Guides  ·  Abandoned cart email

Abandoned cart email

Seven in ten carts never become orders. You send a reminder, and it goes to people who were never buying in the first place, which annoys them and costs you complaints.

Most abandoned carts were never orders

Baymard Institute puts documented average cart abandonment at 70.22% across fifty studies, and in their breakdown 42% of abandonments come from people who were only browsing. You cannot recover a wish list.

Do this: Judge the campaign on recovered revenue, not on the size of the abandonment number.

The first reminder goes out within the hour

While the tab may still be open and the decision is still warm. A next day email arrives after the person has either bought elsewhere or forgotten.

Do this: One hour, then twenty four hours, then stop. Two emails recover most of what is recoverable.

Say what was in the cart, and the total

Including delivery. Extra costs appearing late is the single biggest stated reason people abandon, at 40% of those who left for a reason. If your reminder repeats the surprise, it repeats the abandonment.

Do this: Put the full total in the email, delivery included. If it is higher than they expected, they were leaving anyway.

Do not lead with a discount

Discount on the first reminder teaches people to abandon carts. If you use one at all, put it on the second email and only for people who did not come back.

Do this: Test the reminder with no discount first. You will be surprised how much comes back on the reminder alone.

This is teaching material and our own reading of standard practice, not advice for your specific setup. Check anything important with your own specialist.

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