How to Write a Great Abandoned Cart Email

70% of all digital shopping carts are abandoned, but not always on purpose. Customers get called away, their signal may be interrupted, or the final price may be a surprise. With cart abandonment emails, it may be possible to reclaim as much as 4% of your uncompleted sales. 

We’ll help you craft the perfect abandoned cart emails, including the best timing, catchy subject lines, engaging content, and a compelling call to action.

The Perfect Timing

Research has revealed that the perfect time to send an abandoned cart email is one hour after the abandonment. One hour is the ideal interval to allow customers to handle whatever interrupted their shopping while still recalling what they wanted and why.

But what if they don't notice or respond to the first email? A finely-tuned abandoned cart campaign often includes three emails:

• 1 hour later
• 1 day later
• 3 days later

This schedule gives customers a chance to complete their purchase.

Subject Line Strategies That Drive Opens

Abandoned cart subject lines should be catchy, fun, and pique the curiosity of your customers. Use your insight into customer psychology to make subject lines that are hard to ignore, like "Did you forget something?" or "Waiting for you to return."

Be sure to avoid anything negative in tone, even if it seems playful. Modern audiences are naturally resistant when they feel they are being pushed.

Crafting Compelling Email Content

Once you get your customer's attention with the subject line, it's the email content that can save the sale.

The essential elements that every abandoned cart email needs are:

• An eye-catching headline
• A reminder of the items left in their cart
• A compelling reason to return and complete the purchase

Humor is the leading strategy for abandoned cart email content. Inspire positive feelings for their brand and their cart. Choose images that show your product's best qualities and, if possible, match the user's intent and use-case motivation. 

Because checkout sticker shock is often the cause of cart abandonment, consider offers to lower the price such as discounts, bundles, and free shipping. Reviews and testimonials can also provide a more powerful motivator.

The Call-to-Action

Provide a simple, short, and compelling direction to come back to the cart. Match your humorous or cheerful tone that encourages simple motivation. The key is to create positive urgency without feeling pushy. Ideally, you want to offer a small discount - anywhere from 5-10% - as an incentive for the potential customer to come back and check out.

Personalization & Segmentation

Once you have the basic structure, you can use personalization tools and email segmentation to perfect your abandoned cart email targeting. Use the shopping cart size, specific items, and personal customer information to help inspire their re-engagement with the greatest effectiveness.

Use customer data to personalize the tone and the points of interest you highlight.

Adapt the content for first-time customers vs returning customers.

Testing & Optimization

Lastly, use metrics to refine your best strategies. Key metrics include email open, email click-through, and purchase completion. Test different subject lines, content, style, tone, and more. Use A-B testing to help you interpret the results and choose the best-performing strategies.

Perfect Your Abandoned Cart Emails

When you want to win back customers and see abandoned carts become purchases, the key is an engaging abandoned cart email campaign. Build your campaign using a friendly brand-aligned tone and help create a continuous experience that customers want to complete. Connect with us today to learn how we can help you personalize and perfect your strategies.