One thing that eCommerce store owners spend a long time pondering over is how to reduce abandoned cart scenarios. Whilst this is of course important, we would argue that abandoned carts are a fact of life, and, as long as the basics are being done to try to avert widespread abandoning, you’re probably already doing ok. So, if we accept that there will always be a number of abandoned carts during a checkout process, we can instead focus our attention on converting these lost opportunities at a later stage through the medium of email, specifically with an abandoned cart email.

Service, not sales

An abandoned cart email should focus on the user and not on sales pitch. Formulated with open questions and chipper copy, it should let the customer know that you are available to answer any question they might have, whether that be a customer service, product or logistical query. Here’s a great example of some well written copy by a MailBeez user of the No Purchase Advanced module (our ‘abandoned cart’ automation email module).

Hi Pete,

We noticed that you recently created an account at Company Name, and as you have yet to place an order, we wanted to email to ask if there is anything we can help with?

From product questions, to queries about our customer service policy, we’re here to help, so please don’t hesitate to email back if there is something we can do.

Kind regards,

Company Name

This short, friendly email sent just hours after the customer has abandoned their cart has proved very effective for the retailer in question for these reasons:

• HTML email, but importantly not graphic heavy – looks and feels more service based than a busy newsletter design
• Customer service based content – Open questions and a focus on solving problems, whilst alerting the customer to the store’s availability to help
• Personalized through the customer’s name and sent only hours after they left the site – a key period when the customer is more receptive to an approach, and will most likely welcome an email that starts a conversation
• No discount offered at this stage – to do so both lowers margins and cheapens the store, plus avoiding immediate discounting neatly avoids habit forming patterns where customers share knowledge about a store, and consciously abandon a cart just to receive a discount later

Forming the initial abandoned cart email in this manner, and sending it within hours of the trigger event (the moment the cart was abandoned) is a great starting point if your store is intent on converting some lost business. By proactively reaching out to show your customer service side first, not your willingness to discount just to get a quick sale, you will undoubtedly begin to pick up sales that you may previously have lost, and showcase your store’s attentiveness.