Did you know nearly 75 percent of online retail orders are abandoned? Abandoned carts are incredibly common. The top five reasons for leaving a shopping cart are:
- Shipping costs are too high
- Not ready to purchase
- Wanted to compare prices
- The price was too high
- Saved product for later
No matter the reasons, though, marketers can encourage website visitors to complete their transactions, even after leaving the site.
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This strategy is called remarketing, and it’s one of the most effective ways to recover lost conversions – especially when using email.
What are Remarketing Emails?
Remarketing emails are sent to website visitors who abandon their cart, to encourage them to finish the transaction – whether it’s making a purchase or signing up for a program.
To be effective, remarketing emails should first be sent within 60 minutes of a customer leaving the site – after that, 90 percent of e-commerce leads turn cold.
Why Use Remarketing via Email?
Remarketing through email is highly effective, yet only 26 percent of e-commerce sites remarket to website visitors.
Companies that invest in remarketing have a competitive advantage and can expect to see high returns:
- Post-cart abandonment emails have a 40 percent open rate
- These same emails have a 20 percent click-through rate
- Email remarketing conversions can reach up to 40 percent (compared to an e-commerce average conversion rate of 2 to 4 percent)
Numbers aside, remarketing emails are highly personalized, which helps drive customers back to their carts – and another valuable opportunity to click that button.
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Now, some examples of remarketing emails.
Immediate Follow-up
If you want to take advantage of that sacred first 60 minutes when your leads are still “warm,” then send an email right away.
Retail brands can personalize the email by including images of the products left behind. To make remarketing useful for B2B companies, marketers should rely on personalized text and offer the option to schedule a follow-up call (preferably with the individual who’s sending the email).
Here’s an example of how Target attempts to recover potential “lost sales”:
Second Follow-up
Typically, the next remarketing email can be sent within 24 hours of your visitor, leaving the site.
It’s a smart idea to include much of the same language as the first email, with the addition of product reviews, customer testimonials, or something similar. This helps reassure visitors your brand is the best choice and gives them the confidence to move forward.
In this example from Wordstream, the account representative lets the visitor know he works with similar agencies:
Final Follow-up
If the customer has not purchased within one week of abandoning the cart, then you can send a final remarketing email containing an offer, such as:
- Free shipping or free gift
- Percentage discount
- Trial period or free return
Plant Therapy sends an offer email to site visitors who haven’t completed their transactions:
Of course, if you decide to use offer emails as part of your remarketing efforts, be sure to randomize the process. Otherwise, customers will catch on and purposely “abandon” their carts waiting for your discount or special offer to arrive in their inbox.
Learn More about Email Marketing
Want to get the latest education on email marketing, including remarketing strategies? Check out Simplilearn’s Advanced Email Marketing Certification Training. This online training program is designed to help you create compelling content to promote products and services, build brand awareness, and customer loyalty.
