine your messaging and hit all the right notes!

A cart abandonment email campaign can be your best friend when selling online. Overall, a well-designed cart abandonment campaign can be a powerful tool for any e-commerce business. By recovering lost sales, improving the customer experience, increasing revenue, and gaining valuable insights, you can take your e-commerce strategy to the next level and achieve long-term success. And remember to monitor your results and switch things up if you need to. Nothing is ever set in stone and that’s the plus of being online. If something isn’t working… change it!

This is just one strategy or campaign I feel every business should have in place. Check out the 6 others here.

If you’re curious if a cart abandonment campaign can work for you let’s chat. Book your Power Up Strategy Call with me here.

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