Best practices for recovering lost sales and boosting conversions with automated cart follow-up.
Anders Stokholm Jessen
FacebookDo all visitors who add products to your cart complete their purchase? If yes, you’re either extremely talented or incredibly lucky.
For the rest, retention and conversion tricks are essential, and automating these processes gives you the best ROI. In this article I explain what abandoned cart automation means and how to use it.
Abandoned cart emails, also known as cart abandonment, are a type of remarketing: you send an email to a visitor who adds something to their cart, but leaves the site without purchasing. The email displays the products left behind.
With these emails, you help them quickly continue their purchase.
Important! To send emails, you must have their address and consent.
Be clear and concise: each email should have a single purpose. Don’t make visitors decide on too many actions. Don’t simultaneously offer to buy abandoned products, follow on Facebook, or go to discounts. Keep it simple and clear!
A single email is often ignored. You can send a few (up to 3), as long as they’re relevant and not spammy. Many clients find poorly thought-out emails annoying—be mindful of frequency.
A good subject line makes a difference. Invest time and test variants to achieve the best open rates.
Integrate the abandoned cart flow with remarketing on other platforms, such as Facebook.
Where should users land when clicking the email—homepage or straight to cart? The logical choice is a page where they can continue shopping, on any device.
Sometimes a small discount or free gift can greatly increase conversions. Choose something valuable that won’t cut too much into your profit.
The first message must be sent fast: usually an hour after cart abandonment; followed next day by a reminder, maybe with a promo code. Wait too long and the client buys elsewhere.
Too many requests confuse clients and lower conversion. Offer a single clear action and focus on the main purpose: making the sale.
No one wants too many emails. Send up to 3, and only if they’re relevant.
Keep visual identity and communication style consistent. If you use humor or authority, keep it here too—otherwise your emails may become irrelevant.
Incentives should be exceptions, not the rule. Otherwise, clients will always wait for discounts and only buy during that period.
RELEVANCE heavily depends on speed. Send quickly, usually within an hour of abandonment. Most platforms, including Mailchimp, have this option.
REMEMBER!
Clients give you their email and consent—don’t betray their trust! Don’t send spam, communicate clearly, and prioritize relevance!
With these tips, you can efficiently automate abandoned cart recovery on your favorite email platform: MailChimp, ActiveCampaign or any other tool.
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