Abandonment Series

Why do you need an abandonment strategy

Humans can be impulsive, which helps in increasing ecommerce sales but they can be indecisive too, which is one of the reasons for them to abandon their cart. :-)

Adding an item to an online shopping cart is a heavy indication that the shopper is interested in the item. But that sale doesn’t always come to fruition immediately.

An abandonment series is a great strategy to achieve your DTC brand’s goal of recovering lost sales. Setting up a cart abandonment series can be the difference between making the sale and losing it—whether your shopper:

• forgot to complete their purchase,
• sought out options from another brand,
• spilled mustard sauce on their keyboard or smartphone,
• discovered that the shipping charges are a bit too much or that there was a likelihood of a shipping delay, or
• just didn’t have their credit/debit card nearby.

Don’t believe us? Here are a few online shopping cart abandonment statistics that may change your mind:

• The average cart abandonment rate is approximately 70 percent, according to Baymard Institute.
• Even more people abandon their carts when shopping from their phone—mobile devices see an average shopping cart abandonment rate of over 85 percent, according to Barilliance.
• Ecommerce brands may lose up to $18 billion in yearly sales revenue from abandoned carts, according to Forrester Research.

This means that implementing an abandonment workflow automation can only help you convert more customers who you may have otherwise lost.
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When should you send an abandoned cart message

When creating an abandoned cart automation, there are two behaviors you need to be able to track: a shopper starting a checkout and the same shopper completing or not completing their order.

When someone starts a checkout and doesn’t complete their order, that’s when you should send out your first abandoned cart message. Ideally, this should be automated and sent via the customer’s preferred mode of communication: SMS, email, push notification, messenger, etc.

The success rate of any cart abandonment communication starts to dwindle as time passes. With cart abandonment messages, the sooner you get in front of the customers with your hyper-personalized communication the better.
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What’s the optimal cadence/frequency?

Timing is everything for any marketing message, and abandoned cart communication is no different. Best practice for abandoned cart messages is to send the first message within an hour of cart abandonment.

The second message should be sent between 24-48 hours of cart abandonment whereas the optimal timing to send the third message falls just after 72 hours of cart abandonment.

Hot Tip: The number of messages, their strategy, their content, and their frequency should be based on your brand’s history, product line, content availability, and your customer’s preference.

Also, remember to ensure your abandoned cart series is set to cease sending communication after a customer has recovered their cart. Asking customers to check out for items they've just purchased can damage a brand’s reputation in the eyes of the shoppers.
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What content should you include in your abandonment series?

Your abandonment series should:

• Match your brand voice.
• Be honest and to the point.
• Be read in the “language” that your customers speak.
• Include the abandoned item's product or category name in the subject line/message.
• Link directly back to the abandoned shopping cart.
• Include product recommendations - Sometimes, this helps the shopper decide what they really want more than their original shopping cart item(s) or it can open their eyes to products that better fit their wants/needs.

The goal is to guide your customer through the path of least resistance, making it as quick and easy as possible to complete their purchase.

Good copywriting, from the subject line/headline and beyond, is the key to engaging with your shoppers. Ideally, in the abandoned cart messages, always include visually appealing and informative/educational images/videos of the product they abandoned.

Also, it has become customary to include a discount code for checking out, free shipping, or some type of offer to entice the customer to complete their checkout.

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