Abandoned Cart

What is abandoned cart?

Abandoned cart campaigns are emails that are automatically sent to someone who puts an item in their shopping cart or starts the checkout process but does not finish it.

These campaigns are really helpful because they are sent to people who expressed a clear interest in purchasing from you but didn’t follow through. Abandoned cart emails are a great place to reinforce the benefits of what you’re selling, share social proof from happy customers or offer discounts to help people make the purchase.

Related: 9 Tips to Win Back Lost Sales with Abandoned Cart Emails

How to calculate abandoned cart rate?

Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate is calculated by subtracting the number of initiated sales by the number of completed sales, then dividing that number by the number of initiated sales. A sale is typically considered ‘initiated’ once the shopper adds the item to their online shopping cart. Then, multiply by 100 to find your abandonment rate as a percentage.

For example, if 100 people started the online checkout process and 75 people completed the process the abandoned cart rate would be 25% or (100-75) / 100 = .25. When you multiply .25 by 100 you get the percentage of 25%.

Why is shopping cart abandonment a problem for retailers?

It can be daunting at times for online retailers to look at cart abandonment rates. The main reason is because you rarely get to find out why cart abandonment happens. Was there a question you could have answered for the shopper that would have helped? Did they just need it in a different color? Did they just get distracted and forget to complete the purchase? Without being able to have that conversation, it makes it difficult to learn from to prepare for the next potential sale.

How many abandoned cart emails should I send?

Sending one abandoned cart email is enough. You want to invite your shopper to complete the sale, but you don’t want to hassle them to the point that they don’t wish to ever return. You also want to give your shopper enough time to complete the transaction, too. Send your email too quickly and your shopper may feel too hurried. Send it too late, though, and they may have lost interest. Experimenting and testing out different times until you find the sweet spot is a great practice.

How to reduce cart abandonment rate?

This may be your last chance at closing the sale, so go big! Cart Abandonment emails can be a great platform to test out ambitious promotions that you’re not ready to offer to your entire customer base just yet. Proven strategies include offering discounts on checkout, faster shipping, one-on-one coaching, a free secret gift, and more. Not ready to offer a discount? Consider adding some rave reviews from previous customers to help close the sale and establish social proof.

How does abandoned cart work?

A cart is considered abandoned when an online shopper adds a product to their shopping cart online, then exits from the website before completing the sale.

Typically, cart abandonment emails are sent out automatically to a shopper after one hour has passed without the sale completing. Most online retailers require that an online shopper have an account with the service before they can begin shopping, often providing a one-time discount code as an incentive to sign up. In exchange for the discount code, the service can now reach out to the email address on file for promotional emails, including abandoned cart emails.