An abandoned cart email would be an exceptional solution to recover lost sales caused by cart abandonment.
As cart abandonment occurs 7 out of 10 times in e-commerce, it is essential to have an effective method for cart recovery in place.
This blog explains why cart recovery emails are an effective yet simple solution for recovering abandoned checkouts and increasing sales.
Let’s learn all about abandoned cart emails, why shopping cart abandonment happens, and best abandoned cart email examples, templates, and best practices for using these emails to convert abandoned carts into sales.
Send abandoned cart emails to win back sales with Retainful’s easy-to-setup email automation.
What Are Abandoned Cart Emails?
The abandoned cart emails are reminders sent to remind customers about items left behind in their shopping carts and prompt them to complete the purchase. These emails are explicitly triggered when customers check out from the store without purchasing items in their cart.
The abandoned cart recovery email is a gentle reminder to customers who were just one click away from purchasing your products but didn’t make any purchases. Though there are several cart recovery methods, the abandoned cart email set them out as very beneficial compared to others.
Major Reasons For Abandoned Carts
Abandoned carts lock in more than half of the revenue of e-commerce store owners, so what makes it recurring? Here’s the answer
1. Unexpected Costs
While the customers shop online and find extra costs such as handling charges, shipping costs, delivery charges, etc, the likes are very low for them to complete the purchase.
That’s because the customer is not aware of those costs, and immediately they feel it’s not under their budget.
E-commerce store owners would do this to earn more profit but it backfires by discouraging the customers.
How to avoid: Exclude such additional costs and show you’re a genuine seller with your payments.
2. Tiring Checkout Process
During the checkout process, the customer is at the end of their entire shopping session, but what if completing the shopping is a hard part? It makes them wind up their shopping right away and abandon the carts.
The checkout procedure of your e-commerce store shouldn’t be a long run or a complex one.
How to avoid: Develop an easy and short checkout process that asks for only mandatory details.
3. Absence of Trust Elements
Let’s say, a customer checks your product, and the next thing they’ll do is look for reviews from other customers.
And if there isn’t any they could drop the idea of purchasing the product and the cart will be abandoned.
How to avoid: Have trusted reviews and testimonials from previous customers and show that you are a genuine seller in the market.
4. Website Performance Issues
Performance issues like slow loading, website crashes, and glitches would irritate customers and give them a bad shopping experience.
How to avoid: Build a website that is optimal and could adapt usage on different devices. Regularly maintain your website to fix bugs and related issues.
5. Limited Payment Methods
Each customer could seek different payment options; if you provide only limited payment methods, they will move to another store that suits their comfort.
How to avoid: Provide a range of payment options like credit or debit cards, online bank transfers, etc, if needed, you could add the BNPL(buy now pay later) option too.
6. One-Time Account Creation
Customers for the first time mostly aren’t comfortable creating an account, they have to browse for a while and get convinced to create an account.
So that time must be given to them, or else it appears as if you’re blocking the customer from shopping for the very first time.
How to avoid: Let your customers shop as guests initially and after the purchase, you could insist on account creation. Make the account creation an option, not mandatory.
7. Products Being Out of Stock
If a product in your store is out of stock and is unavailable for a long time, the customer is more likely to get frustrated about purchasing from your store.
How to avoid: Make sure to refill your stock and do it on a regular time interval. And provide clear information about the product’s stock before the checkout stage.
Now that you know the possible reasons for shopping cart abandonment, follow these simple steps to reduce cart abandonment.
Next, let’s look at abandoned checkout emails and get an idea of them.
Why Are Abandoned Cart Emails The Best Cart Recovery Method?
Cart recovery emails are widely used in email marketing. According to Barilliance, cart abandonment emails have an average open rate of 43.33% and a conversion rate of 18%, yielding sales.
The abandoned checkout emails sent at a time interval had these conversion rates.
- Within the first 2-3 hours – 20.3%
- Within the 24 hours – 12.2%
- After 24 hours – 17.7%
- Within the next 48 hours – 7.7%
- The final email within the next 72 hours – 18.2%
With these numbers, it is clear that abandoned carts proved to give satisfying conversion rates to e-commerce store owners.
When abandoned cart emails are integrated with automation features, they can be leveraged to their full potential.
Here are the top 10 abandoned cart email examples with templates you can rely upon to recover your lost sales.
10 Best Abandoned Cart Email Examples
Now you know what you need to do when you write an abandoned checkout email but, I’d say it ain’t enough.
A cart abandonment email example that converts shouldn’t look like an ordinary email. It’s supposed to be more captivating and make the customer empty their shopping cart.
Below are the best abandoned cart email examples to help you. With these, you can learn how to structure your emails and increase cart recovery.
1. Rael
Rael’s has one of the best abandoned cart email examples that begin with a free shipping deal and an easy subject line.
They’ve included clear images of items in the cart and recommended products.
Also, they give a concise description of their products.
Rael has placed their CTAs in the right spot to direct the customer to the checkout page instantly.
This abandoned cart email example shows customer support and assistance through subscriptions, text messages, free shipping, and referral bonus options.
2. Javy
Javy’s abandoned checkout email shows a minimal appearance with tiny icons of the products in the cart and only one simple CTA that redirects to the checkout.
This abandoned cart email example, included with an offer that lasts a limited time, is more likely to provide conversion.
3. Homes Alive
Homes Alive uses a slightly funny approach to the customers with their subject line: “You left something pawsome behind.”
This could be one of the best-abandoned cart email subject lines, which shows its creativity and uniqueness.
They include clear CTAs, and their Contact Us CTA button, which is to help the customer with queries about products and other issues.
Their emails don’t stop there, they give shipping and return policies down to give assurance to the customers.
4. Pulp & Press
This template makes it one of the perfect abandoned cart email examples by Pulp & Press, which looks promising.
They are subtle with their language in reminding the customer of what’s in their cart.
Their unique CTA content creates a sense of urgency for the customer not to miss out on the year’s best deal.
And most importantly they show their customers’ social proof to gain trust and earn reliability to their products with the reviews from previous customers.
This example has all the necessary things a CTA, a catchy subject line, an appealing offer, and customer reviews.
Finally, the unsubscribe option is given to focus on the customer’s freedom whether to continue the subscription or not. This shows the customers they are valued.
With all these elements in place and a helpful approach to customers, this template is a perfect choice.
5. DS & Durga
DS & Durga’s email gives faster delivery, i.e., on the same day to a specific range of customers.
Their idea of providing same-day delivery for those who purchase more than $100 will motivate the customer to overcome their hesitations in buying the product.
Finally, it comes along the view cart CTA button, and they haven’t included anything additional to keep their email short and clean.
By their simple appearance and showing the important content to customers, short abandoned cart email examples like this can be effective.
6. Sonos
Sonos’s cart recovery email is so genuine, through the email they show their enticing way of approaching their customers.
The subject line speaks for the product and it’s a perfect opening for this email. Their language is subtle just like their template.
It shows clear CTAs for all needed actions like viewing products, viewing carts, and shopping now.
They provide free shipping on all orders, which can motivate the customers to reduce hesitations related to additional costs.
The Shop Now-Pay Later option and 45-day return policy are used by Sonos which shows their great customer service and helps with the certainty they have in returning after purchasing or using the product.
Not just this, at the bottom, with a learn more CTA, they deliver the message about sustainability and their commitment to helping environment-conscious consumers.
Sonos just did a splendid job in addressing all the objections the customer might have.
7. Nike
Nike shows off a great abandoned cart email that welcomes customers with a big discount which can tempt them to buy the product instantly.
They show the image of the product left in the cart to make the customer rethink, to complete their shopping.
Below that is the CTA button to check out immediately.
If the customer has second thoughts or even considers buying another product there are other product recommendations given below which could help the upselling of other products too.
Also, it comes with additional customer support for customers who are in membership with Nike.
This template could make a superb example of an abandoned cart email template because of the clear structure, mentions of free shipping, easy return policy, and customer support.
8. Jack Wills
Jack Will’s email is a clean and composed one with only a few things to say.
The item descriptions are given, along with crisp images of the products.
The total value of the cart is included along with CTA buttons, with clear information on the price and discounts.
It has made the process a lot easier for the customer to finish the purchase.
So the customer has a lot fewer steps to take while purchasing their products that’s why this email would be a favourable example.
9. Target
Target’s email copy includes images of products, and it begins by showing discounts on the product’s price and stating, “New price alert.”
Giving offers is a strategy that could provide high conversion rates as it makes the customer feel, they’re getting a better deal to finish the shopping and Target has followed it.
If the customer still isn’t interested in those items, they have recommended some of their other products too.
This email example works very well with clear product images, discounts, and including the rest of the elements can provide sales conversion.
10. Asics
Asics made theirs a great abandoned cart email by including free shipping, upselling for other products through recommendations, displaying only best-selling products as suggestions, and showing the total amount.
Additionally, the free shipping is like the cherry on top of this email.
Asics’s email triggers cart recovery with visual appeal, upselling, and reducing hesitations with free shipping.
These abandoned cart recovery email strategies will turn your abandoned carts into sales conversions for sure.
These are the best abandoned cart email examples and templates you can try sending.
Next, we’ll take a look at the best practices involved in writing abandoned cart recovery emails.
8 Abandoned Cart Email Best Practices To Follow
Have these abandoned cart email best practices in place and use them to recover more abandoned checkouts and turn them into revenue.
1. Sending Abandoned Cart Email Series
Land the right abandoned checkout emails to recover abandoned carts because sending emails in the wrong order cannot recover any business.
This is the order to send your abandoned checkout emails,
- Email 1 – The gentle reminder
- Email 2 – The attractive incentive
- Email 3 – Evoking the urgency
- Email 4 – Sharing the social proof
- Email 5 – The final call
Send multiple abandoned cart emails at well-timed intervals using Retainful’s pre-built workflows.
2. Sending Emails At The Right Time
Knowing the best time to send the email plays a bigger part in cart recovery.
So the best time to send your first abandoned cart recovery email should be within the first 1-3 hours from the shopping cart abandonment.
Tip: Your first abandoned cart email should only be a gentle reminder and not something with a lot of intensity in it.
- The first email should be sent within an hour of the shopping cart abandonment. Conversion rate:20.3%
- Your second email should be sent within the first 24 hours after they leave your store. Conversion rate:17.7%
- The third and last cart recovery email can be sent anywhere between 48-72 hours. Conversion rate:18.2%
Stats say these are the best times to send cart abandonment emails to your customers’ inboxes.
3. Customer Segmentation
Using email segmentation, you can send a specific type of cart abandonment email to different groups of customers.
Segmentation is done based on:
- Product type: Look down to the products and categories that the customers are more interested in and group them respectively.
- Areas of interest: Customers could shop online based on offers, higher star ratings, new arrivals, featured products, etc, So customize your emails based on these to increase cart recovery.
- Cart value: The total value of items in the cart, so you can provide suitable discounts based on the cart value. (Higher cart value- higher discounts; Lower cart value- lower discounts)
4. Offer Discounts
While completing the purchase, people most likely expect an offer. So give them one.
If you aren’t providing discounts or giving out fewer offers, then you’re missing big time.
To avoid this, add a discount to the final price so that most customers feel that it’s a better deal and will finish their purchase.
5. Reserve Their Carts
Reserving customers’ carts is like showing that you care for them and their business.
But you don’t have to hold it forever, you set a timer or keep it reserved for a while.
When the customer notices this, it also creates an urge to complete the purchase within the expiring time.
6. Showing Social Proofs
Including social proof and testimonials from other customers of your products can improve the value of your store and what you sell.
You could influence your new customers to purchase your products with these reviews and ratings from old customers.
By including social proof, you’re not just winning sales but also the trust of your customers which keeps your sales coming in.
7. Remind Them What They Have Left
Send abandoned checkout emails with the exact product that the customer has missed purchasing, so it reminds them why they needed the product and they’d rethink about buying it.
Include the items left in the cart, and add a clear product description and a clean image of the product.
Remind the customers with their interested products in the cart, and it can bring you a hike in abandoned cart email conversion rate.
8. Adding A CTA (Call-To-Action) Button
CTAs are like the main picture, it is where the conversion happens and moves the customer further to finish the purchase.
It should redirect customers directly to their shopping cart and they can complete the purchase with only a few more clicks.
The CTAs can also contain offers or discounts to be applied during the checkout.
Assign the right option to the correct CTA button and place it at the right spot.
Don’t forget these abandoned cart recovery email strategies. Follow these to reduce abandoned cart rates.
But with this information in hand, you’re supposed to know how exactly you can write an abandoned checkout email, we’ll get it covered up next.
How To Write Best-Abandoned Cart Emails?
To create a great abandoned cart email all that information isn’t just enough! With the above data you might be ready to send an abandoned checkout email, but could it give the best?
That is why you gotta know how to write a perfect cart abandonment email that helps you get back that lost revenue.
1. Appealing Subject Lines
The subject line of the abandoned cart email is like your first handshake with your customer.
Mentioning the offer in the subject line gave an open rate of 44%. This shows how crucial it is to use a subject line in your abandoned cart email.
So start with short and catchy subject lines that reflect your brand tone.
Abandoned cart email subject lines add a teaser to your email of what your email is about – creating urgency, personalization, customer engagement, giving offers and discounts, etc.
Using subject lines in cart recovery emails can please your customers from the start and increase the chances of conversion.
2. Being Personal
First, track and analyze your customers’ activity in your store, then you can act more personally and show that you care for them.
26% of the abandoned checkout emails with personalized subject lines were opened when compared to the emails that didn’t have one.
Begin with the customer’s name, this shows that you are not just sending bland emails but emails that are exclusive, personalized, and enchanting to the customers.
Also, you could structure them by addressing the customer’s purpose or goal for purchasing the product.
And images of products left in the cart could be attached to your cart abandonment email.
A personalized tone to approach your customer can make the email more conversational and engaging.
3. Keep It Clear And Concise
A clean email is how an email should be, add a subject line, an offer, a few images of the items in the cart, and finally a CTA button, that is all it takes.
So include only what is important and avoid extra stuff hanging around in your email.
It can frustrate and make the customer close your email. That’s not what you need.
Write a composed abandoned cart email that delivers only the prior contents to the customer.
4. Provide Customer Support
Adding customer support minimizes the customer’s one-way search for their inquiries and helps them with your assistance.
Customers could be facing issues while shopping so they need your service a lot. Providing customer support shows that you prioritize your customers and help them resolve their shopping difficulties.
Don’t ever miss out on adding a customer support or contact option to your abandoned cart email.
5. Never forget the FOMO
The FOMO (fear of missing out) technique will work most of the time.
It tricks the customer into completing the purchase, instilling a little fear that their product is going out of the customer’s hand, so they’ll choose not to let that happen.
This is also a trusted method to include in your abandoned cart email.
These tactics could help you build a captivating abandoned cart email that takes your fears about abandoned checkouts and their problems.
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Conclusion
Now, you have all you wanted to know about abandoned cart emails, their strategies, and what you need to do to get the most out of them.
From this blog, you can see that it is easily possible to recover abandoned checkouts with cart recovery emails and that is one of the reasons abandoned cart email sits on top in comparison to other methods.
The advantages you could get through cart abandonment emails speak for it, keep all this information in mind, and have a great business in the future. Good luck.
Also Read:
- Shopify Abandoned Cart Email – Strategies and Templates to Recover Lost Sales
- How to Send WooCommerce Abandoned Cart Emails (+Examples)
Yes, you can have ready-to-use email templates available in Retainful, which is a great choice for email automation and readily available templates.
You can send up to 5 abandoned cart emails per customer; it can exceed, but 5 emails are recommended.
No, your email automation plugin will automatically stop sending emails if the first email is successful.
It reminds the customer to buy the products left in their cart and finish their purchase. Which leads to sales conversion for e-commerce store owners.
To create an abandoned cart email sequence:
1. Install and activate the Retainful dashboard.
2. Go to ‘Automation’ -> Create Workflow -> Choose ‘Abandoned Cart Recovery with dynamic coupon’.
Of course, you can send abandoned checkout emails to win back your lost sales. You can use email automation plugins to ease up things for you.
Customers can abandon their carts for some reasons like,
Unexpected costs during checkout, complicated checkout process, website performance issues, lack of social proof, etc.
The recommended time to send your abandoned cart email is within the first 1-2 hours of the shopping cart abandonment.
Certainly, cart recovery emails are not marketing emails but are a marketing strategy that re-attempts to gain back lost sales.
You can send emails to non-subscribers too, or if you don’t need to you can edit it in the automation settings and set it to only subscribed customers.
