Abandoned cart emails are emails that are sent to shoppers who left items in their carts without completing checkout in an attempt to bring them back to your store and complete their checkout. Studies have shown that nearly a third of people who click on a link in an abandoned cart e-mail go on to complete their purchase. Imagine what this simple tweak could do for your sales if you currently do not have an abandoned cart e-mail flow setup.

With abandoned cart e-mails, timing is key! E-mails sent within the first hour of someone abandoning their shopping cart tend to perform best. We suggest setting up a campaign trigger to send an email instantly after the cart is abandoned. There are numerous reasons why someone may abandon their cart but for almost all of them, sending a timely e-mail is key to winning them back.

Our Top 5 Abandoned Cart E-mail Strategies

1. Have a Subject Line That Makes An Impression - 3 ideas for a subject line.

   1. Be catchy - The subject line is what people see in their inbox and what determines if someone opens your e-mail or not.

   2. Get personal - You can mention their name here, like “Hey Maria! Don’t Regret It”. This would spark someone’s curiosity and most likely make them want to click on the e-mail.

   3. Tell it like it is/keep it simple - Not every shopper needs a catchy or personal touch. Some people like to keep it simple and sending a straight and to the point reminder like, “hey you forgot that item in your cart” may be just what it takes to get that customer back.

      Be sure to A/B test different subject lines and see what converts better for you.

2. Make Sure Your Copy is On Point

   Make your e-mail interesting, clever and/or unexpected. You want to draw their attention in and remind them why they should go back and purchase your product. This is your chance to sell to them without really coming off as salesly. We find that using humor tends to ease that barrier and draw your potential customers guard down and become more likely to come back and complete their purchase.

3. Make Your Design Clean and On Brand

   If you are using an e-mail service like Klaviyo, Omnisend, Shopify E-mail or MailChimp, they all have templates that are optimized to be visually appealing and convert. We suggest using a template and fine tuning it with your branding to be consistent. These templates are smart and dynamic and will be able to pull the exact items a certain customer left behind in their shopping cart and include that in the e-mail they receive.

4. Cross Sell and Upsell

   Even if you are sending your abandoned cart e-mail instantly after the abandonment occurs, it is very possible that the shopper has already bought that item or a similar one from somewhere else. If that is the case that does not mean you cannot still use this as an opportunity to sell them something else they may still need.

   Many of the e-mail software we mentioned above can add in recommendations of products specific to that buyer based on what they had originally added to their cart. So even if they purchased what they initially had in their cart elsewhere, you may end up selling them something else they weren;t even necessarily shopping for originally.

5. Incentivize Your E-mail

   Often times people abandon their carts when they see the shipping costs, tax, or any other costs added onto the product at the end of the checkout process. In an effort to make a sale and bring that customer back you may want to consider offering:

   • Free Shipping
   • Discount Code
   • Dollar Amount Off
   • BOGO offer
   • Free Returns within a certain timeframe

Abandoned cart emails are as much of an art as they are a science. This means you will need to constantly be testing different versions and variations and analyzing the data to determine what works best for your store. One thing we can be sure of, is you need to have an abandoned cart e-mail flow setup in your store or you will literally be leaving money on the table.