If I was given just $1 every time I heard a retailer complain about their cart abandonments I’d be very rich, but what I want you to know is, you are not alone.
According to the Baymard Institute’s most recent report, over 69% of all carts are abandoned That is a staggering 7 carts out of every 10-abandoned right at the last stage of the sale. You managed to optimize your landing pages effectively, drive traffic to your website and even get products into the shopping cart but then lose the sale at the last moment. For no “real” reason that you can identify. I can feel your frustration.
Statistics show us that cart abandonment has become more of an issue over the years with more consumers than ever backing out of a sale right at the last minute. eCommerce companies Worldwide are losing billions of $ of revenue and the blame for this rise falls on several identifiable issues and more:
The checkout process was too complicated
The consumer had no time/did not want to sign-up for an account
The consumer had no time to complete the purchase and planned to return later
The consumer decided to shop around for competitive prices
The items were not 100% what the consumer was looking for
The shipping of the item would take too long or was too expensive
Remove the barriers to cart completion today
While it would be impossible to say that you can successfully tackle each of these issues and remove them entirely, we can say that it is possible to reduce your abandoned carts and recover lost revenue. We know why a consumer may walk away from a purchase, now it’s time to tackle them head on in the various pain-points.
1: Improve User Experience
The Baymard report suggests that up to 27% of consumer cart abandonment is due to poor user experience such as the checkout process being too long. Resolving the technical issues by simplifying the checkout process and providing an option to checkout as a guest will help remove some purchase-completion barriers and recoup some of the lost revenue. Another user experience issue that is high on the list for abandoning carts is payment security on the website. If you want your consumers to trust you then you should place your SSL (or other) security badge and Trustmark logos clearly on the website and most definitely display the secure payment badge on the payment page. Many retailers also include shopping and price guarantee badges and programs on their checkout pages. Whenever you can add a sense of security do it!
Technical barriers are not the only barriers that exist. Consumers have become far savvier and are willing to walk away without looking back.
2: Found a better price elsewhere
Well, we did warn you that consumers are becoming savvy. There is no surprise that consumers are going to do a quick online search to see if they can find the product cheaper elsewhere. There are several ways you can combat the price comparison war through your abandoned cart emails.
You can include a price guarantee stamp within your email. Price guarantee will automatically allow your consumer to see that you are willing to give them the best possible deal. Most people will see the price guarantee offer and will not look for further price comparisons.
Offer a time-bound coupon that can be used for completion of the abandoned cart. The reason we suggest that you make your coupons time-bound is to entice your consumer back to the website with a sense of urgency. “Act now!”
The cart abandonment emails give you the opportunity to provide additional reasons to purchase and add special offers aimed at enticing or encouraging consumers to return to their cart to complete their purchase.
The email example below gives you an example of a time-limited coupon. Talking Shop also adds a sense of urgency by explaining that the items in the cart are also only held for a limited period of time.
3: Unexpected costs
The main cause for unexpected costs is generally down to shipping fees. Free shipping has become pretty much the norm for many eCommerce websites so when a consumer suddenly comes across a shipping fee, no matter how small this fee may be, it tends to throw the sale back a step. Now we are not suggesting that you need to offer all your customers free shipping on every item, but you are risking losing a customer if you don’t target this barrier in your abandoned cart email.
Free shipping is twice as effective as a regular discount coupon but it does not have to be something you offer all the time. You may wish to introduce free shipping at certain times of the year when competition is at its highest. With the abandoned cart email you can introduce free shipping for a limited period only to bring some urgency to the email or free with a minimum order value. Since cart abandonment emails may be set-up as an automation series you can easily test your CTA’s (calls to action) in each automation and find out what works best for your store and your customer type. You may want to start off with a simple “products in cart” reminder then followed up with a coupon code and if that still didn’t work try a free shipping offer. The canvas is yours!
Below is an example of how Far Fetched has used a time-limited free-delivery incentive to coax their consumers back to their cart:
4: Didn’t have time to complete the purchase
For many consumers, there is no real reason behind the abandoned cart, they simply decided that they had no time to complete the purchase and would return later. This is a normal part of the sales cycle. In fact, most buyers will only complete their purchase on the third or even fourth visit to the website. What is important in this case is that you ensure that the shopping cart remains so they can return to the purchase without the need to go through the entire shopping process again and that you capture email address so you can initial the abandoned cart series.
Even though we are aware that most consumers do not purchase in their first visit to the website, you must still initiate the abandoned cart series to ensure they don’t forget to return. Your abandoned cart email targets those that complete a purchase in a unique way. The email acts as a reminder of the products that were left in the cart, but it also provides an important URL link back to the actual cart with the products ready to be purchased. Remarkety’s abandoned cart URL is unique, it has the ability to restructure the abandoned cart for the consumer across all website browsers and not just that of the original cart.
Below you can see an example of an abandoned cart email from QuickSilver. The email is short and concise and includes easy navigation of the website, full visual of items that were abandoned in the cart and a link that will take the user directly back to the cart to complete the purchase. This email example also highlights that delivery is free and gives the consumer a way to contact them if they had any other issue that needs resolving.
Cart abandonment email campaigns are the most effective tool eCommerce businesses have when it comes to recouping lost revenues. On average the abandoned cart email will recover between 18-22% of lost revenue for your business, revenue that would have otherwise fallen into the hands of your competitor.
eCommerce businesses face intense competition not only with other online stores but also with bigger brands that have the competitive edge due to their brand reputation and customer loyalty. Abandoned cart emails are designed to help you overcome that hurdle and effectively engage your consumer, build a connection and convert that connection into a sale. Any sales you recover from your abandoned cart campaign is revenue that would have been lost if you had failed to take any action.
Speak to a Remarkety email marketing specialist today and let us show you how to set-up your cart abandonment campaigns! Schedule your 1-1 demo.
If I was given just $1 every time I heard a retailer complain about their cart abandonments I’d be very rich, but what I want you to know is, you are not alone. 
