Table of Contents
Why is abandoned cart recovery important?
Abandoned cart recovery should be used to engage customers who’ve previously shown an interest in your products and services. Studies have shown that you can recover a large percentage of abandoned carts, meaning that you need a cart recovery strategy for revenue purposes. The ROI is typically higher than other strategies; chasing new leads is comparatively time-consuming and frustrating.
What are the benefits of recovering abandoned carts?
Companies use abandoned cart recovery for these reasons:
- Revenue: You should use abandoned cart recovery as potential revenue route.
- Engagement: When using abandoned cart recovery, you should think about how to establish long-term customer relationships.
- Insights: Use your data to analyze customer trends.
How can I recover abandoned carts through email marketing?
Use the following methods in your email marketing when using this channel for abandoned cart recovery:
- Capture Email Addresses: Think about how you can get users to provide their email addresses when checking out. For example, you might want to consider incentives like exclusive product access. Make sure you have a privacy disclaimer for full transparency.
- Email Automation: Send automated emails when a user abandons their cart; you can use software for this. Remind customers of their items, and give them instructions on how to finalize the purchase. Send these emails within a few hours or days.
- Message Personalization: Refer to the items that customers placed in their cart and use images of said products. Consider also giving recommendations based on what the user has browsed.
- Incentives: You need a way to engage customers; consider using incentives like free shipping.
What types of automated messages are effective for abandoned cart recovery?
Different automated messages will have differing results. Here are some:
- Reminder Emails: You can send this email within a few hours of the cart abandonment happening.
- Incentive Emails: Give the customer a reason to finalize the sale, such as offering a time-limited discount code or free shipping. The incentive should be in line with what you offer.
- Urgency Emails: Outline limited-time offers or that the product will soon be out of stock to potentially encourage a sale. You can also add a ticker to your email.
- Personalized Emails: Use the customer’s name and consider their previous browsing or purchasing history. Send emails based on this data.
What role do retargeting ads play in abandoned cart recovery?
You should consider using retargeting ads in abandoned cart recovery to display products that customers previously showed an interest in. Businesses use this to remind a potential customer of their shopping cart, and you should select the websites that a user is likely to visit based on your data.
Companies use retargeting via display ads (i.e. Google Ads) and on social media (e.g. X and Instagram). The copy should be refined for the channel that it’s being published on, and you must also pick relevant visuals.
What are some best practices for abandoned cart recovery strategies?
There is no one-size-fits-all abandoned cart recovery strategy, but here are some that you can try:
- Act Quickly: Send your first email within a few hours. Your ads should also appear within a few days.
- Personalize Your Emails and Ads: Use the customer’s name where possible, and mention the items – or similar ones – in their cart.
- Test and Optimize: You’ll need to try different ads and emails to learn what does and doesn’t work. Split-test your creative assets, such as imagery and copy.
- Use Multiple Channels: Utilize ads and email while also thinking about other channels. For example, you may want to consider on-page push notifications.
- Track and Analyze Results: Look at how your recovery campaigns are performing. Regularly identify where you need to make changes.
How can I track the success of my abandoned cart recovery efforts?
You should use your eCommerce platform and email marketing software’s analytics to track your campaigns. Metrics that you should consider in your analysis are:
- Open Rate: This refers to the number of people that open your recovery emails.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): This refers to how many people click on email links (i.e. to your website).
- Conversion Rate: This is how many people complete a purchase after they read your emails; you need to consider this your primary metric.
- Revenue Recovered: This refers to the money you make from carts that were previously abandoned. Measure this against revenue from other sources.
Conclusion
Abandoned carts are inevitable, meaning that having a recovery strategy is essential. You need to understand why customers are abandoning your carts on your website and optimize your site and checkout processes accordingly; doing so increases revenue. However, you should also think about your retargeting ads and email copy; segment your customers if needed and create different campaigns.
To see what works and what doesn’t, split test your messaging and creative assets. You might also need to think about which channels you promote your product or service on, and you should use more than one. Once you’ve done this, measure your results via metrics on your eCommerce and email marketing software.
