cloud.IQ / Tips on creating remarketing emails and example cart abandonment emails

James Critchley, CEO of cart recovery specialist, cloud.IQ says that with the right technology designing a good set of remarketing emails is easy. Here are some guidelines on how to build an email that is likely to reengage customers who have abandoned an online purchase.

Cloud.IQ recently commissioned an independent survey of 2,000 online shoppers, which revealed that 88% of people say they are open to online retailers following up by email after they abandon an online purchase and over a third (35%) say they actively welcome the assistance.

But whilst consumers welcome follow up emails in principle, it’s a fine line between engaging and not. Getting the message right and delivering it at the right time, with the right frequency is critical to success.

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An important part of your shopping cart abandonment email is to deliver a sense of trust, excitement and urgency, creating a strong desire to buy your product. If you follow this emotional engagement closely your ability to sell will increase dramatically. The key components of a good shopping cart abandonment email are sender, subject line, visual reminders of the product(s), personalisation, branding and a clear call to action button. Below are some pointers on creating effective emails that will engage potential customers – it’s not an exhaustive list, but should get you started in recovering abandoned carts.

The rule of three

As a rule of thumb, we advise sending three emails over a period of time with different messages and content, following a pattern of remind-reassure-promote:

• The first email is sent after 30 mins – a ‘reminder’ message, such as “Thanks for your recent visit, we noticed you left without completing. If you need help, contact us at xxxxx – we have saved your basket below so you can complete when you are ready”

• The second email after 23 hours – a ‘reassure’ message, such as “We still have your basket…did you know we offer free delivery on orders over x and that our customers rate us x. Click below to complete…”

• The third email after six days – a ‘promote’ email. By this time if the customer was going to buy that item they probably already would have done so. The email needs to be focused on getting them to come back to the site and start another purchase, such as “Thanks for visiting our site, we hope you found what you were looking for. As a goodwill gesture, please use the discount code below on your next visit…”

Compelling sender / subject line

Shopping cart recovery is about driving sales through a compelling email. The sender should be branded and recognised as a helping hand, ‘Customer Service’ is a good way to brand your sender. The subject line needs to be short, catchy and trigger an immediate reaction. For example ‘how can we help you?’ – ‘your shopping cart is still with us’.

Clear message about shipping costs

According to Forrester, one of the most common reasons people abandon carts is because shipping and handling costs are too high. If you’re able to address this, then your chance of conversion will rise dramatically.

Call to actions

Call to actions must be clearly highlighted; view cart, continue shopping, complete your order. The call to action button should be subtle yet strong enough to encourage customers to return to their shopping basket in a seamless way and complete the checkout process.

Return Policy

Having a direct link to your return policy can help customers to review it and realise how easy it is to send items back should these not be suitable. Inform customers about the process of buying with you will help them gain trust in your brand.

Security

Showing on your shopping cart abandonment email that your site and your payment processes are secured this will help your customers to feel more confident in buying from you.

Customer support

Intergrate a strong customer support approach by displaying your customer service phone number or chat service.

Unsubscribe

Always give your customers the option to unsubscribe from the shopping cart abandonment process without removing them from the existing newsletter database

Time notification

When sending the shopping cart reminder you can create a level of urgency by letting your customers know that the shopping cart is available for a limited time only.

Picture of one of the products

The email should capture all product information left in the abandoned cart including images, product description and pricing.

Personalisation

Most email service providers will enable you to customize your email messages with the recipient’s first name; dear <<first name>>, we are saving your cart for you, <<first name>> Save xx% on your order, <<first name>>

Layout

Shopping cart abandonment emails should be short and compact; enabling key elements to be visible above the fold in order to increase your click through rates. The text needs to be functional and items displayed clearly. Clear branding, friendly images, simple colour schemes and a highly contrasting call to action button will stand out. With these aspects in place you stand a great chance of re-capturing the sale.

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