The Perfect Cart Abandonment Email

The easiest way for any e-commerce business owner to start making more sales immediately is to focus on lowering cart abandonment rate.

Chris Orzechowski
Jul 25, 2017 · 3 min read

According to industry statistics, over 70% of carts are abandoned.

So, on average, for every 10,000 people who add an item to their cart in your business… less than 3,000 of them will actually pull the trigger and buy.

Think about how much money, time and effort was wasted to get those other 7,000 people to want to buy one of your products. Think about how much profit you’re leaving on the table. Think of how much less you’d have to spend to acquire a customer if you could fix this one area of your sales funnel.

Luckily, there’s an easy solution.

Enter the cart abandonment email.

Cart abandonment emails are easy to write.

And while there are hundreds of templates out there you can find with a quick google search, there are 5 key elements these emails must have to be effective.

The 5 Part Formula For Writing A Perfect Cart Abandonment Email

  1. A ‘Zeigarnik’ Subject line: In psychology, the Zeigarnik effect states that people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks. (Wikipedia) When you remind someone that they didn’t complete the task they were working on, a part of their brain can’t feel closure until they close the loop and complete the incomplete task. But this can’t happen unless you reach out and remind them. That’s why your subject line for this email needs to remind them to come back and close this loop. You can use something as simple and innocent as “Forget something?” or “Oops…” to get someone’s attention, raise their curiosity, and play into our inherent fear of loss and fear of missing out.
  2. Remind them of the item they left behind: Showing them the item they’re leaving behind can have a powerful effect on a person. They liked it enough to add it to their cart originally, there’s a high probability they still want it. And when they see it in front of them again, it might re-trigger their feelings of desire. All you need to do is include the picture of the items, a quick line or two about how they left them behind, and a reason why they should go back and grab it.
  3. Give them a reason to buy NOW: People who abandon their carts are sitting on the fence. They want that item… but maybe they can get it somewhere else for $0.25 cheaper… but that would take time for them to search for it… and they’re not sure if blah blah blah blah blah. Let’s cut through all this back and forth and give your prospect a reason to buy NOW, rather than wait until later (which really means never). Could you include a coupon? Or free shipping if they complete their order? Could you let them know there are only 3 left in stock and they’re going to go quick? You don’t have to be a dick about it… but throw a little turbulence their way, shake them off the fence, and give them a compelling (and true) reason to buy now and complete their order.
  4. Link back to their cart: Duh. Moving on.
  5. Throw in a testimonial or two: Sometimes people abandon because they’re not totally sold that the product is right for them or they don’t think it will work for them. Adding testimonial or two might help them make a buying decision. When they see that email, if they’re still undecided, they might see your testi’s and feel better about pulling the trigger. It’s not necessary to do this, but it could help. If you’re unsure, then test it and look at the response.

Now that you have your basic outline, whip this thing together and automate it to go out 10 minutes after someone leaves their cart.

If you really want to get cray cray, you can even do a 3-step cart abandonment sequence.

One email at 10 minutes. One email at 24 hours. And one 7 days later.

Something else to test out.

There you have it.

Now go write your own and watch your profits soar.

Chris Orzechowski

Written by

Author. Speaker. E-commerce Email Marketing Expert. Aspiring Wine Snob www.TheMakeItRainBook.com

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