You've poured your heart and soul into your online store. You've got great products, an awesome brand, and a website that converts. But you keep seeing those dreaded abandoned cart notifications pile up.
We've all been there. You fill up your cart, only to get distracted and wander off before hitting checkout. Hey, life happens! But as a business owner, those abandoned carts represent lost revenue. Revenue you could have had if you'd nudged customers at just the right moment.
So don’t despair. With the right follow-up tactics, you can turn many of those abandoned carts into sales. In this post, we’ll explore proven Shopify abandoned cart recovery strategies to maximize how much lost revenue you reclaim.
First, Let’s Understand Why Carts Get Abandoned
In order to recover abandoned carts, you need to know why they’re abandoned in the first place. A 2020 Baymard Institute study found the top reasons to be:
Extra costs like shipping or taxes made the total too high (24%)
Customers wanted to compare options or do more research (20%)
Customers weren't ready to commit or needed to think it over (18%)
Issues with entering payment info or checkout process (18%)
Account creation required (10%)
See the common thread? Most abandoned carts aren’t due to lack of interest. It’s external factors like sticker shock from unexpected costs, checkout friction, or customers not being ready to buy yet.
This means many abandoned carts are still warm leads you can recover with the right follow up approach.
Sweeten the Deal With Discounts
While you want to highlight the inherent value of their cart, there’s nothing wrong with dangling some savings to give customers extra incentive.
Popular abandoned cart discount options include:
Percentage discounts like 10% or 15% off
Free shipping
Dollar amount discounts like $10 off a $50 purchase
Just make sure your discount strategy aligns with your profit margins. You want to recover revenue, not lose money!
Whatever type of discount you offer, make sure it’s displayed prominently at the top of your abandoned cart emails. Don’t just mention it in the body text. You want it to catch the customer’s eye instantly.
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Sending Multiple Follow-Up Emails
While the automated emails are a great start, recovering abandoned revenue often requires multiple contacts.
Here’s a sample follow-up sequence you could try:
Email 1 (automated): Sent immediately after cart is abandoned
Email 2: 2 days after cart abandoned
Email 3: 5 days after cart abandoned
Email 4: 8 days after cart abandoned
Vary your message for each email. The first one should have the strongest call-to-action. Subsequent emails can take on more of a “Hey, just checking in!” tone while reminding customers of the offer.
End with Limited Scarcity
If customers still haven’t completed their purchase after several follow-ups, try invoking limited scarcity.
Example email copy:
“Heads up! That 15% off discount we extended to you last week expires tomorrow at midnight. Don’t miss out on these savings for your upcoming purchase.”
Scarcity prompts can effectively nudge extra hesitant customers to finally pull the trigger. Just take care not to overdo it across too many emails, or customers will disengage.
Review Your Metrics
Once you’ve implemented an abandoned cart workflow, be sure to regularly review your:
Abandoned cart recovery rate - What % of abandoned carts are you recovering? Industry average is between 10-30%.
Incremental revenue from recovered carts - How much extra revenue is your follow-up stream generating? Do a monthly or quarterly comparison to see if it’s trending up.
Tweak and refine your strategy based on which emails get the highest open and click rates. Double down on what converts!
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Beyond Email: Multichannel Follow-Up
While email is the backbone for most abandoned cart programs, savvy brands use other channels as well:
SMS Texts
SMS open rates crush email, hovering around 98%. Use SMS as a supplement to your abandoned cart emails for the fastest follow up.
Retargeting Ads
Remarket to customers who abandoned their carts via Facebook/Google ads. Displaying relevant products keeps you top of mind.
Live Chat
If someone abandons their cart, have a chat rep proactively reach out with an offer. The personal touch can be more compelling.
On-Site Retargeting
Platforms like Prooftiles let you show on-site banners to customers who abandon carts, nudging them to come back and complete their purchase.
Direct Mail
Send customers a physical mailer like a discounts flyer or handwritten note. The tangible touchpoint can spark re-engagement.
Review Your Abandoned Cart Customer Profiles
Comb through your analytics to uncover any patterns among customers who abandon their carts vs. those who purchase.
Look for trends around:
Device used - Do mobile shoppers abandon more often? Optimize checkout for mobile.
Traffic source - Are cart abandonments higher among certain traffic channels? Focus on nurturing those leads.
Location - Are international customers bailing more due to high shipping costs? Consider offering flat-rate international shipping.
Products - Are certain items ditched most often? Maybe their product pages need improvement.
Time on site - Did customers who abandoned their cart spend very little time browsing? Work on grabbing their attention faster.
Any insights into your abandoning customers can help you fine tune your site experience and follow ups.
Promote Your Latest Release with Handcrafted Follow Up
Abandoned carts are par for the course in ecommerce. But with the right follow up strategy, you can turn those lost leads into found money.
Start by configuring automated emails to deliver timely reminders. Sweeten the deal with limited discounts. And make use of multichannel outreach via SMS, ads, on-site messaging, and more to maximize your reach.
Review your metrics regularly to see what’s moving the revenue needle—and what’s still leaving money on the table. With consistent optimization, you’ll soon be recovering carts like a pro.
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