When shoppers abandon their carts, there’s nothing more frustrating.
Your agency has put in all the hard work and successfully attracted the ideal consumer.
And they’re ready to place the order.
But then … nothing.
Actually, they probably leave the website.
Oftentimes, they’ll never even come back.
Luckily, with the right tactics, your agency can win your shoppers back.
The benefit of reading today’s article is you’ll read about:
- Current trends on cart abandonment, including best practices.
- 7 cart abandonment examples that successfully increased sales for e-commerce companies.
- What your agency can do to make sure that your shoppers complete the checkout process after abandoning their cart or leaving the checkout page.
Ready to start recapturing your shoppers you thought were lost causes?
Let’s start with talking about what the deal is with cart abandonment.
What’s the Deal With Cart Abandonment?
The fact of the matter is, most of your shoppers will never make a purchase from you.
Yes, even the ones that started the checkout process.
If truth be told, the average cart abandonment rate is 69.57%, according to Fundera.
But some other sources, such as SaleCycle, have that figure up to as high as 81.08% across all industries.
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If you had to put a dollar value on the cost of cart abandonment, Shopify finds that e-commerce stores suffer $18 billion in lost sales revenue per year.
And the reasons for abandoning shopping carts are varied.
As reported by Baymard Institute, 49% of carts are abandoned because of extra costs such as shipping, taxes and fees.
To be clear, that’s by far the most common reason for cart abandonment.
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This all sounds kind of bleak so far.
But the good news is that cart abandonment tactics work.
For example, Campaign Monitor says that more than 1 out of 10 shoppers who abandon their carts will convert from a subsequent email.
Besides email, your agency can also retarget shoppers with SMS messaging, exit-intent pop-ups and social media ads.
And some of the most important talking points companies make when trying to recover abandoned carts are:
- Offering a discount
- Answering FAQs
- Adding social proof
- Mentioning the return policy
- Using sense of urgency
Throughout this article, you’ll see a lot of these talking points in the cart abandonment examples I break down.
With that, I think it’s a good time to dive right into it.
Cart Abandonment Marketing Example That Worked #1: Nanoleaf
What Was It?
Nanoleaf is a green technology company that sells innovative lighting products to consumers.
And they actually allow people to personalize the lights the way they want, such as shape combinations.
As the cart abandonment example goes, Nanoleaf was winning back roughly 1%-2% of its cart abandoners.
But the team knew it could do better.
And that’s when they decided to start tapping into emotional appeal by humanizing their products.
For example, one of their products is named Isabella.
So when someone chooses to not follow through with ordering Isabella, they receive an email from “her.”
You see, Nanoleaf uses personification to make it seem as if Isabella is talking to them.
With a little humor and a human touch, the cart abandonment emails became alive.
Additionally, the consumer is also incentivized to complete the purchase by receiving 10% off.
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What Results Did It Get?
Apparently, Nanoleaf’s audience loved the new email follow-ups.
According to a piece they shared with Rejoiner, with a little revision, the Isabella cart abandonment emails converted 30% of the shoppers who got it in their inbox.
If you still don’t see the power of cart abandonment emails, I’ll leave you with this quote from Nanoleaf’s VP of Commerce Operations, Paul Austin-Menear.
“For us, abandoned cart email marketing is particularly powerful. If you’re smart about how you deploy it, email can really strengthen the customer experience and drive revenue growth.”
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Cart Abandonment Marketing Example That Worked #2: The Vault Pro Scooters and Acro Media
What Was It?
The Vault Pro Scooters is a California-based company that sells pro scooters, parts and gear. Additionally, they offer repair and installation services too.
When Vault Pro needed help with its marketing, they turned to e-commerce service provider Acro Media.
What they did was focus a lot on cart abandonment.
After someone left the checkout, they’d receive 3 emails. One after the following time spans:
- 20 minutes
- 24 hours
- 3 days
Acro Media understood the adverse effects of spamming consumers.
In fact, MarketingSherpa finds that receiving too many emails is the top reason why consumers unsubscribe from email lists.
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Now, besides email frequency, another key part in this cart abandonment example that your agency should be keen on was the leverage of split tests.
For example, the team discovered that using questions in the subject line yielded higher open rates.
In addition, making the calls to action more prominent also boosted performance.
Here’s an example of one of the split tests Acro Media ran:
Version A
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Version B
What Results Did It Get?
The conversion rate for version B was 2% while version A was 1.79%.
Moreover, the click-through rate was 33.94% for version B and just 22.78% for version A.
Interestingly, the open rate was nearly 5% higher with version A though.
Nevertheless, Acro Media continued split testing its cart abandonment emails throughout the campaign.
In the end, The Vault Pro Scooters recovered $38,605 from the cart abandonment emails.
And saw a 987% ROI in the first 30 days.
Cart Abandonment Marketing Example That Worked #3: Versare and Inbox Army
What Was It?
Office furniture retailer Versare sells its products both online and at its Minnesota-based showroom.
From cubicles to privacy screens, Versare offers a wide variety of products of great interest to business professionals.
When Inbox Army took Versare on as a client, one of the first things they revised was the cart abandonment email sequence.
They set up a 5-email sequence where each email involved factors like:
- Sense of urgency
- Reminders
- Personalization
- Handling objections
- Discount codes
- CTA to talk to sales
- Timing of sending out emails
Below is the first cart abandonment email sent an hour after the cart abandonment.
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Email #2 was another simple, reminder follow-up after the first email, only this time, the consumer is presented with a 5% discount CTA.
Then email #3 increased the discount code to 10%.
Email #4 was sent out 4 days after the cart abandonment, and it tells the consumer that Versare can sympathize with the difficulty of the purchasing decision but puts a 24-hour deadline on the 10% discount.
Finally, email #5 reminds the consumer that he or she has 12 hours left to use the discount code.
And one thing to note of for your agency is the fact that the email list was broken up into two lists: Using behavioral data, shoppers received either “High Discount” or “Low Discount” emails. The emails were essentially identical only that “High Discount” emails included a 10% discount code whereas “Low Discount” emails did not.
What Results Did It Get?
In the end, this cart abandonment example did very well for Versare.
They generated:
- 153 more orders than the previous automation
- 29.88% more opens
- 538% more total revenue
Cart Abandonment Marketing Example That Worked #4: Scott Wyden Imagery
What Was It?
Up until now, we’ve been discussing email sequences for cart abandonment.
But why not prevent your shoppers from leaving in the first place with exit-intent pop-ups like Scott Wyden?
Scott Wyden has an online, photography-focused business aptly named Scott Wyden Imagery.
He generates leads with his free email series that educates his target audience.
And he also offers his readers a paid video course on how photography beginners can get started with using Adobe Lightroom.
But to convert his leads into paying customers, Scott uses a cart abandonment opt-in lightbox.
You see, when someone adds an item to their cart and leaves, they see a pop-up that informs them of a 10% discount.
And if you press the “Apply Discount” CTA button, it automatically gets added to the customer’s shopping cart.
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Keep in mind, this opt-in only appears when a shopper tries exiting the cart or checkout pages and if the person is inactive for over a minute.
With that, it’s important that your agency doesn’t display opt-in boxes in a way that feels too pushy.
What Results Did It Get?
With the new lightbox opt-in, Scott Wyden Imagery started converting 21.06% of cart abandoners, according to OptinMonster.
What this example shows us is that sometimes your customers just need to be nudged quickly.
Cart Abandonment Marketing Example That Worked #5: Peak Design
What Was It?
Peak Design is a retailer that sells gear and other products for adventurous people that like to hike or travel.
The first part of this cart abandonment example is very friendly and non-aggressive.
It’s just a simple message stating that the person can contact the support team to have any questions answered about a product they recently abandoned.
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Then 30 hours later, a second email is sent.
This time with a 5% discount. Yes, a discount … just like a lot of the other cart abandonment examples we’ve been reviewing.
But there’s also free shipping, which the National Retail Federation says 60% of consumers expect from retailers.
Peak Design decided to settle with just 2 follow-ups so they don’t annoy their shoppers.
What Results Did It Get?
According to Niel Patel, Peak Design wins back 12% of its shoppers with this cart abandonment strategy.
And 59% of that boosted revenue comes from the first email while 41% comes from the second one.
Something that stands out with this example is the fact that the average recovery value is nearly identical to the average cart value. This means Peak Design’s shoppers are purchasing all the items in their cart.
And if your agency has any clients in the SaaS space, you’ll definitely want to see the next cart abandonment example.
Cart Abandonment Marketing Example That Worked #6: Justuno
What Was It?
Justuno is a SaaS conversion marketing platform that helps businesses with pop-ups, SMS alerts, product recommendations and more.
For this cart abandonment example, we look at a change they made with their website exit opt-in.
What they did was test the usefulness of a timer in cart abandonment promotion.
So one version counted down when the 30% off discount would end for customers who were thinking about upgrading their monthly plan.
And the other omitted the timer.
With Timer
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Without Timer
So with the countdown timer, the consumer feels a stronger sense of urgency. There’s only so much time to claim a steep discount or else lose out on that chance forever.
As you may realize, this is FOMO (fear of missing out) at its core.
What Results Did It Get?
I’m guessing you expected the opt-in with the timer to perform better.
In fact, research from Qualzz shows that pop-ups with a countdown timer convert 110% better than pop-ups without one.
But in this case, the pop-up opt-in without a timer actually converted better than the opt-in with the timer.
With no timer, the conversion rate was 8.8%. With the timer, that number sinks down to 7.14%.
Justuno suspects that some of the biggest reasons for the surprising results were:
- Benchmark data for conversions of time-based promotions is more broad and not specific to cart abandonments.
- Consumer behavior within the SaaS domain may differ from other types of online businesses that are included in benchmark data.
- A 30%-off discount is higher than the usual discount, and it could’ve had an effect on the results.
Another thing is that not all audiences are the same.
Perhaps Justuno’s customers are just put off by a timer and avoid it more often than the average audience.
Or maybe it was just an anomaly.
Whatever the reason may be, a little testing is invaluable in deciding future courses of action.
Cart Abandonment Marketing Example That Worked #7: Bullets2Bandages
What Was It?
Bullets2Bandages is a socially-driven apparel and accessories store.
They had been generating a healthy dosage of website traffic, but they found that a lot of visitors were leaving before completing the checkout process.
So like any e-commerce store that wants to win back shoppers, Bullets2Bandages needed a cart abandonment strategy.
And they decided on an exit intent pop-up.
Using OptiMonk’s platform, the team came up with a pop-up opt-in that informs the cart abandoner of a free upgrade to Priority Mail shipping, which saves the shopper $4.99.
This only occurs if someone exits the cart or checkout pages.
But the catch is, the shopper only has 8 minutes to claim the offer.
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Since the shipping offer was only available for U.S. customers, Bullets2Bandages used geotargeting to allow the pop-up to only display for shoppers in the States.
And to avoid becoming a nuisance, the pop-up would only appear to people a maximum of two times within an hour.
What Results Did It Get?
After implementing the cart abandonment solution, Bullets2Bandages achieved a great feat.
By displaying the pop-up, the company re-engaged 31% of its shoppers.
That $4.99 lost in offering free shipping is nothing compared to the boost in sales it helps generate.
Conclusion
If there’s one thing we learned from these 7 cart abandonment examples, it’s this: As a shopper, you should always abandon your cart. That way, you receive a discount from the company that wants to win you back.
No, just kidding. Sort of.
Really, these examples just prove that your agency needs to be extra convincing with shoppers. You gotta stay aggressive.
Maybe there’s a point of friction in the checkout process.
Perhaps they had second thoughts after seeing the total price with shipping included.
Honestly, there’s many reasons why people abandon their carts.
But I hope this article gave you a little inspiration for how to handle your clients’ cart abandonment campaigns..
Don’t fret about your cart abandoners.
Because, as we’ve seen, it’s very possible to still sell to them.
Admittedly, mastering the art of cart abandonment marketing isn’t going to happen overnight.
It takes a little bit of time brainstorming and learning the technology behind implementing a solution.
But if your agency already has a full plate every day, then you might never get around to winning back your clients’ cart abandoners.
Now, if that’s the case, then you’d be a perfect match for the AutoGrow platform. With a click of a button, you can have all your digital marketing projects (like your cart abandonment projects) done by a team of seasoned professionals.
To learn more about this opportunity for your agency, watch our on-demand demo that will answer all of your questions and give you an insight into our process.
As always, share any comments you have below.
Until next time!
Keep AutoGrowin’, stay focused.
Mark
