5 Abandoned Cart Email Best Practices To Recover Lost Purchases 🛒

5 Abandoned Cart Email Best Practices To Recover Lost Purchases
Michael S

By MICHAEL S

Abandoned cart emails help retail businesses recover sales from people that add items, then abandon their shopping cart.

I wrote this article for anyone that wants to learn how to get started and maximize their chances for success right out of the gate.

According to SaleCycle, 76.9% of people put items in their online shopping cart only to leave it without completing their purchase.
This is why marketers usually turn towards emails to help recover these abandoned sales.

And there’s a really good reason for that: 46.1% of people open cart abandonment emails, 13.3% click inside the email, and of those clicks, more than 35% end up buying something. (Omnisend stats.)

By creating a quality abandoned cart email strategy, the following things will happen:

– You’ll win the order 10-15% of the time.
– You’ll create a great customer service moment and leave an everlasting impression on the customer.
– You’ll create a positive emotional connection with your prospective customers.

In this post, I’ll discuss 5 important cart recovery email best practices that can help any eCommerce stores to increase the performance of their cart abandonment emails.
 
 

1. The Number Of Emails 📧

A common challenge for eCommerce marketers is trying to figure out the right number of emails to send in any given email series to maximize your sales without annoying your subscribers.

First of all, it’s always a good idea to exclude those people from your Abandoned Cart Automation who already purchased so they won’t get any further reminder emails!

The general tendency that the first 2-3 emails of an abandoned cart
series has a much more than average open and conversion rate but you could lose a lot of revenue on the table if you stop there.

Sending out 4 or even 5 emails in a row could maximize your potential income without being too aggressive.
 
 

2. Timing

 
The timing of your cart abandonment emails is essential. Make sure to send your first email within an hour of abandonment.

If you wait too long, you will lose that shopping urge that caused the shopper to add the item to their cart in the first place.

After that, you can send the rest of the emails pretty frequently like one a day. What is also important is to try to send your emails within a week and don’t extend further to not lose momentum.
 
 

3. Include The Abandoned Products 🧸

 
People can sometimes forget about their abandoned cart items. That’s why some of the best cart recovery emails are those that remind the receiver when they left in their cart.

It’s not enough anymore to just include the name of the product. The image is a must.
 
 

4. Use Scarcity 🆘

 
Scarcity is an effective psychological trigger for any marketing message…
And using it in your cart recovery emails is no exception.

Informing prospects that they risk missing out on items in their cart invites them to complete their order.

For example, a good strategy can be to describe the abandoned item/s as low in stock.
 
 

5. Use The Right Call To Action ❗️

 
Bold and attractive CTAs can grab the attention of the shopper and push them towards an action you want them to take.

But it’s easy to forget that how you phrase your CTA has a big impact on your emails’ effectiveness to convert cart abandoners into buyers.

For example, asking people to buy from you is one of the highest levels of commitment you can ask for.

So, instead of using the word buy in your email CTAs, reduce the scope of the commitment by rephrasing your CTA.
For instance, you could ask readers to “Visit Your Cart”.


A good abandoned cart email strategy contains many different elements which vary greatly from business to business.

But I hope that these best practices have brought you closer to creating an abandoned cart email series that works for you and your audience.

If you interested in more eCommerce email marketing automation, here you can learn more about how to set up an effective Welcome Flow.

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