Ecommerce stores lose an eye-popping $18 billion a year to cart abandonment. That’s quite a big chunk of change, right? When you consider that, it’s not a mystery that every savvy ecommerce marketer around is obsessed with cart abandonment recovery.
There’s no way around it: if you’re not running abandoned cart flows, you’re leaving (potentially a lot of) money on the table. You don’t want to leave money on the table.
One thorn in the side of ecommerce marketers, however, is that cart abandonment recovery flows aren’t quite as effective as they used to be. As Apple and Google continue tightening restrictions on various tracking tools, the number of users certain platforms identify has shrunk dramatically. The campaigns still convert at a high rate but at a much lower volume. That’s not good news!
Thankfully, whether you’re a cart abandonment recovery newbie or a seasoned pro looking to outperform your past benchmarks, we’ve got something for you! In this blog post, I’ll dig into:
- What is Cart Abandonment Recovery?
- Best Cart Abandonment Recovery Strategies
- How does Cart Abandonment Recovery work?
- How to use the Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel for Cart Abandonment Recovery
- How to use Customers.ai to boost your entire marketing funnel
Let’s get into it!
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What is Cart Abandonment Recovery?
Cart abandonment recovery refers to the process of re-engaging customers who have left items in their online shopping cart without completing the purchase, typically through targeted emails, reminders, or incentives to encourage them to finalize their transaction.
Sure, that’s the definition but we want to understand what it actually means. What exactly is cart abandonment recovery, and why is it the talk of the town among online store gurus?
Picture this: a shopper wanders into your virtual store, eyes wide with the dazzle of your well-curated products. They load up their cart with goodies, make it to checkout, and then — poof! — they vanish without a trace (or purchase).
Frustrating, isn’t it?
This is where cart abandonment recovery swings into action. It’s all about swooping in to save the day (and the sale) by enticing those would-be buyers back to complete their purchase.
Think of cart abandonment recovery as a gentle nudge, a reminder of what they’re missing out on. It’s a strategy packed with tact and persuasion, aimed at converting hesitation into action. And let’s be honest, who doesn’t need a little push now and then?
In the face of changing digital landscapes and the tightening grip of privacy regulations by tech giants like Apple and Google, the challenge of reconnecting with vanished shoppers has indeed gotten trickier. In fact, we are capturing fewer users than ever before!
But, as the saying goes, where there’s a will, there’s a way.
The essence of cart abandonment recovery hasn’t changed: it’s about rekindling that spark of interest that brought shoppers to your store in the first place. We’re using smart, targeted strategies that speak directly to what the shoppers were interested in, making it all the more likely they’ll come back to complete their purchase.
Cart abandonment recovery is not just a tactic; it’s an ongoing conversation, a way to say, “Hey, we noticed you left something behind. Can we help you with that?” It’s about making shoppers feel seen and valued, even in the vast, impersonal expanse of the internet. And when done right, it can turn those lost opportunities into loyal customers.
So, let’s roll up our sleeves and dive into the nitty-gritty of making those recovery flows work harder for you. Because, at the end of the day, no one likes leaving money on the table.
8 Cart Abandonment Recovery Strategies
Navigating the maze of cart abandonment can be tricky, especially with the evolving digital landscape. However, effective strategies can significantly mitigate this issue, ensuring your ecommerce store isn’t part of the staggering $18 billion lost annually.
Let’s break down some of the top strategies that keep your checkout humming and your customers returning.
1. Personalized Email Campaigns
Email remains a powerful tool in the cart recovery arsenal. But we’re not talking about generic, one-size-fits-all emails.
Personalization is key. Use the shopper’s name, mention the specific items they left behind, and maybe sprinkle in a personalized discount code.
The goal is to make the email feel like it’s coming from a friend rather than a faceless corporation.
2. Timing is Everything
When it comes to sending those recovery emails, timing can make a huge difference.
Strike while the iron is hot, preferably within a few hours of the cart being abandoned. This keeps your store and products fresh in the shopper’s mind.
You can follow up with a couple more emails at strategic intervals, but avoid bombarding their inbox.
3. SMS and Push Notifications
As email inboxes become increasingly crowded, SMS and push notifications offer a direct line to your customer.
These should be concise, friendly, and action-oriented, providing an easy route back to their abandoned cart.
Just like with emails, personalization and timing are critical to avoid being intrusive.
4. Simplify the Checkout Process
Sometimes, the best recovery strategy is preventive. Analyze your checkout process and look for any friction points. Are you asking for too much information? Is the payment process complicated?
Streamlining checkout can reduce cart abandonment from the get-go.
5. Leverage Retargeting Ads
Retargeting ads remind your visitors about the products they viewed or added to their cart by displaying those products in ads across different websites they visit.
It’s a way of gently nudging them back to your website. Make sure these ads are visually appealing and directly link back to the cart or product page.
6. A/B Testing
What works for one ecommerce store might not work for another. That’s where A/B testing comes into play.
Test different elements of your recovery strategy — from the email subject line to the timing of push notifications. Use data to guide your strategy, refining it to understand what resonates best with your audience.
7. Offer Incentives
Sometimes, a little incentive can go a long way. Consider offering free shipping, a discount, or a free gift with their purchase as a way to entice shoppers back to their carts.
Make sure the offer is clear and compelling, but also ensure it’s sustainable for your business model.
8. Utilize Customer Feedback
Feedback is gold. If customers are abandoning their carts, find out why. Use surveys or feedback tools to gather insights directly from your audience. This not only helps in tailoring your recovery efforts but also in improving the overall shopping experience.
Implementing these cart abandonment recovery strategies requires a blend of tact, timing, and technology. By focusing on personalized, timely, and direct communication, simplifying the shopping and checkout experience, and continuously testing and refining your approach, you can turn abandoned carts into completed sales.
Remember, every recovered cart is not just a boost to your revenue; it’s an opportunity to build a lasting relationship with your customer.
How to Maximize Cart Abandonment Recovery with Customers.ai
So how do you use Customers.ai for Cart Abandonment Recovery?
Before we get into the set-up, a quick refresher on why we’re targeting these people:
- Customers are clearly interested since they’ve gone as far as adding items to their cart.
- You have the chance to customize messages based on what they were looking at.
- You get in touch with them quickly, while they’re still thinking about the purchase!
The catch? Using tools like Klaviyo, you’re only able to identify a tiny portion of your visitors.
That’s where our Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel comes into play. It can boost the number of abandoned cart emails you send by a huge margin, seriously growing your most successful funnel!
And the best part? It’s super easy to set up!
When you’re setting up your automation, design it like so:
If you’re sending emails from Customers.ai, you can build an email flow right in the platform.
But most ecommerce folks have a set-up they love in Klaviyo or a similar CRM, and it’s super easy to port over your audiences!
In your Customers.ai account:
- Create a new automation
- Set the X-Ray Pixel Trigger to the URL of your cart page
- Save those leads to an Abandoned Cart audience
- Send that audience to your Klaviyo Abandoned Cart audience on your integrations page
- Voila!
Expanding Cart Abandonment Recovery Revenue with Customers.ai
Abandoned Product View Recovery
Abandoned cart emails work wonders because they target people who’ve already shown a real keen interest in what you’re selling.
However, there are other ways customers show they’re into your products, even if it’s not as obvious as adding something to their cart.
Take, for instance, someone just checking out a product page. That’s a sign of interest too!
But, you wouldn’t want to send an email to every single person who glanced at your blue hat. If you set up a trigger for just viewing the page, you’d end up emailing a bunch of folks who aren’t really that into it. And that’s not what we want.
That’s where our Advanced X-Ray Pixel Capture Settings come into the picture. They help you fine-tune your approach so you’re only reaching out to those who show enough interest, raising the bar for intent.
The cool part is, you get to decide what counts as enough interest. Visitors who come back to your site, those who click around a lot or check out several pages, and folks who stick around for a while are all showing they’re pretty interested. These are the types of visitors who would probably be more receptive to a targeted email campaign!
Create more high-intent customers
Now that we’ve covered some solid approaches for engaging users who are clearly interested, let’s talk about how to attract even more users with a high level of interest.
How can we do that?
By leveraging the insights gathered from our Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel to build out remarketing and lookalike audiences on your digital advertising platforms!
Remarketing is a subtle yet effective way to keep your brand visible to potential customers, allowing them to familiarize themselves with you gradually.
Besides pushing all your contacts to your ad networks, you can boost your campaign’s impact by creating audiences based on specific products. This targets users you know something about but who haven’t shown a strong interest yet.
Taking the blue shirt scenario as an example, if someone visited the blue shirt page just once, we’re not going to email them directly.
However, we can certainly target them with ads featuring—what else?—the blue shirt!
The more precise your targeting, the better your results. And that’s precisely what Customers.ai is designed to help you achieve.
Ready to see what you can do with these tools? See how many visitors we can identify with our Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel in our form below!
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Important Next Steps
- See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
- Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
- Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.