E-Commerce
Shopping Cart Abandonment
Feeling bad about people leaving items in their electronic shopping cart – don’t! Over 75% of people abandon their shopping cart online. That amounts to 3 out of every 4 people who add something to a cart and leave without buying.
Using a “cart-recovery” email, you can likely capture about 10% of those sales. The key is you have to try to close the sale. You were so close. While only 15% of unsolicited emails sent from a business are even opened, an email reminding someone of items left in their shopping cart commands a whopping 45% open rate. You’ve likely received an email yourself about an abandoned cart. The best part about cart-recovery emails is that they can be automated and win back revenue that would otherwise been lost forever.
The Statistics
- 45% of all cart abandonment emails are actually opened
- 21% of all cart abandonment emails that have a button are clicked for action
- 50% of those clicks lead to a recovered purchase back on site
Why Carts Are Abandoned
Understanding why people abandon their carts might help you compose an email that might help you and your customer complete the sale. Here are a few common reasons people abandon online carts include:
- Distracted
- Price or shipping costs
- Website issues such as being slow
- Complex checkout process
- Dislike the return or exchange policy
- Comparison shopping
- Forced to create an account for one-time purchase
- Didn’t trust the site/payment gateway
- Delivery time was too long
- Lack of preferred payment options
- Credit card declined during sale
While you can’t address every issue that caused abandonment, here are some solutions for some of the most common abandonments:
- Shipping cost too high: Explore reducing shipping costs by using cheaper packaging or by changing carriers.
- Forced to create account: Make sure you have a “Guest” option for one-time buyers.
- Check-Out is too complicated: Work with your credit card processor or web developer to eliminate or combine steps.
- Doesn’t Trust Website/Payment Gateway: Show an e-commerce security credential badge. 23% of all abandonments are caused by distrust of the site.
- Strict return policy: A generous return policy will make up for the inconvenience of extra returns through increased sales you’ll make over time
- Lack of payment options. Some people love PayPal. Some people love American Express. Make sure you offer as many options as you can.
Cart Recovery Emails
While we can’t tell you exactly what to say, we will share the best strategies for use of cart-recovery emails.
- Create eye catching subject lines
- Provide a call-to-action button such as “Complete Your Purchase”
- Show the product to them in the email to cause visualization
- Use graphics
- Create a sense of urgency
- Offer alternatives
- Offer a coupon or discount code
- Keep it simple and fun
Examples of email subject lines
- Did you forget about us?
- We are ready if you’re ready
- Your (insert item name) is still waiting for you
- Your cart is missing you
