What’s one profit-crippling problem all ecommerce businesses face?
Cart abandonment.
We need to accept cart abandonment will always occur.
Can’t stop it, but we can minimise it.
If you read my previous article then you’ll know there’s a whole collection of different reasons why customers might leave their shopping baskets.
Marketers put hours, weeks, even months worth of time and effort into testing and refining an abandoned cart email series to make sure their brand is maximising potential sales.
This effort is warranted.
Statistics show it costs five times more to attract new customers compared to retaining existing ones. An abandoned cart is your brand’s stumble 100 metres out from the end of a marathon.
You’re so close to completing a sale you’ve worked so hard to convert.
To give up here would be mind-bendingly thoughtless.
To make a half-hearted plea for a sale is almost as careless.
You’re so close to generating one of those loyal happy customers. One fifth of the effort to make a sale sounds mighty fine to me.
That’s exactly why you need to learn from the best abandoned cart emails in the ecommerce business. I’m going to show you a collection of our favourites from a broad range of different industries.
Each has a unique aspect you can appropriate to inspire your own abandoned cart email series, regardless of your brand’s niche.
Best Menswear abandoned cart email examples
Keep it simple stupid (KISS).
There’s no point spending countless time convincing the average fella why he needs to buy the latest seasonal designer piece. Men want reassurance. A bloke just wants to be comfortable and feel like he looks good.
Nothing too serious. Men love a bit of cheeky humour.
Let’s see how Chubbies and Threadsmiths are doing it.
Chubbies
First I want to show you Chubbies’ “old” abandoned cart email.
To see the full journey Chubbies’ lucky shoppers can experience after abandoning a cart – take a read of MailChimp’s incredibly detailed case study on “Chubbies Shorts Cart abandoner journey map.”
Most Effective Part of this Abandoned Cart Email
Brand Personality: Focus on the top left-hand corner of the email.
“I’m forgetful too.”
This copy immediately expresses brand’s unique personality and appeals to their target audience.
Chubbies customers start to feel like this email was crafted by a human rather than a computer. If you can maintain a consistent brand voice and talk to your target audience in their language, you can prove your brand is the right fit for the customer’s lifestyle (and you’ll be more likely to respond to the email).
One Simple Area for Improvement
Helpfulness: Straight up we can see this email’s main goal is to get you back to that cart!
Of course, that’s our primary aim.
But you need to work out why your customers emptied their cart and fix that problem. Simply asking the shopper to return to their cart is a lazy option. Some of your customers may have experienced technical difficulties, others might be uncertain about your shipping rates or returns process.
You should always provide a clear point of contact to make it easy for customers to get in touch if they need help. Remember our mantra?
“Customer’s don’t care about us, they care about their own problems!”
Focus on helpfulness and more sales will be your outcome. Your goal should be to help, not just to sell.
Now let’s contrast with Chubbies new and improved abandoned cart email – there’s a few key differences.
Most Effective Part of this Abandoned Cart Email
Simple layout: No slick graphics, styled images, or fancy text. So why is this email so effective?
The answer is simple (and holds within some invaluable email marketing advice).
When you open it you genuinely feel like someone has written you a personal email.
The email makes you feel like Chubbies genuinely care about you.
The biggest takeaway – you don’t have to make your abandoned cart email fancy. Simplicity converts. Focus on one simple call-to-action, add value to your readers, and help them into a sale.
You must be wary of the plain-text format. If you choose this option – your content needs to shine!
Add helpful contact details and make your copy remarkable. Chubbies gives you the perfect example of using humour. Whatever you decide, you want your copy to be unmistakably unique to your brand.
One Simple Area for Improvement
The team here at the Ecommerce Jungle Gym reckon this one is pretty difficult to fault.
Yes, some people might like pretty pictures but this email gets all the main points across.
I wanted to start us off with a winner, and Chubbies didn’t win our Best of Ecommerce Award for nothing.
Threadsmiths
There’s fearsome competition in the world of menswear ecommerce. Dudes love to shop online to avoid the inconveniences of the same in-store experience so many women love. This customer behaviour characteristic has driven menswear e-retailers to lead innovation in ecommerce personalisation.
Threadsmiths are one of a growing collection of impressive menswear ecommerce startups creating a unique brand with high quality products at a valuable price by selling direct to the consumer. Their abandoned cart email is consistent with the brand’s promise – simple and effective.
Most Effective Part of this Abandoned Cart Email
Customer survey: The final line of copy asks the customer for suggestions on how Threadsmiths can improve their website. What a brilliant addition – and a simple prompt to allow users to flag any technical issues impacting on their abandoned cart decision.
The layout of Threadsmiths’ email is why this example works so well, and you can follow this simple structure for your initial abandoned cart response:
- start with a question
- ask if the customer has any queries your brand can answer
- include a clear prompt to return to the saved cart and complete the purchase
- finish off by asking the customer for any feedback on how to improve the checkout experience
Threadsmiths do not use a link to provide feedback. Instead, they’ve structured the email as a personalised thread where the customer can reply straight away.
Customers don’t have to select different links depending on the nature of their question. There’s just one simple catch-all call-to-action.
Threadsmiths make the purchase experience easier for their uncertain customers and give themselves the opportunity to gain insights on customers shopping experience.
One Simple Area for Improvement:
Lengthy-URLs: It’s a nit-picky detail, but a simple fix. The long-winded URL link can easily be truncated, or substituted with a graphical call-to-action button. This way the conversion primary purpose of the email will be highlighted in contrast to the rest of the email (at the moment the info email address is the same colour, font and size as the CTA link).
Best Jewellery abandoned cart email examples
Jewellery purchases are significant, expensive, and fraught with indecision. Ecommerce jewellery stores need to reduce this uncertainty, find an effective way to differentiate themselves and provide a high-level of customer service.
If your customers are purchasing jewellery, there’s a good chance they’ve done their homework. They may have abandoned your cart. They may have abandoned your competitor’s cart. You want to provide your customers with as much value as possible so they come back to you.
The 5th
The 5th has shown a great way to stand out from competitors. They use puns to give their abandoned cart email personality and add urgency to entice the customer to finalise the sale.
Most Effective Part of this Abandoned Cart Email
Urgency: “Time is running out!” Punny start!
The opening copy triggers urgency and sparks window shoppers into action.
Without seeming pushy, you want to create a little urgency in your abandoned cart email as this will force yoru customers to think and act fast to complete the purchase (some brands even use a time-sensitive discount to incentivise a quick conversion, but there’s plenty of alternatives to discounting to help you keep your profit margins intact).
One Simple Area for Improvement
Discounting: There are times when pricing incentives can be effective (usually you don’t need to discount or de-value your products).
Discounting conditions your customers to wait for the bargain (and doesn’t reward those loyal customers for paying full price)
Think of all those profits you’re throwing away.
Your customers will wait for a discount to arrive before they finalise their purchase! Convince your customers that your listed price is the best possible value you can offer.
(If you are going to discount, try to make it your second or last abandoned cart email of a series. Position the discount as a last chance opportunity when the focus isn’t on reminding customers about their abandoned cart or clarifying any difficulties or questions).
Yield Design
Marketing experts proved three abandoned cart emails are most effective for reducing cart abandonment. But not all ecommerce brands have the capabilities to produce three, helpful abandoned cart emails.
Yield Design understands they’re up against some fierce jewellery store competition. They don’t want to blend in with the crowd and send a series of abandoned cart reminders. They want to give the customers who are willing to buy, a simple, one-time helpful reminder.
Most Effective Part of this Abandoned Cart Email
One-time reminder: Three abandoned cart emails hits the conversion sweet spot. A whole bunch of ecommerce email marketing research and a collection of experts agree on three emails as a good baseline to start with (remember to A/B test your results incase your store can improve conversions with more or less emails).
Sometimes you can get away with one!
Yield Design does a fine job. At the bottom of the email, their copy states this is a “one-time reminder”.
This lets the shopper know the pleasant reminder email is a one-time deal.
The best way to know whether one reminder best serves your business is to test. Start with three abandoned cart emails and analyse your response rates.
One Simple Area for Improvement
Generic copy: A recognisable brand voice can set your store apart from your competitors. Put the extra effort in to create unique copy (or find a contract editor to spruce up your work and add some flavour to your emails).
If your main focus is just on sending a reminder, take your chance to make an impression on your target audience. Make your copy prove your brand is the right fit for your customer’s lifestyle.
If you’re looking for some examples of ecommerce brands with remarkable, consistent and unique copy, ah: refer to the masters over at Chubbies. Every single word this brand publishes screams in the perfect voice for their target audience.
Best Leathergoods abandoned cart email examples
Purchasing leathergoods takes careful consideration. An online wallet/bag/purse purchase is usually costly so your content needs to work harder to convince and assure customers of their decision.
Hardgraft
Hardgraft has developed a flawless abandoned cart email design. From the layout to the copy to the call-to-action button. This cart abandonment email deserves a big thumbs up.
Most Effective Part of this Abandoned Cart Email
Clear call-to-action: Hi-five Hardgraft!
This abandoned cart email is simple, easy to read and most importantly- clearly states the direct call-to-action: “Buy now.”
It’s hard to go wrong when your abandoned email series has one obvious call-to-action button.
Notice the colour contrast of the button? The gold block stands out nicely, yet still ties in with the overall colour palette. The call-to-action copy is also very direct. The preceding copy is soft and helpful. Hardgraft understand the purpose of this email for their customer.
First, the shopper is given an opportunity to solve any problems with their order. Next comes a strong urge to finish the purchase. No fuss, but if you’re ready to complete your purchase you have the button to take you straight to the checkout.
One Simple Area for Improvement
Hardgraft have done some A-grade work here.
These guys have earned themselves a solid customer-friendliness gold star.
The email itself is not beautifully designed. You don’t need expensive bells and whistles – just genuinely helpful approach.
However, if we had to flag something Hardgraft could improve – I’d draw attention to the product image supplied in the email.
The current thumbnail is small and left-aligned. Hardgraft have missed a chance to get their would-be customer virtually salivating over the beauty of their premium quality product.
Leathergoods are bought on detail. The quality of stitching, design, leather and finish are paramount – you decide to buy based on these sensory details. When the online customer can’t touch or smell the product, your content needs to evoke the emotions and feelings from the customer.
Hardgraft should make their beautiful product the visual hero. Place the product image front and centre. Blow up the size of the thumbnail so the users are reminded of the beautiful thing they want to show off to their friends. Re-trigger the feelings behind that impulse leathergoods purchase decision.
Best Sports and Equipment abandoned cart email examples
SurfStitch
Surfstitch ticks one of the most important boxes – these Aussie ecommerce content marketing shredders get perfect 10’s for sending out three abandoned cart emails. Almost all email marketing research, ecommerce experts, CRO specialists and brand A/B tests tend to suggest a series of three emails as the ideal abandoned cart series rule of thumb.
Email 1:
Most Effective Part of this Abandoned Cart Email
Reduction of uncertainty: Surfstitch’s free shipping and return policy is clear and concise. The supporting graphics reduce any lingering confusion and highlights the benefits of purchasing with Surfstitch.
I want to stress the importance of simplicity for your customers. You need to make your copy simple and clear. Confusion and uncertainty are sworn enemies of our old friend Mr Conversion. Keep your customer’s job nice and easy. Offer helpfulness in the form of a simple solution to a problem or a quick path to purchase.
One Simple Area for Improvement
Add an email or live chat prompt: A customer-service contact number is good. It allows your potential customers to communicate with a real person – helping you solve problems quickly.
Not all your customers want to grab the phone and ring up, though. People are time poor. Your customers, particularly the younger generation, will often prefer a text or messaging option.
Customers want quick and easy answers. Here’s a few options you can provide to make your cart abandoner’s life easier:
- Prompt the user to reply with any questions to the email address supplied
- Offer a link to your online store’s live chat functionality
- Add a link to a detailed FAQ document with info around shipping, delivery, returns and other common abandoned cart trigger queries
Email 2:
Most Effective Part of this Abandoned Cart Email
Helpful reminder: This is a good example of an email re-reminder. The copy “Don’t forget,” is basically saying, ‘Hey! Your order is still here if you want it’ The copy is punchy and casual, acting as a friendly reminder rather than a sleazy aggressive pitch. An added focus on accentuating the benefit of free shipping helps tip the user toward a purchase without being too pushy.
One Simple Area for Improvement
Same message: The purpose of this email seems similar to the first. A re-reminder email still needs to add more value for the reader. The second tap on the shoulder can become irritating.
Perceptive users may be annoyed by this seemingly duplicated message and consider the email more of a promotional tactic than a friendly reminder.
Instead, Surfstitch should focus more on the free shipping offer. The vague allusion in the ‘send for free’ headline copy needs emphasising. Why not add an additional sentence about the ‘free 100 day returns policy’ to support the complimentary shipping teaser. Show the reader there’s absolutely no reason not to buy now.
The body copy could be changed to provide a fresh perspective and add some unique brand character. “Get back to your cart before your items swim away” would do the job nicely.
Your customers probably already saw your first email and chose not to purchase. This time you need to try a different focus. Don’t just repeat yourself.
Email 3:
Most Effective Part of this Abandoned Cart Email
One last incentive:
Surfstitch ends on the textbook abandoned cart email series crescendo – an incentive to purchase.
If all else fails, use one last prod to convert your sale before you empty that trolley for good.
However, the incentive used in this instance could be more effective with a number of simple tweaks:
- Scarcity is your friend. Use a time constraint to urge your user to pull the trigger. Make it clear the offer is only available for 72 hours.
- Discounts are a profit-gobbling, brand de-valuing monster to be avoided at absolutely all costs. Instead of a 20% off incentive, Surfstitch could have offered a freebie along with the purchase. This encourages full-price purchases and allows you to save the best rewards for the most loyal customers. Surfstitch currently offers a selection of freebies with purchases so this approach is more than possible.
- End with a clear expectation. Remember, we want to help, not just to sell. Spell this out to your user. Explain this will be the final reminder, add a quick prompt to contact a dedicated customer service email address with any related question – then wish the user all the best. If you plan on sending more regular emails, outline the frequency to expect and the nature of the content. Helpful style advice and first dibs on new offers, are usually the best email-open-rate drawcards.
One Simple Area for Improvement
Unnecessary after-pay: Buy now, pay later usually works best for expensive products. For lower-priced items, it can give off the image that your items are overpriced.
It’s a nice try giving customers that extra push to finalise the purchase. If you want to add this option then you can but you’re likely targeting a very small segment of your market.
If you are adding in these types of payment option, relook your target market. Is your main target market cost-conscious customers? If the answer is no then you should take the option out.
Reid Cycles
For a sporting equipment ecommerce store, abandoning a bike purchase is a pretty big deal compared to abandoning a helmet.
Reid Cycles aims to reduce customer uncertainties and be helpful – even after purchasing the product. Reid Cycles shows us you can introduce helpful after-care, into your abandoned cart email.
Email 1:
Most Effective Part of this Abandoned Cart Email
Explicit customer value: I keep mentioning this word value. For good reason. You might have guessed – it’s fairly important. Your customers want to know the benefits of purchasing from your store.
Reid Cycles provides customers with free shipping, lifetime frame warranty and 12 months free servicing.
Focus on those last two benefits. “Lifetime frame warranty,” “12 months free servicing.” If a customer faces an issue with the product, they’ll know there is a helpful service to call.
Notice how the benefits hold prime position at the top of the email? You can’t miss them! Reid is showing off the brand’s best conversion assets to convince the shopper into making the purchase.
Can’t argue with that.
One Simple Area for Improvement
The colour of the call-to-action button: Yes, Reid Cycles does a fantastic job of highlighting its customer benefits. But reversing out the colour of the call-to-action button will pump up Reid Cycles chances of conversion. This will make sure customers see the clear benefits, but the main focus of the email still draws the reader to the call-to-action button.
The colour of your call-to-action button is crucial. You want it to stand out. It’s the hero of your abandoned cart.
Don’t settle for a less than impressive call-to-action button. Test different colours. See what works best for your customers.
Email 2:
Most Effective Part of this Abandoned Cart Email
Sympathy through tone of voice:
Never fear, your cart is still here.
That’s Reid Cycles’ message.
This email reminder gives shoppers the perfect conversion cocktail of urgency and sympathy all at the same time.
The email doesn’t implore you to buy. Instead, the copy acts as a helpful reminder, encouraging the shopper to complete the sale when ready.
Your ecommerce business will already have a brand voice. You want to keep that voice consistent in your emails. Think about when you talk. Your voice stays the same but the tone changes depending on the situation you’re in.
You may choose to express sympathy in your abandoned cart email. Everyone is forgetful sometimes, let your customer know you are just here to help. So don’t change your voice, change the tone of your language depending on the message you want to communicate.
One Simple Area for Improvement
Unsubscribe button: Although it’s visible, Reid’s unsubscribe button is lost in a small paragraph at the base of the email. You want to make unsubscribing as easy as possible.
Why?
Because your customers can subscribe back to the email updates if and when they’re ready.
If you try to force people into receiving your emails and buying your stuff – you’re destined for complaints, failures and a struggle to maintain profitability.
Let people opt out before they start to distrust or dislike your brand.
An effective unsubscribe button is usually at the very bottom of an email. That’s where readers will look. Try to use a different colour, font, or even use italics to make an unsubscribe call-to-action stand out. You don’t need to go overboard with font size. You can keep a smaller size font if you want – just make sure it’s readable.
To make your unsubscribe button even better, add a reminder such as “You’re welcome to subscribe again anytime.” You may even like to offer your shopper the chance to trigger a reminder in one or three months time.
Best Furniture and Homewares abandoned cart email examples
We’ve been smashing out the email automation advice, and we’re about to launch into a vertical with some seriously high item prices. That means we’ll have to work even harder to reduce uncertainties and make shoppers feel confident enough to press the buy button on such an expensive product they are unable to test or trial.
So, let’s take a deep breath.
On a comfy couch…
Greycork
A lot of ecommerce stores think abandoned cart emails are transactional and don’t need personality.
This couldn’t be further away from the truth. Your cart abandonment emails are the perfect place to use your brand’s casual, cheeky tone.
Greycork shows a useful example of how using a casual tone can help you communicate with your customers.
Most Effective Part of this Abandoned Cart Email
Casual conversation: You’re talking to your customers, not to a computer. Remember you want to make your customers feel like your brand really cares about them as an individual. Email is a personal medium.
Try to write like your brand would speak if it were a person.
If you’ve got your branding right, you should establish a personal connection with your target audience your competitors will struggle to match.
Your copy can be your strongest differentiator. Don’t neglect this asset.
This casual Greycork tone puts the reader at ease. Straight away the email feels less like a sales pitch and more like a friendly reminder.
One Simple Area for Improvement
Product visual: A bigger image could make this email even more amazing. You almost have to squint to see the product. Your abandoned cart email should be designed to re-ignite your customer’s excitement. There’s a reason the shopper added the item to cart.
Increase the size of the image to trigger a reminder of that feeling for the customer.
Hunting for George
Finding what differentiates you from others can be tough. Especially if you’re in a heavily competitive industry. Hunting for George shows us a practical way of using business achievements to give customers reassurance.
Most Effective Part of this Abandoned Cart Email
Business Award: “Top notch” business finalist. Little testimonials like this make your customers feel more inclined to buy. Use any external authority sources you can to prove your online store’s chops. Shoppers not familiar with your brand will be assured by any guarantee, particularly those related to customer service.
The biggest takeaway from this example…
If you’re struggling to find a way to convert interest into sales – add a business achievement or positive customer review to reduce new shopper’s uncertainty. This can reassure your customers enough to take the plunge and buy.
One Simple Area for Improvement
Urgency: “Prices advertised in this email are subject to change.”
If prices may change, make it as explicit as possible.
If your customers only have a few days left until the price changes, use this to your advantage. Create some urgency with a deadline. If you are going to discount, wield it as a conversion weapon and give your shoppers a countdown to seal the deal (there’s a bunch of alternatives to discounting you can use to achieve the same result). Including a heading that says “Quick! This offer won’t last long” or some derivative will help you convert.
Make sure you support this urgency with a clear call-to-action button.
The best way to achieve this:
- Create the urgency – For example; give a time-frame before the offer expires.
- Have a call-to-action – You want the button next to, or below the copy. You must make it as easy as possible for your customer to click that button!
Joybird
Most ecommerce stores won’t think to add helpful incentives such as interest-free or useful videos in their abandoned cart emails.
Joybird understands purchasing furniture is a long and hard decision. Customers usually have several questions before reaching a decision.
Joybird uses its abandoned cart email series to relieve some of those questions. The emails show practical ways to reduce customer uncertainty.
Email 1:
Most Effective Part of this Abandoned Cart Email
0% interest: For expensive purchases, you may want to consider different financing options. Big ticket items require a significant commitment from an online shopper. These purchases are a big decision. It’s your job to convince customers to trust in your brand, and the safety of financing without interest gives customers one less reason to bail out of the buy.
A large, 0% interest banner is perfect for your price-conscious customers. Joybird’s extra link to more helpful explainer information is an inspired addition. This content makes it super easy for customers to find answers to any other questions they may have.
One Simple Area for Improvement
Recommended products: The copy suggests the purpose of this email is to serve as a reminder for an abandoned cart.
Adding a recommended products section dilutes this message. Firstly, this turns the tone of your email from ‘we’re trying to help you’ to ‘we’re trying to get as much cash out of you as possible’. Your customers have already done their research and decided on their favoured product. For an industry like furniture or homewares, with high priced items, a little recommended products prompt will not be enough to trigger a sudden change-of-mind purchase.
Don’t confuse or annoy customers by providing them with recommended products if your focus is on converting an abandoned cart.
Email 2:
Most Effective Part of this Abandoned Cart Email
Helpful Video: Buying expensive furniture online can be daunting. You haven’t had the chance to sit on the product, have a feel for it or see the colour in real life. This will make most customers hesitant to buy online. You need to make sure you provide a high level of service to help reassure online shoppers of purchase.
This is where a helpful explainer video comes in handy.
Joybird has done a wonderful job developing a helpful video to answer general customers questions.
One Simple Area for Improvement
Shipping: We’re all for free shipping but look at the fine print. On all orders and returns to the U.S. But that’s not all. Joybird doesn’t ship to Australia.
Shipping and delivery are significant considerations for any online shopper. If you can – provide clear information to set an expectation for customers in all major international markets.
Abandoned cart reminders can be helpful, but if you can’t ship the product to your potential customer, this reminder might do more harm than good to your brand.
To investigate further, I went back to my abandoned cart and messaged the available online chat. Freight forwarding was the only other option. Good on you, Joybird for providing me with this information so fast, but how is this going to help me complete my order on time?
Some advanced email automation advice – segment your customers!
Ask for the country of origin of your shoppers when you generate an email address.
If any shoppers live outside your available shipping locations, then you have two options.
- Create an abandoned cart email specifically tailored to the region of the shopper, including a clear explanation of the shipping process and costs involved with any purchase.
- Don’t send anyone in that demographic an abandoned cart email.
Best Swimwear abandoned cart email examples
Buying swimwear is tough enough. Sizing, style and how it looks on. Purchasing swimwear can be a nightmare.
I can’t stress enough how important helpfulness is for swimwear ecommerce stores. Customers want reassurance and advice.
Creating a community is important. Social media will play a vital role to make this happen.
Here’s how.
Bikini Luxe
For price-conscious customers, an extra push or incentive can be exactly what they need to convert them from being a browser to a buyer.
Bikini Luxe uses freebies to incentivise purchasing. Freebies or a complementary product will make your customers feel special. It’s also a physical reminder of your company.
Most Effective part of this Abandoned Cart Email
Incentive: For expensive items, incentives (like an offer of a free gift) are a good way to entice your customers. Particularly if that free gift is an accessory matching the relevant abandoned cart product. Freebies and other discounting alternatives can incentivise purchase without losing margin on your list price or de-valuing your product.
Even better, Bikini Luxe is providing a choice of the free gift. Think about the pang of excitement you can trigger in the shopper with this offer.
One Simple Area for Improvement
False assumptions: We need to understand our customers are not leaving their carts because something went wrong. Stating something went wrong in a transaction can confuse or frustrate customers who were simply not ready to buy.
Sometimes they shoppers just change their mind and don’t want to complete the sale. Don’t assume something ‘went wrong’.
Instead, offer a support line to answer any questions or customer queries. People will use this feature to let you know if something went wrong. Offering quick, simple and helpful customer service is much more likely to end up in a sale than your standard abandoned cart email.
Malia Mills
Malia Mills understands the stress women go through when purchasing swimwear. From size to styling advice, buying swimwear is always a mission.
This swimwear ecommerce store introduced a swimwear expert to help women choose and fit the perfect swimwear. It reduces uncertainties and shows an added level of service.
Malia Mills abandoned cart email has achieved an A+ for helpfulness.
Most Effective Part of this Abandoned Cart Email
Advice: People love free stuff. But, before you start chucking free products at your customers consider, ‘free information’ first.
What I love about this email is the “Live chat with our web guru/bikini whisperer.” This feature gives shoppers helpful styling advice and sets a clear expectation on how and when you can contact this so-called “bikini whisperer”.
Any clothing or footwear ecommerce store can increase conversion rates with this tactic.
Let’s be honest. How many of us go to our friends or family for a second opinion? And how many of us read the social star rating on products? All hands are in the air. Social proof works. Style advice from an authority source works better.
One Simple Area for Improvement
Colour contrast: This email has a simple colour-palette which should make it easy to create a clear call-to-action button. You need a contrast in colour to make your button stand out. To draw the user’s attention, the call-to-action button could be changed to a grey colour to create a clear contrast, but still maintain consistency with the brand.
Best Accessories abandoned cart email example
Accessory items are usually purchased on impulse. This gives you with the opportunity to secure the sale and increase the order size.
Local Supply has produced a gold-worthy abandoned cart email. The email speaks for itself.
Get ready for a jaw-dropping moment.
Local Supply
Email 1:
Most Effective Part of this Abandoned Cart Email
Recommended products: This is where recommended products can work.
You can tell by the copy, the purpose of this email isn’t just to sell. The email is designed to remind you about the products you left in your cart.
Now take a good look at the recommended products. They all have similar-shaped frames.
Why are product recommendations relevant in this context?
Sunnies are an impulsive buy. If you like a certain frame of glasses, chances are you might be willing to get another similar pair. If the list price is under $100, an impulse buy is much more likely in comparison to a $2000 dining table purchase.
You might convince a shopper to add another product to cart and multiply your revenue in the process.
So what’s the lesson about recommended products?
Only use them when your primary focus is not just converting that abandoned cart quickly. If you want to finalise the sale. Don’t add it! Keep the focus on the call-to-action button and customer service.
If you have a chance of convincing a customer to add another impulse buy to an order – you might like to include product recommendations alongside a gentle abandoned cart reminder.
Don’t combine a hard sell with an additional hard sell.
One Simple Area for Improvement
Type-Face: Bold and capitalise your call-to-action type-face. This will make it stand out from the rest of your email and focus the reader’s attention straight away.
It’s also a good idea to A/B test your call-to-action buttons. Experiment by hanging your typeface, your colour ord the size of your call-to-action and find what works best for you.
However, we have to applaud this abandoned cart email. We’re nit-picking here. Well played Local Supply. Overall, this email is an ideal template to work from.
Email 2:
Most Effective part of this Abandoned Cart Email
Social Media Links: Your second email serves as a re-reminder. In this email, it’s best to focus on incentives to encourage purchase, customer reviews to establish credibility or social media to help you nurture a relationship with the user across different platforms.
Offering social media links tend to make sense only when the main focus of your email is to help, not to sell or convert. If you feel confident in your social media content, you’ll know you can develop a stronger relationship with your customer over time.
Instead of using your abandoned cart to force customers into a purchase they decided not to make, you could entice the user to follow your brand on social and convert that user into a loyal repeat customer over time.
One Simple Area for Improvement
Discounting: We’ve mentioned discounting in a previous example. I can’t stress how important it is for your online store to consider alternatives that deliver the same incentive with de-valuing the product and eroding your profit margin.
If you’re committed to using a simple discount, rather than a 10% discount off one product, offer 20% off a second pair of sunnies. You can increase the total value of your cart and make your customer work harder for that margin-crippling discount. It’s a simple change but you don’t want to make the mistake of de-valuing the full price of your product.
Remember. Discounting is usually a short-term fix.
If your customers get used to you discounting your abandoned carts, they’ll develop a habit of waiting for the slash in price. You’re encouraging a dangerous precedent. If you stop discounting, the sales could stop with it.
Email 3:
Most Effective part of this Abandoned Cart Email
Storytelling: Storytelling will help you entice and engage your potential customer. Use creative, interesting copy to relate to your audience and communicate what your brand stands for. If you can trigger an emotional connection, you have more chance of convincing the customer to buy. “We’ll keep an eye on these,” “Let’s make a deal,” “Ready to go?” – this conversational tone personally addresses the customer and adds a little humour in the process.
Three abandoned cart emails.
All short, sweet and simple.
Local Supply’s story starts off as a simple reminder, no need to rush.
Next, the user is met with a re-reminder and the brand proposes a deal.
The story then finishes with some urgency, wrapping up the communication by setting an expectation of the future if the shopper does not buy..
So how can you add a story to your abandoned cart email?
Use a series of three abandoned cart emails, with each building momentum to a conversion crescendo climax.
Your general abandoned cart email story structure
- In your first email, start the story off with a reminder.
- In your second story, suggest an incentive or provide some helpful advice.
- Then in your third email, finish your story off with some urgency to finalise the sale.
One Simple Area for Improvement
We decided to finish off with a pretty damn good email. Congrats and kudos Local Supply. You should be proud of your work.
What do the best abandoned cart emails in the ecommerce biz teach you about your email marketing?
The list is endless. You’ve seen the detailed version.
Doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, you’ll always be faced with competition. But it shouldn’t make you run and hide. Embrace competition and find how you stand out from the crowd.
You’ve seen fantastic industry examples. Now it’s time to consider what makes you unique.
To jog your memory I’ve created a quick list of the abandoned cart email opportunities revealed in this article.
- Create a brand personality – Chubbies
- Focus on your layout – Chubbies
- Turn your abandoned cart email into a customer survey – Threadsmiths
- Create urgency – The 5th
- Send a one-time reminder – Yield Design
- Have a clear call-to-action – Hardgraft
- Reduce uncertainties – SurfStitch
- Send a helpful reminder – SurfStitch
- One last incentive – SurfStitch
- Explicit customer value – Reid Cycles
- Sympathy through tone of voice – Reid Cycles
- Create a casual conversation – Greycork
- Showcase your business awards – Hunting For George
- Use a 0% interest incentive for higher-priced items – Joybird
- Add a helpful video – Joybird
- Introduce a free gift incentive – Bikini Luxe
- Provide unique and helpful advice – Malia Mills
- When to apply recommended products – Local Supply
- Add social media links – Local Supply
- Create a story – Local Supply
Creating long-life happy customers is more profitable than generating a one-off sale.
You know why you need an abandoned cart email.
You know what to consider when making one.
Most importantly, you know what to avoid doing.
Abandoned cart email automation – it’s not just about finalising the purchase. Be helpful and answer questions so your customers can complete the purchase when they’re ready.
Take this opportunity to create a lasting relationship with your customers and aim to convert your shopper into a loyal brand fan. You want them to become promoters of your business.
Short terms profits due to discounting and sales promotion is great! But what happens later when your promos end and it’s another regular day? If you have an effective email cart abandonment system then you won’t have to worry! You’ll know your customers agree with the price you sell your products for and they’ll be willing to purchase for the full price.
So here’s your chance to create long-life customers.
Don’t miss the opportunity!
You’ve seen our practical checklist for abandoned cart emails. You have the best practice examples to follow. You have power and knowledge.
Use it wisely. Use it to your advantage. Make your abandoned cart email the best it can be.
