Abandoned cart tactics that don’t involve email

Published in

deliverrinc

6 min readApr 27, 2020

Using abandoned cart tactics that jump out at your audience can result in recovered revenue, and many of the more creative tactics stay completely away from crowded email inboxes.

Abandoned cart emails were a great tactic for recovering lost customers five years ago, but life has changed. The inbox is now bursting at the seams, on high alert, and largely unread; your cart abandonment email stands little chance of being seen, let alone being read and click on.

It’s time to inject some life into your abandoned cart strategy, bringing it into the next decade. And we’ve got just the out-of-the-box tactics that can help.

Abandoned cart tactics that don’t involve email

Don’t get us wrong; emails can effectively recover shoppers lost through cart and browse abandonment. However, you don’t want a tactic that “can work.” You want a tactic that “will work.”

In today’s tech-driven, fast-paced world, emails don’t stand out from the crowd. And, when you’ve invested so much time and effort in making your eCommerce store, listings, and shipping options stand out from your competitors, it’s a huge shame to blend into the background when it comes to abandoned cart recovery tactics.

So, how do you stand out from the crowd in addressing a problem as common as cart abandonment?

1) On-site abandoned cart tactics

First, stop thinking of cart abandonment as something to be fixed and think of it as something to be prevented. This involves using tactics on your eCommerce store and in your listings that stops a would-be abandoner in their tracks and, instead, diverts them to the checkout.

2-day delivery

Fast shipping is one of the top reasons for cart abandonment, which is why you’re probably using the offer of fast shipping in your abandonment recovery emails already. However, what about using fast shipping to prevent abandonment in the first place?

By prominently displaying 2-day delivery and next-day delivery tags on your Shopify store or via your marketplace’s fast shipping program, you immediately target this purchase driver rather than waiting for abandonment to happen first.

Live chat

We’ve already talked about how live chat is a great way to communicate with your eCommerce buyers. It’s also a great way to prevent website abandonment too.

By initiating conversations with shoppers using a chatbot, you encourage customers to share their doubts, which you can then address in a friendly and engaging manner. Sizing, different colors, returns — anything that the customer is unsure of, you can address while increasing trust in your brand.

Exit-intent pop-ups

Pop-ups have a bad reputation for being a little annoying. However, exit-intent pop-ups only appear when a shopper’s cursor heads for the exit button, meaning that they don’t disrupt the shopping experience until it’s absolutely necessary.

Think of it as your last chance saloon — an opportunity to tempt customers to the checkout with 2-day delivery, a discount code, or even a reminder of what they were looking at.

2) Abandoned cart recovery tactics

Next, stop thinking of cart abandonment as a bad thing. The tactics above won’t work for everyone, and that’s okay; some shoppers simply aren’t ready to buy. Reconnecting after they leave your website allows you to engage with shoppers away from the many choices online, in a relaxed space that leads to long-term relationships and higher customer lifetime value.

Facebook Messenger

Facebook is where people go to relax after a hard day’s work, seek information from friends and family, and engage with brands they love — making Messenger the perfect location for re-engaging lost interest.

Tools like Octane AI and ShopMessage allows you to automatically send abandoned cart reminders from your Shopify store through Messenger. Even better, abandoned cart reminders sent through Facebook Messenger achieve an open rate of over 80% (compared with email’s 15.68% average) and drive 10x more revenue than emails.

Facebook Ads

If you have a Facebook Pixel installed on your website, you can use Facebook retargeting ads to reach shoppers who have left your site. These ads can highlight different ways to use your products, something about your brand, or even a video of someone using your products. Make sure your Facebook ads are smart, informative, and relevant so they aren’t an unwelcome disturbance on your audiences’ timeslines.

WhatsApp has 1.6 billion monthly users, and many of them could be your buyers. Similar to Messenger, WhatsApp is a platform that people use to connect with friends, family, and brands they know — giving you the ideal platform to establish trust in your brand and combat any concerns about buying from you.

Tools such as WhatsApp Chat + Abandoned Cart automatically send WhatsApp messages to customers who have abandoned their cart, enticing them back with discounts, information, or simple reminders.

Push notifications

You’re no doubt familiar with push notifications on your smartphone, but what about web browser push notifications? Browser push notifications are timed alerts that pop-up on a user’s computer screen regardless of whether they’re logged into their emails, on your website, or even using their web browser.

Their pop-up nature makes them ideal for recovering abandoned carts because they disrupt thinking and grab attention while delivering a short and sharp call to action accompanied by a personalized image of what the user was looking at. Tools such as CartStack also ensure that push notifications appear at the best time and place — when a shopper is at their computer, primed to continue their customer journey.

3) Beyond cart abandonment recovery tactics

Finally, stop thinking that an unrecovered shopper is lost forever. Just because someone didn’t buy from your store or convert via your first recovery message doesn’t mean that they won’t buy from you in the future. Keep up your “stand out” communication methods, using tools such as:

Text messages

SMS messages are a hugely powerful but often overlooked method of communication. Appearing away from the noise of the inbox and the Internet, text messages allow you to communicate with customers in a place reserved for one-to-one messages of importance. This relaxed setting helps you to build a solid relationship by sending customers information about events, sales, and offers. When they are ready to buy, they’ll know who to come to.

Tools like LiveRecover can capture the data of shoppers who got close to making a purchase but ultimately left, and send a personalized text message to re-engage them. According to their website, LiveRecover’s SMS strategy reovers 21% of abandoned carts, compared to the 7% recovery rate of emails.

Facebook Pages

Facebook Pages are excellent for encouraging community conversations about your brand, products, or sector. This style of engagement uses social proof and group action to encourage shoppers to interact with your brand and eventually become a customer.

Dynamic ads

Facebook and Instagram dynamic ads can showcase your item and are a subtle way to re-engage customers post-abandonment. By automatically displaying products and related products to shoppers that showed an interest, you can reignite interest in your brand through indirect exposure. When the shopper later recommences their search, they’ll be subconsciously driven to your store first.

Some ideas are so crazy that they might just work. Trying looking beyond cart abandonment emails with these abandoned cart tactics to see how much you can boost your recovery rates — you might surprise yourself.