According to data by SaleCycle, approximately 75.6% of people abandon their online shopping carts. Meaning, they place items on their cart, only to leave it without completing the purchase process.
That is a hefty sum of revenue lost right there.
While it is true that you can’t wholly escape cart abandonment, you can minimize the likelihood that it will happen.
But how do you do that? One of the most effective tactics is to use cart abandonment emails.
This is perhaps, one of the most revenue-generating emails which you can send to your prospects. That said, here are the ten best email marketing practices that will help you win over customers:
1. Use Low-Commitment CTAs
If you want people to proceed with the purchase, it is imperative to add a compelling call-to-action in your email. After, your readers would like to know what to do next after receiving your email.
This is where conversion optimization comes in.
However, asking people to purchase from you is one of the highest commitment levels that you can ask for.
So, rather than using the words, buy or purchase in your email’s CTAs, you might want to reduce the scope of commitment by rephrasing it instead.
Consider phrases like recheck your favorites, or take another look.
2. Make it Credible
You’re probably well aware that there are a lot of scams out there online.
Everyone has perhaps a story (in one way or another) that they’ve lost cash or money from a purchase they’ve never received.
This made many consumers careful, especially first-time buyers. That’s because they are the people who need a little convincing before opening up their wallets.
To inject some credibility in your emails, you can use product ratings and reviews from people who happily purchased from you before.
That’s because ratings and reviews influence 88% of consumers before they can make any purchasing decisions. This provides an excellent opportunity for you to take advantage.
So, apart from using this as social proof in your ecommerce site, you can integrate these in your cart abandonment emails as well.
Here are two ways in which you can accomplish that:
- Remind customers that they highly rate products that they’ve bought from you. You can use a star rating. This gives your open rates a nice boost.
- Many cart abandonment emails that you encounter will contain a list of left items behind the cart. Most of these emails include basics like the product name, image, and price. By having the total number of reviews and the product rating, you can make your items even more enticing to customers.
3. Attention-Grabbing Subject Line
Having a sleek subject line that immediately grabs the user’s attention helps increase your open rate. It can also have an impact on your email’s click-through rates.
This isn’t something a subject line that’s too complicated or fancy.
You might also want to offer discounts and shows like free shipping for customers to complete their purchase. With the subject line of your cart abandonment emails, it also helps you get straight to the point.
4. Perfect Timing of Your Email
Finding the perfect timing in sending these cart abandonment emails are also essential. Make sure that you send your first email after an hour after cart abandonment.
If you wait too long, people will lose that urge to shop and why they added that item in the first place.
So, while you’re still on top of their minds, you need to take advantage of that opportunity.
5. Make Your Copy Stand Out
People could better connect with your message if you act like you care and not just some faceless brand on the internet.
To accomplish that, don’t use a corporate and dry tone to address people. Instead, adopt a relaxed, friendly manner which tells customers that they:
- Left out something in their cart.
- Needs to come back to purchase the item.
In the same way, you should also try to inject some personality in your emails in every aspect, from the body, subject line to the CTA.
That way, you’ll stand out from the rest of the pack. The more casual your copy is, the more that you can connect with your prospects so that they can readily respond to your email.
6. Keep it Simple
It would help if you were not overloading people with information.
Instead, it would be best to focus on things that make people return to their cart and complete a purchase.
Coming up with short yet simple emails is an effective way to make sure you are holding your readers’ attention to what you have to say.
You do not have to put out utterly unnecessary information or images or CTAs that are entirely irrelevant.
Instead, it would be best if you were focusing on the abandoned item.
So, if there is an element in your email that does not support your CTA, then it is best to remove it instead.
It also helps that you add a link tracking to your emails so that prospective customers could do a faster checkout.
7. Use Scarcity in Your Emails
At its core, scarcity is a highly effective psychological trigger that encourages people to make a purchase.
Now, using that in your cart abandonment emails are no exception.
When you inform your prospects that they’ll be missing out on something if they don’t do action now, they’ll be encouraged to complete their order.
You may place in there, ‘Shop now, before someone else does!’
Here are also some tactics that you can inject that sense of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) on one of your emails:
- Place a countdown timer so that customers will know if they’re running out of time.
- Place a low stock notice to let customers know that stocks are running low.
- Let customers know how many shoppers also have the same items or products placed in their carts.
8. Offer an Incentive or Discount
Everyone loved discounts and freebies. Now, with that in mind, you might want to give out an incentive that’s email exclusive, and not non-subscribers can easily access.
Now, imagine for a moment, a visitor abandoning their cart because of the order cost. Maybe the products you’re selling are more costly than what users initially thought.
It is also possible that they’ve added items to their cart, which increased the total cost.
So, by offering discounts in your emails, this could be the final push for users to complete their purchase.
9. Optimize for Mobile
Do you know that 79% of smartphone users are using their devices to purchase goods online?
Most people are so attached to their phones that they check it a couple of times each day to prevent whether they received mail.
Last year alone, 51.5% of global traffic came from mobile devices. If you want people to read or even open your emails, you should be optimizing them for mobile devices.
To provide users with the best mobile experience, you should put out:
- A brief copy: Provide short headlines, sentences, and bullets to make your mobile easy and enjoyable to read.
- Small images: Bigger images often have slow download times and often take up a lot of space.
- CTA Button: Try to avoid link CTAs because they’re often hard to click. You can utilize floating buttons instead, which follows users each time they scroll through.
10. Address any Potential Objections
Your abandonment cart emails should be able to address any potential objections that customers may have.
There are a lot of reasons why most consumers don’t follow through with their purchase. Some of them might be thinking that:
- The checkout process is incredibly long and complicated.
- They still need to create an account to buy.
- They need to pay additional fees for shipping.
- Their preferred mode of payment isn’t there.
One of the best ways to overcome these concerns is by doing in-depth customer research and website usability testing.
11. Personalization is Key
Personalization plays a crucial role in converting your prospects.
Personalization also lets other people believe that your message is tailored to them. After all, 80% of online shoppers want to purchase from brands if it offers them individualized experiences.
That’s why you should tailor your emails based on your customers’ needs:
- Use the recipient’s name in the subject line.
- Email them as a person, and not with an address that has a “no reply.”
- Use casual and engaging conversational types throughout your email.
- Showcase the personal value your products will have to your customers.
Over to You
Following up on lost and abandoned carts is vital to the success of your e-commerce business. Otherwise, you will be losing out a lot of money.
That’s why creating a sound email abandonment strategy is vital. It can give you a competitive edge. It also allows you to salvage as many sales as possible.
Following these tips mentioned above can ensure that you are making the best out of your cart abandonment emails. That way, you can build rapport, cultivate trust with your customers, and compel them to complete their purchase.
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