Cart Abandonment is a Major Issue: How To Solve it June 29, 2020, | Posted by Guest

Cart abandonment has always been a serious problem for ecommerce brands; when customers select items and get to the checkout phase, only to stop short of completing their purchase, it can mess up inventories and cost brands money. Site Impact knows that the obvious email marketing solution to this issue is automated cart abandon emails--but there is actually a recent spike in the problem, thought to be related to the uncertainties around the pandemic, looming layoffs, and more. Today we’re going to look into the deeper aspects of using email to deal with cart abandons, and how to boost your cart abandon email game.

The problem: abandoned carts

Now, if you’re an ecommerce-based brand, the fact that abandoned carts are a major inventory and profit issue is no secret. But for those brands that don’t have--or don’t yethave--a major ecommerce presence, it can seem to be a mountain made out of a molehill. But abandoned carts do cost money and cause inventory headaches. As long as the product is in a prospective customer’s cart, it is in limbo: it can’t be sold, but it also isn’t paid for. Of course, there’s a set period of time that most businesses will allow an abandoned cart to persist, but this could be days, or even weeks--in which time other customers who might be interested in the product may not be able to buy it (if all the inventory remaining is in abandoned carts, the product necessarily is marked ‘sold out,’ or ‘temporarily unavailable’), meaning potentially two lost sales--or more--instead of just one. Eventually, if it happens consistently enough, the merchant may have to sell off odd lots of the item at a steep discount, losing money yet again. All in all, not the ideal situation for any brand. And it’s become especially relevant as more companies are turning to ecommerce solutions to keep things rolling while consumers and business buyers alike are trying to mitigate their exposure to Covid-19 by staying home as much as possible.

Build a better cart abandon email

As brands see spikes in abandoned carts through their websites, it’s a good time to reexamine one of the mainstays of automated email marketing: the abandoned cart email. These typically are automated, triggered by the event of a prospective customer navigating away from the site without completing their purchase. The problems posed by abandoned carts meant that emails to try and get prospects to complete their purchases have been a mainstay for a while. But for too long, brands of all sizes have relied too heavily on a very formulaic approach to abandoned cart emails; and that reluctance to do the heavy lifting is coming home to roost. The solution here is simple: improve your abandoned cart email! Don’t just remind your prospective customer about their desire to purchase your product. Use data from cart abandons to create a set of different automated emails to go out, segmented by when the cart was abandoned. For example, if someone abandons their purchase just when the shipping comes up, a cart abandon email with a free shipping offer is far more likely to persuade than one offering a simple discount. But if they abandoned it earlier in the process, a discount may win the day--even a small one.

Cart abandon emails remain a scourge for ecommerce brands, and as uncertainties continue to reign over consumers and business buyers alike, it’s a good idea to brush up your automated emails and make them more effective through targeting your prospects with the right incentives. Contact Site Impact to learn how we take all of our clients’ campaigns to the next level.