Abandoned shopping carts are a massive leak in the sales funnel for ecommerce businesses.
Studies suggest that nearly 70% of online shoppers abandon their carts before completing a purchase.
That’s an enormous missed revenue opportunity!
Fortunately, Facebook’s powerful retargeting tools allow you to get in front of these abandoners with tailored ads designed to recover lost sales and boost your bottom line.
What Is Facebook Retargeting?
Facebook retargeting (also called remarketing) enables you to show ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Facebook’s Audience Network to people who have previously visited your website or engaged with your content.
It’s an effective way to stay top-of-mind and nurture prospects down the marketing funnel toward a conversion.
Retargeting works through the Facebook pixel, a piece of code you place on your website.
When someone visits your site, the pixel drops an anonymous browser cookie. Facebook can then track that user’s activity and show them your ads across its family of apps and services.
The Power of Abandoned Cart Retargeting
While retargeting has many valuable applications, one of its most impactful uses is recovering abandoned ecommerce carts.
Think about the last time you started to check out online, added items to your cart, but then got distracted and forgot to complete the purchase.
An abandoned cart reminder ad could have nudged you over the finish line to make that sale.
By segmenting your retargeting audiences based on cart abandoners, you can deploy hyper-relevant ads reminding users about the specific products they were going to buy.
You can even offer limited-time discounts or other incentives to motivate them to return and complete their order.
Abandoned cart ads are so effective because:
- They target “warm” prospects who have already shown tangible purchase intent
- The ads speak directly to a recent, memorable shopping experience the person had on your site
- You can personalize the ad creative with the specific products or services the customer was considering buying
- Incentives like discounts create a fear of missing out that drives urgency
When implemented thoughtfully, abandoned cart retargeting campaigns consistently drive significantly higher conversion rates than typical prospecting campaigns aimed at entirely cold audiences.
Setting Up Facebook Abandoned Cart Retargeting
To run abandoned cart retargeting ads on Facebook and Instagram, you’ll need three key ingredients:
- The Facebook pixel properly installed on your ecommerce website
- A product feed containing all your inventory uploaded to Facebook’s catalog
- The ability to create custom audiences in Ads Manager based on specific website events
Once you have those pieces in place, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to build an abandoned cart audience for retargeting:
- In Facebook Ads Manager, go to the Audiences tool and click “Create Audience” then “Custom Audience”
- Choose the “Website Traffic” source
- Select the “Browse abandoners” criteria and set the timeframe you want to target (e.g. 30, 60, 90 days)
- Optionally, you can narrow the audience further to specific products, categories, or URLs
- Name the audience and click “Create Audience”
With your abandoned cart audience built, you can then create ad campaigns and ad sets targeting just those valuable users. Within the ad creative itself, you can feature dynamic product ads showcasing the specific items they had in their cart as a friendly reminder.
For best results, aim to launch your abandoned cart retargeting ads quickly – within 24-48 hours of the cart being abandoned is ideal. That’s when the shopping experience and intent signals are freshest in the customer’s mind.
You’ll also want to exclude anyone who has already completed a purchase from seeing the abandoned cart ads, to avoid wasting impressions and ad spend. And be sure to pause or remove people from the audience after they convert to prevent continuing to market to them.
Key Takeaways
Abandoned online shopping carts represent a major revenue leak for ecommerce brands, but Facebook’s retargeting capabilities provide a powerful opportunity to recover those lost sales.
By building custom audiences of website visitors who started but didn’t complete a purchase, you can deploy laser-focused ads that remind them about the products they were interested in buying.
Abandoned cart ads are so effective because they leverage psychology like urgency, personalization, and fear of missing out. And because you’re targeting “warm” leads who’ve already expressed tangible buying intent, these campaigns tend to generate much higher conversions and ROAS than typical prospecting efforts aimed at cold traffic sources.
While setting up an abandoned cart retargeting funnel requires a few steps, the potential payoff in recaptured sales and revenue can be absolutely massive for ecommerce businesses.
If you’re not already taking advantage of this Facebook ad strategy, it’s well worth exploring and testing for your online store.
FAQs
How does Facebook retargeting work?
It works through the Facebook pixel, a piece of code placed on your website that drops an anonymous browser cookie to track visitors for ad targeting.
Why are abandoned cart ads so effective?
They target “warm” prospects who’ve already shown purchase intent, remind them of a recent shopping experience, and can feature personalized product recommendations.
What do I need to set up Facebook abandoned cart retargeting?
You’ll need the Facebook pixel installed, a product feed uploaded, and the ability to create custom audiences based on specific events.
How do I build an abandoned cart audience on Facebook?
Go to Audiences > Create Audience > Custom Audience > Website Traffic > Browse abandoners, set the timeframe, and optionally narrow by products/URLs.
When should I launch abandoned cart ads?
For best results, launch the ads within 24-48 hours while the shopping experience is still fresh in the customer’s mind.
How can I make abandoned cart ads more effective?
Personalize the ad creative with the specific products the customer viewed or had in their cart as a reminder.
Should I offer discounts in abandoned cart ads?
Offering limited-time discounts or other incentives can create a fear of missing out and drive more conversions.
How do I avoid wasting ad spend on abandoned cart campaigns?
Exclude anyone who has already completed a purchase from seeing the ads, and pause/remove people from the audience after they convert.
Why is recovering abandoned carts so important for ecommerce?
Studies show nearly 70% of online shoppers abandon carts before purchasing – recovering even a fraction of those carts can represent a major revenue boost.
