Top tactics for abandon cart emails

Abandon Cart emails. Yes, they can be a bit of a pain to put in place, but trust me when I say it's worth the pain.

According to Sales Cycle, 75% of customers put items in their online shopping cart only to leave the site without completing their purchase. That is a large volume of potential sales just waiting to be converted.

Abandon cart emails are one of the highest converting emails you will ever create for your online business, so it's worth making sure you have perfected your abandon cart email to maximise your chance of conversion. So here are...

My Top Tactics for high converting Abandon Cart Emails

Include a compelling subject line

A compelling subject line should include personalisation and a compelling call to action.

Here are some examples (feel free to use them!):

• Hey Jodie, did you forget something?
• Hey Jodie, don't miss out on your <insert product here>
• Your favourite kimono is waiting for you Jodie
• Don't let your favourite kimono sell out!
• Jodie, your items are feeling abandoned, please help them!

With a few short words, you remind your customer that they have added a product to cart  PLUS spoke to them directly. Avoid using generic subject lines. Customers can always tell and you want your customer to feel important and valued.

Keep your email specific

An abandon cart email needs to get to the point very quickly. Don't include anything more than one or two short snappy sentences to provide context, and then show the items the customer added to cart.

Make sure you include a clear call to action button (eg: Check out) and don't be afraid to add some humour or brand flavour to your email.

Here is an example of the now very famous "Poo-Pourri" abandon cart email

"Oops, you forgot to Flush! 

It looks like you left some Poo Goodies in your cart. We're saving them just for you (aren't we the sweetest!), but we can't hold it much longer... <CHECK OUT BUTTON>"

Use visual marketing tactics

Include imagery of the products the customer has left in their cart ALWAYS!

This will help remind the customer of your brand, the product or products they were interested in, and provides a stronger incentive for them to click and check out.

Timing

Probably the most common question I receive is at what point do you send your customer an abandon cart email.

Basically, the sooner the better. The longer you leave it, the lower your chance of conversion.

My recommendation is within the first hour as an initial starting point. Different brands and target markets will respond differently so test the conversion and then play with different timing increments to determine what performs the strongest within your market.

In summary...

Abandon cart emails contain many elements and if you are new to abandon cart emails, I do recommend that you test a few different formats and play with the timing to see what provides the highest conversion rate for your business.

Don't let revenue fly out the door any longer. Abandon cart emails are a friendly reminder to your customer and a great way to improve revenue for your business.