6 Effective Abandonment Cart Strategies That Ecommerce Marketers Use.

November 2, 2022

eCommerce digital marketers know that more than half of all customers will abandon their shopping carts before they even finish checkout. If you want to win these customers back, it’s up to you to put in the work to get them through the checkout process on your website and convert them into a customer. In this post, we’ll show you 3 effective strategies for getting more sales with your abandoned carts.

eCommerce Marketers Capture Partial Entries

If you’re looking to capture more sales from abandoned carts, the first thing to consider is capturing partial entries in your check out forms. This means that if a user starts filling out a form on your site but doesn’t finish, you have their details. It saves their progress, allowing you to reach out to them later.

There are a few ways to do this:

• Use a tool like JotForm’s Form Builder, which allows you to create forms that can be partially completed and saved.
• Use a tool like Wufoo’s Save & Exit feature, which allows users to save their progress on a form and come back later.
• Add a ‘Save for Later’ button to your forms, which allows users to bookmark the form or save it to their computer for later completion.
• Use session cookies to track user progress on a form – this can be done with most web development frameworks.
• Store partial entries in a database – this requires some custom development but can be worth it for complex forms.
• Trigger an automated email for every abandoned cart, incentivising the user to complete the purchase.

Which method you choose will depend on your technical capabilities and the needs of your specific form. But implementing any of these strategies can help you increase sales by capturing more leads from abandoned carts. If this all sound too technical, eCommerce Marketers like Thinkroom can help.

Turn Emails into Sales

Next, you’ll want to communicate with the people that have bailed on you, incentivising them to return and complete the order. Email marketing is a powerful tool that can help eCommerce Marketers achieve better conversions. By following these simple tips, you can turn more of your abandoned carts into sales.

• Follow up with a personalized email: A personal touch goes a long way. When customers receive an email that looks like it was written just for them, they are more likely to act on it.
• Make it easy to buy: Include a link to the product page in your email so customers can easily purchase the item they were interested in.
• Offer an incentive: Including a discount or special offer in your email will entice customers to complete their purchase.
• Urgency works: Create a sense of urgency by including words like “limited time” or “while supplies last” in your email. This will prompt customers to take action before it’s too late.
• Keep it short and sweet: No one wants to read a novel in their inbox. Keep your emails concise and to the point to avoid losing readers’ attention.

Block people copying your product descriptions.

This isn’t specifically an abandonment cart strategy, nor is it well known, but if someone is shopping around, they’ll copy your items’ product description or model number and paste it into Google to find the exact same product for a cheaper price. eCommerce marketers can make life difficult for them by blocking their ability to copy and paste this. If it doesn’t copy, there’s a high chance they give up and you’ll get the sale.

Use SMS incentives

Send a code to the user via SMS with an incentive that expires within 3 hours. SMS is a great way to get 100% opening rates, whereas email is often ignored. SMS does come at a cost, though, which needs to be factored into your eCommerce margins.

Stock Related Products.

Your abandonment cart strategy should include stocking related products. Many users want to buy multiple products from a single store . They might do this to avoid multiple delivery fees, or simply for convenience – It’s not always price related. Make sure you have a well-stocked online shop. This also means having plenty of items in stock so that customers can find what they’re looking for, and also making sure that your shop looks inviting and organized. Customers should be able to easily find what they’re looking for, and they should feel confident that they’ll be able to check out quickly and without any problems.

If you don’t have a lot of related items in stock, then work on this and you’ll likely see a considerable difference in your abandonment rate.

Don’t like discounts? Measure a simple reminder.

eCommerce Marketers will often recommend abandonment cart strategies focused around offering incentives which, results in dropping your margins. If that’s not your jam, then test and measure a simple reminder. A simple email with a message saying ‘Did you forget something?’ can often be a gentle reminder that consumers need. Many people take time to think about a purchase, and if you time your reminder well, it will raise your conversions.

Summary

Your abandonment cart strategy can change your business overnight, so don’t underestimate the power of getting it right. Don’t always give in to dropping your margins, test reminders first, and/or incentives that don’t cost. For example, free membership in your exclusive club. Don’t make it easy for users to price shop and restrict them from copying your product specs, and lastly, keep your online store fully stocked and relevant with related products.

We hope you enjoyed this article, and it stimulated some ideas. If you’d like to reach out and discuss your eCommerce business with Thinkroom, please connect with us.