Increase sales with personalized shopping cart abandonment emails

Requirements for sending the shopping cart abandonment email

As with all customer emails, there are legal requirements for shopping cart abandonment emails that must be clarified before they are sent. However, technical requirements must also be taken into account when dealing with shopping cart abandonment emails. Therefore, the first step is to check whether the following points are in place in the shop and email delivery system:

• Tracking shopping carts:
  A tracking code must be stored in the shop that "monitors" all shopping carts and flags them as soon as a shopping cart is not converted.
• Identification of the visitor/customer:
  If the customer is not logged in or is using a guest account, they must at least be recognized via cookie and assigned to an (anonymized) customer profile.
• Email address:
  Without an email address, there can be no email – that much is clear. Permission must also be obtained to send shopping cart abandonment emails to the recipient. If the email address is missing, an address acquisition strategy, e.g., with an exit intent layer, can help.
• Connecting the online store with the email delivery system:
  Finally, both systems must be networked so that a trigger is automatically set to send a shopping cart abandonment email to customer XY.

Are you already using cart abandonment emails to bring visitors back to your online store? What has been your experience with this type of email so far? We'd love to hear about it!

Content of the shopping cart abandonment email

When determining the content, it is particularly important that the recipient does not feel observed, which could create a negative feeling. This works best with humor and creativity. This way, the email leaves a positive, lasting impression, even if the customer does not convert.
When designing the content, there are eight points to consider that make an abandoned cart email a successful optimization tool:

Eight elements of a shopping cart abandonment email

• 1: Subject line:
  A meaningful and personalized subject line is one of the strongest drivers of open rates. Humor reinforces this by breaking down barriers and sparking interest. The Chubbies Shorts brand store employs this strategy and chose the following subject line for its cart abandonment email: "We teleport you back to your cart. Free of charge!"
• 2: Personal salutation and text:
  Name and gender are usually requested when the email address is provided. So this data should also be used, as a personal salutation is no longer optional but mandatory in email marketing.
  The text below should primarily state the reason for sending the email. Some senders also exert a little pressure by drawing attention to the dwindling availability of products, e.g.: "The items in your shopping cart are in high demand. Grab them quickly!"
  The phone number of a help center can also be helpful if problems arise during the ordering process. If the shop offers telephone order acceptance, this should also be mentioned in the text to convince uncertain customers.
• 3: Link to the shopping cart:
  A direct link to the shopping cart with an appropriate call to action enables the recipient to complete their purchase quickly and easily. If humor has already been used in the subject line or email text, this theme can also be repeated in the call to action, e.g., "Teleport me to my cart."
• 4: Shopping cart:
  It is important to show which items the customer has left in their shopping cart, as they may have visited three other online stores in the time between leaving the items behind and receiving the abandonment email and may no longer remember what they put in their shopping cart. Product images help to refresh their memory of the items they left behind and reawaken their desire to purchase them.
• 5: Vouchers/discounts:
  Vouchers and discounts are powerful incentives to encourage customers to convert their shopping carts. For example, free shipping can remove the hurdle of additional costs. However, it is important to keep an eye on the ROI and decide on a case-by-case basis whether discount campaigns make sense.
• 6: Reviews:
  Customer reviews of the products in the shopping cart inspire confidence. Size information included in these reviews can also help to reduce uncertainty.
• 7: Comparison function:
  A comparison function in the shop is a useful tool for comparing product attributes of similar products. A link to this in the email can help customers make their product selection directly in the shop.
• 8: Recommendations:
  Customers love inspiration. That's why alternative products to those in the shopping cart in the cart abandonment email are a customer-oriented tool for showing similar items that better suit the recipient's wishes. So if the products added to the shopping cart weren't quite right, perhaps the alternatives will convince them.

However, the perfect shopping cart abandonment email does not have to include all eight of the elements described above. Quite the contrary. Even simple text emails without a lot of bells and whistles can have a big impact. The ideal mix of content therefore depends mainly on the store and its customers.

Stay up to date on personalization: Sign up for the epoq newsletter: Register now!

Time of dispatch of the shopping cart abandonment email

Finding the right time to send an email is not easy, even for weekly customer newsletters. With abandoned cart emails, there is the additional difficulty that there should not be too much time between leaving the store and sending the email, so that the customer does not forget about the shopping cart or has already made a purchase at another online store. At the same time, however, you should also avoid annoying the customer by sending the email too early.
According to Sales Cycle, the time with the best conversion rate is 20 minutes after leaving the shop. This makes perfect sense for a fashion shop. For a furniture shop, on the other hand, it is advisable to give the customer a little more time and only send the email after a few days, as such purchases require more time to decide. The frequency with which a customer receives abandoned cart emails must also be considered so that they do not feel pressured.
Finally, as with all other emails, the same rule applies: test, test, test. Different layouts, sending times, or incentives appeal to customers in different ways and thus generate different levels of success. A/B testing helps to test the different settings against each other.