Here’s a sobering statistic to kick off our annual review of the Best Abandoned Cart Emails.
The average shopping cart abandonment rate in 2021 ranged from 59.2% to 79.8% depending on what industry you’re in.
Which means… it doesn’t matter how well your ecommerce store is performing, if you don’t have a cart abandonment marketing strategy, it’s likely that you’re leaving dollars on the table for your competitor to pick up.
But because you’re here, I expect you already know that abandoned cart emails can help you to recover a lost sale. What you need are some examples to inspire you to create your own high converting abandoned cart emails in 2022. Which is exactly what we’re sharing with you in this blog post.
But first, a refresher on exactly what an abandoned cart email is…
What is an Abandoned Cart Email?
Abandoned cart emails are a common retargeting strategy used by ecommerce store owners. This email’s job is simple – to remind shoppers about products they left behind in their shopping cart.
You know those shoppers – the ones who fill up their cart and then abandon it before popping their details in and finishing their purchase. And whilst you would much rather they checked out, when abandoning their cart they’ve shared some very valuable information with you – specifically what products they’re interested in. The abandoned cart email therefore is an email that is sent to remind those shoppers to complete their purchase and potentially offer them an incentive to do so.
You’ve probably done this yourself – put something into a cart and then… something happens.
- You got distracted by something happening around you or a pop up on your computer screen.
- The purchase just didn’t feel right in the moment.
- You were turned off by the cost of shipping.
- You were only ever browsing with no intention of buying.
The same thing happens to visitors to your online store. In fact just 4% of shoppers are ready to buy when they land on your website.
This means that while shoppers might see items they’re interested in and add those products to their online shopping cart, they’re more likely to exit without buying than finalising their purchase.
Common reasons for abandoning shopping carts include:
- Extra costs such as shipping and taxes.
- Too many hurdles, for example you want them to create an account before they buy.
- A complex, clunky checkout process.
- You don’t offer shipping or delivery options.
- They got distracted.
Enter the Abandoned Cart Email which you can automate as a reminder to your future customer to head back to your online store and finish their purchase.
Strategies for effective Abandoned Cart Emails
The purpose of an abandoned cart email is to boost sales for your business. Implement the following strategies to make your abandoned cart emails as effective as possible.
Time them right
General advice is to send your abandoned cart email within an hour of the cart being abandoned. This tends to be the sweet spot between being too eager and even coming off as aggressive and sending the email so late that your future customer has forgotten all about you and those items they left in the cart.
Go Pro:
Test timeframes to find the sweet spot for your target audience.
Captivate with your subject line
Did you know that 47% of people open an email based on its subject line?
This statistic, and the fact that most people receive more than a hundred emails a day, makes a subject line that stands out in an inbox super important. And a great way to make your subject line stand out is to make it concise, catchy and personal. You can personalise subject lines by using your customer’s name or the name of the product left behind.
Go Pro:
Do A/B testing to determine if your customers respond to catchy lines or more straight forward reminders to return to your shop.
Offer an incentive
It doesn’t hurt to sweeten the deal to encourage a shopper to return to your store and complete their purchase. But incentives on their own don’t always have the desired effect. Instead, consider why someone may have abandoned their cart in the first place. Solving this problem could be the key to incentivising them to return and complete their purchase.
For example, offer free shipping if you think that shipping costs added at the checkout could be a deterrent for your customers. Alternatively, an Express Shipping option might be what your customers are looking for. Or perhaps your customers would prefer the option to checkout as a guest rather than signing up for an account with you.
Go Pro:
Survey your customers to learn more about their experience of shopping with you. This data may help you to offer the right incentive in your abandoned cart emails.
Make it easy
Your abandoned cart emails should make it as easy as possible for shoppers to checkout. Do this by including a clear call to action and link to their cart so all they need to do is click a button to complete their purchase.
Go Pro:
Create a sense of urgency to your call to action by including a discount code your customer can use within a specific time-frame – 24 hours for example.
Give them confidence
Those testimonials you’ve been collecting from your happy customers aren’t just for displaying on your website – you can use them in your abandoned checkout emails too.
Social proof is valuable currency when it comes to encouraging shoppers to buy from you, so it makes sense to put them in an email that’s designed to get someone to complete their purchase.
Go Pro:
Test these types of social proof in your abandoned cart emails:
- Customer reviews/testimonials.
- Social Media Posts from customers.
- Product reviews by publications.
5 Inspiring Abandoned Cart Emails – 2022
Now let’s look at our team’s favourite Abandoned Cart Emails where you’ll see these tips and more best practices in action.
Casper:
Why it’s a winner
- ‘Come back to bed’ is the headline that Casper uses to catch their customer’s attention and it works. This is a catchy headline that makes sense with the product (a pillow) that’s been left in the shopping cart.
- The clean layout of the email is on-brand and makes the product the focus.
- The call to action is simple and effective – all a shopper needs to do is click the button and they’ll be taken back to the cart where they can easily finalise their purchase.
- Social Proof has been included to give the shopper confidence in the product and there is a CTA to read more reviews about the store’s product.
- There is consistency in the use of brand colours, fonts and graphics which helps to provide a visual reminder to the shopper of the store.
Nomad:
Why it’s a winner
- The design of this email is aligned with the company’s sophisticated adventurer vibe which brought the shopper to the checkout in the first place.
- The copy is well written and works to engage the shopper with a touch of tongue in cheek humour. Two CTA’s to go back to the shop are included and this works because the copy is different for each of them.
- This email gives the buyer confidence through the inclusion of the store’s return/exchange policy and warranty details.
- A footer with helpful additional links like FAQ’s has been included to give the nervous shopper all the information they need at their fingertips.
- The email takes advantage of the opportunity to sell something else or something additional by including a link to New Arrivals.
Society6:
Why it’s a winner
- The bold design will catch the eye of anyone opening this email right away and it’s aligned with the store’s overall brand and aesthetic.
- The headline is bold and catchy – you can’t miss it.
- The headline creates a sense of urgency by letting the shopper know their cart is saved for 48 hours only and then the deal is sweetened with a CTA to get 30% off – bonus points go to Society6 for positioning this right below the headline.
- The footer includes a reminder about the store’s values and return’s policy.
- Social proof has been included with an ‘as seen in’ section.
Wick & Wire Co. NZ:
Why it’s a winner
- Attention grabbing subject line (‘you’re so close’).
- Urgency is created with a reminder that the items in your cart will sell out.
- Catchy header with clever copy letting the shopper know they’ve earned free shipping – a great incentive for them to return to the store.
- This email has been personalised with the customer’s name.
- A second sense of urgency has been added into the body of the email – including images of the products personalises the email further.
- The CTA to ‘get free shipping’ stands out as a button in a different colour to the rest of the email.
EquipOutdoors:
Why it’s a winner
- Great copy and header image that immediately connects the customer with the EquipOutdoors brand message.
- ‘Come back you forgot something’ is the clever and catchy subject line for this adventure/travel store.
- An image of the product left behind is included with a button directly below so the customer can easily go back to the checkout and complete their purchase.
- Graphics and concise copy do an excellent job of giving the customer confidence in shopping with EquipOutdoors.
- Social Media Icons included for anyone wanting to get to know the brand better.
- Links to popular categories, clearance items and new arrivals provide an opportunity for additional sales.
Lean on our EDM expertise and get your abandoned carts emails ready to roll!
Now that you’ve seen our ‘award winning’ EDM’s are you ready to create your own campaign using our key strategies for delivering an effective abandoned cart email to your customers?
Or, is it time to take one more thing off your to-do list and lean on our EDM (email direct marketing) expertise by contacting us for our help with your Abandoned Cart Emails? Either way, we hope you’re inspired to boost sales in your business by turning those abandoned carts into sales.
