Abandoned Cart Email

What is an abandoned cart email?

As the name implies, an abandoned cart email is a type of follow-up email that is typically automatically sent to an e-commerce customer who added items to their shopping cart but abandoned it—hence the name—before they could complete their purchase.

The goal is to encourage customers who abandoned their carts to complete their purchases.

If you wish to learn more about this concept, check out the FAQ section below:

Question #1: Does sending an abandoned cart email actually work?

Absolutely! You see, unlike normal marketing or sales emails that try to convince people to buy something, it is specifically aimed at people who have already shown a strong desire to purchase what you are selling by actually adding your products to their shopping cart. There is a big chance that all they need is a little nudge to complete the purchase—and that’s exactly what an abandoned cart email is designed to do.

Here are some abandoned cart email facts for you from Moosend:

• They have a 45% open rate (versus just 15% for other types of ecommerce emails)
• They have a 21% click-through rate
• They have a 10.7% conversion rate

This means that for every 100 customers you send an abandoned cart email to, 45 will hear you out, 21 will click through and revisit their abandoned cart, and about 11 would complete their purchase.

Question #2: Are these actually necessary?

Well, with over 75% of people abandoning their online shopping carts according to a report published by SalesCycle, they probably are.

Think about it. That is 75 out of every 100 people. Can you really afford to lose that much money in sales that almost happened?

The good news is that it can help you recover as much as 63% of that lost revenue—and you don’t even have to actively do anything because you can automate the whole process.

Question #3: Why do people abandon their carts in the first place?

There are a lot of reasons why people add items to their online shopping carts and then abandon them, including but not limited to:

• Distractions
• The cost of items and/or shipping
• Problems with the checkout process
• Issues with the website
• Issues with the return and exchange policies
• Shopping just to compare prices and deals

Now, depending on what you put in your abandoned cart email, you may be able to deal with almost all of these in one go.

Question #4: Can I send more than one abandoned cart email?

Absolutely! As long as you properly structure it, slowly guiding the customer back to their cart to complete their purchase, you can send them in series instead of just one.

This ensures that even if they miss one of your emails, they’ll still see what you have to say—that and sending a series of these emails gives you more chances to successfully persuade a customer who needs a little extra push to revisit their cart and complete their purchase.

Question #5: How do I write an effective abandoned cart email?

There are a couple of general guidelines you can use as a starting point.

Here are some of them:

1. Make sure you craft an eye-catching but simple email subject—bonus points if you can include the name of the customer.
2. Avoid sounding needy.
3. Make completing the purchase as simple as possible.
4. Throw in a special offer if you can.
5. Create a sense of urgency if possible.
6. Add a clear call to action.
7. Include photos of the products the customer left in their cart.