7 Email Marketing Tips to End the Nightmare of Cart Abandonment [Infographic]

Scott Cohen — August 3, 2017 Follow @scottcohen13

— August 3, 2017

Cart abandonment is a dreadful thing for any e-commerce marketer. It’s the worst kind of ‘almost’—the person ‘almost’ completed the purchase, yet you ended up with zero money of the deal. How, well, dreadful!

You’re not alone with that feeling. Cart abandonment rates are an all-time high—up to 74.52% according to a 2016 SaleCycle report. Here’s some more data to keep you up at night:

Some More Disappointing Statistics

• 68.63% of shopping carts are abandoned on average.
• Abandoned carts are worth an estimated $ 4.9 trillion globally.
• 99% of people don’t prefer to buy on their first visit.
• 25% of cart abandoners never return.

With the numbers so high, why do customers abandon the cart?

Simply, life gets in the way. But a better, more accurate answer is that there are several reasons why carts are abandoned.

The top reason is high extra costs like shipping, tax, fees, etc.

Other reasons include:

1. The account creation process (and the requirement to create one)

2. A complicated/long checkout process (which item #1 can make more difficult)

3. The inability to see/calculate total order cost upfront (we talked about extra costs, right?)

4. Website issues like slow loading times and crashes

5. Trust issues

6. An unconvincing Return policy

7. Inadequate payment options

8. Credit card declined (okay, this one is out of your control, but it’s still a reason)

Bring Back Those Abandoners with Email Marketing

An email cart recovery program is the best way to capture the cart abandoners and encourage them to come back and complete their purchases.

Here are 7 expert tips on how you can use email marketing to do it:

1. Send personalized emails that give a feeling of exclusivity to the lost customer.

2. Send these personalized emails quickly after abandonment (within an hour). 90% of leads go cold after an hour of cart abandonment (MIT Research)

3. Highlight price comparisons between your products and those of your competitors to stand out (provided your pricing is competitive)

4. Include the images of the product/s from their cart to serve as a visual reminder of what they were thinking of purchasing.

5. Offer recommendations showcasing similar and/or complementary products to those in the cart. Maybe they won’t buy what’s in the cart now, but any purchase is a good purchase.

6. From time to time (or in a later email in a series), include tempting incentives like discounts and free shipping in your emails.

A Note of Caution: Set up your incentives to trigger only to folks who haven’t used it. Don’t attract savvy discount shoppers.

7. Use a prominent and attractive CTA button that prompts the customer to click through and revive their abandoned cart.

To learn more about cart abandonment emails, have a look at this infographic from InboxArmy: Cart Abandonment Emails: The Secret Weapon for Ecommerce Business

Bonus: There’s a free eBook with creative cart abandonment email samples accompanying the infographic to inspire you!

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