Abandoned shopping cart strategies & tips

The best-performing e-mail from online stores? That, by far, is the abandoned cart email. Abandoned shoppers receive a reminder of their abandoned products and are thus persuaded to complete their order.

We often see that the email is broadly targeted, under the "one size fits all" approach. One abandoned cart email is sent to each abandoned customer. This tactic is not wrong: It already generates additional sales this way. Yet much more can be extracted from shopping cart emails. By segmenting abandoned carts more intelligently, you save unnecessary costs, are more relevant and generate more sales. Seven tactics to get more out of your shopping cart automation:

• Tactic 1: Discount based on shopping cart value
• Tactic 2: Offer free shipping
• Tactic 3: Abandon shopping cart with urgency
• Tactic 4: Segment on new visitors
• Tactic 5: Segmenting on existing customers
• Tactic 6: Segment on cart content
• Tactic 7: Segment by customer value (VIP customers and big spenders)

Copy one tactic or combine several to come up with the ultimate abandoned cart campaign that fits your webshop perfectly. Need more inspiration? Below the strategies you can read another seven tips for abandoned cart emails. Email marketing is part of your e-commerce marketing.

Under the AVG, you may send abandoned visitors abandoned shopping cart emails, without having to ask permission. Read more

Tactic 1: Discount based on shopping cart value

Not every abandoned shopping cart is the same. One shopping cart has a higher order value than the other. It is a waste to give discounts on orders with a low order value.

The solution? Segment based on the order amount. A good starting point is to take the average order value as a benchmark. Every order that exceeds that gets a discount, everything below that receives a friendly reminder.

You can calculate the average order value, for example, via Reloadify. Create a segment with profiles with at least one order with the status completed. In the overview, you will see the number of profiles that match this condition along with the total revenue of the segment. Divide the revenue by the number of profiles and behold: the average order value of a profile from your customer database.

The advantage of calculating the average order value in Reloadify is that - unlike Google Analytics - canceled orders are not included in the calculation.

In the example below, you can see that the average order amount is just over €29.

With this knowledge, you create two different automations:

• One for all shopping carts with a value from the average order amount. In this email, you give away a discount code.
• One for all shopping carts below the average order amount. In this email, you bring back the dropout without giving a discount, for example by creating urgency (see also tactic three further on in this article).

Tactic 2: Offering free shipping costs

Often, the abandoned shopping cart customers are not convinced enough to proceed with the purchase. Something that can pull them over the line is offering free shipping costs. Because who isn't triggered by the word free?

For this tactic, it's also a good idea to set up multiple automations, based on order value. After all, the free shipping must be feasible. It's a waste to waive delivery costs for customers with an order amount of €1.99: you'd rather direct them to a higher amount (for example by sharing popular products).

Calculate for yourself from what amount free shipping is profitable. Then create two different automations:

• One for all shopping carts from the order amount for free shipping.
• One for all shopping carts below the order amount, which do not receive free shipping. Win these customers over with a different tactic.

Tactic 3: Abandoned shopping cart with urgency

The big crux of an abandoned shopping cart email lies in the urgency. After all, you do not want the customer to still think long about the purchase. You want to generate revenue now. How do you create the urgency to get customers to order as soon as possible?

A discount code with limited validity

To push the customer, it's a good idea to share a discount code in the shopping cart email. To persuade the customer to order immediately, make the discount valid for a limited time, such as only 24 hours. Don't forget to make the validity period visible in the email, for example with a countdown timer.

Product scarcity (FOMO)

Suppose you receive an email for your abandoned shopping cart. You read the sentence: "The items in your shopping cart are not reserved". What do you do? There's a good chance that you'll still order the items quickly, for fear that someone else will run off with your items.

By mentioning the limited presence of products, you tap into the recipient's FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Be creative in tapping into FOMO, but stay away from deception. You want to prevent the customer from losing trust.

Tactic 4: Segmenting on new visitors

The standard advice when setting up an abandoned shopping cart email is that giving away a (small) discount. The discount should convince the visitor to complete the order after all.

A successful tactic, until the returning visitor pulls the same trick with every order and thus enjoys extra discount every time. A smart marketer therefore gets more value out of the email by segmenting the person behind the shopping cart.

An example: a new visitor who has never placed an order leaves a shopping cart behind. He has a different reason for this (such as lack of trust, a long delivery time or a too high price) than a visitor who has ordered from you before (such as distraction). You want to persuade the new visitor by offering a discount, but you just want to send the existing customer a reminder.

For this, you create two emails:

• One email for new visitors. Below you can see how you filter this target group in Reloadify.
• One email for existing customers. For this group, adjust the filter for the number of orders to equal to or more than 1. What else you can put in the email is discussed below at tactic five.

When a new visitor leaves a shopping cart, it is often for one of the following reasons:

• Hidden shipping costs that appear during checkout (here 49% of your customers drop off according to Baymard)
• Slow delivery
• No trust in the online store
• Uncertainty about returns
• Price comparisons at another shop

First analyze your own webshop so you can eliminate objections. Often a few points come up that you can highlight in the abandoned shopping cart email.

Tactic 5: Segmenting on existing customers

Customers who have already ordered something from you once have different reasons for leaving a shopping cart than new visitors. Think of:

• Technical problems on the site during checkout
• Being disturbed during the ordering process

It is a waste to approach this group with a discount. Play more on service here and go less aggressively. For example, send 2 emails:

• The first email is a friendly reminder that is sent after 20 minutes.
• No order placed after this email? Then send a second email a day later in which you address a possible problem.

The shopping cart email yields even more when you distinguish between active and non-active customers. For example, send customers who have shown no order activity for more than 6 months a different abandoned shopping cart email (with more discount) than customers whose most recent order was in the past 6 months.

Tactic 6: Segmenting on shopping cart content

Personalization is a must in email marketing. Also tap into this with the abandoned shopping cart mail. For example, segment based on the content of the shopping cart. On which product, from which category, has the customer set his sights?

For example: a customer has hair dye in the shopping cart. Remind the customer of the product and already provide tips for using the dye. You can also adjust the design of the mail to the product.

But what if the customer has left products from multiple categories? No problem. For example, you can easily exclude categories or combine them with each other.

By segmenting on the products, you score high in conversion, as it is so specific.

Tactic 7: Segmenting on customer value (VIP customers and big spenders)

Not every customer is the same. For example, not every customer is equally valuable to you. Think, for example, of customers who have been customers with you for years (VIP customers) and customers who buy from you for high amounts (big spenders). You may want to approach these two groups differently than small or new customers. After all, they are already familiar with your webshop. They already know all the benefits of shopping at your webshop. So skip those and use all the data you already have from your VIP customers. You can also choose to give a larger incentive (discount).

Four tips for abandoned shopping cart emails

With one or more of the above tactics, you get more conversion from abandoned shopping cart emails. To conclude, four more tips for the content of abandoned shopping cart emails:

• Tip 1: Send at the right time
• Tip 2: Don't underestimate the subject line and pre-header
• Tip 3: The right content of the email
• Tip 4: The determining position of the call-to-action

Tip 1: Send at the right time

Setting up an abandoned shopping cart campaign starts with this question: do you choose one loose email or do you make a flow of multiple emails? We can answer this question directly. A flow of abandoned shopping carts works better than just one email. To be precise: a series of three consecutive emails works up to 63% better than sending one reminder.

With such a drip campaign, you don't have to worry about sending unnecessary emails. Most email software checks at every moment whether the customer still has the shopping cart open, or has already checked out.

With this information, you can move on to the next step: determining the sending moment. Because what is the best time to send an abandoned shopping cart email? For example:

• Mail 1: between twenty and sixty minutes after leaving the shopping cart
• Mail 2: between twelve and 24 hours after leaving the shopping cart
• Mail 3: between two to three days after leaving the shopping cart

Tip 2: Don't underestimate the subject line and pre-header

An effective email is one that triggers the recipient to open the mail immediately. And what is needed for that? Right, a good subject line and/or pre-header.

Every marketer knows the importance of a catchy subject line. Yet often it is taken too lightly. You have no inspiration and you scribble something down. Or a misleading sentence rolls out. The result: a spam report from the recipient. So take the time to write a catchy subject.

How do you write a convincing subject line? A few rules of thumb:

• A good subject line is short (maximum 45 characters, spaces count)
• The rule prompts action ("Complete your order within 24 hours with a discount")
• The subject works together with the pre-header

A few examples:

• Make it personal: "Hey Jan, your shopping cart is still ready for you"
• Make clear what you want: "Hey Jan, did you forget to check out?"
• What's in it for the customer?: "Hey Jan, 10% discount on your abandoned shopping cart"
• Use trigger words: "Free shipping especially for Jan"
• Use a little humor: "Hey Jan, your relationship with your shopping cart is on the rocks"

Need extra inspiration for your subject line? Read our 6 tips with which you can easily write an effective subject.

Tip 3: The right content of the mail

As you read earlier in this article, you can achieve a lot of profit on the specific content of the shopping cart. Make the email as personal and specific as you want. Reloadify has enough segment options and trigger options to arrange everything as desired. For example:

• Are you dealing with a new customer? Persuade him with your USPs, explanation about the return policy or the short delivery time.
• Are you dealing with an existing customer? Adjust your content accordingly. These customers are already familiar with the benefits you offer them. Therefore, offer them something else, such as extra benefit or remind them of their last order. With the latter, you are tapping into their previous experience.
• Easily personalize your emails with liquid (such as using the first name or last name).
• Add a (short) introductory text to the mail. Because why are you mailing the customer? Make the text extra personal. This helps to give a face to your webshop. And that's good for the customer relationship (plus conversion!).

Tip 4: The correct position of the call-to-action

The call-to-action in the abandoned shopping cart email is very important. It is needed to achieve the purpose of the email: the customer needs to complete the purchase.

Therefore, make it as easy as possible for the customer to order the shopping cart. Some do's and don'ts:

• Don't: don't place too many buttons and call-to-actions in the email. Each product does not need a separate link. This only causes distraction. Plus: too much choice leads to no choice.
• Do: place one button in the entire email, which directly leads to the shopping cart. The customer can then decide what to do with the shopping cart on your site (adjust or order).
• Don't: don't change the color of the main call-to-action in each email. This causes confusion.
• Do: be consistent in the color and placement of the call-to-action. Recognition leads to more conversion.
• Don't: don't make an assumption about the placement and the content of the call-to-action.
• Do: set up an A/B test and research what the best place is for the call-to-action in the shopping cart email.

Want to know more about the call-to-action? Read here how to write a strong call-to-action.

More email automation

With this complete guide, you have enough inspiration to get more conversion from abandoned shopping carts. Curious about more tips on email marketing? Read here how to set up an email marketing strategy.

More information

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