According to Mailchimp, 69% of customers abandon their carts before checking out. For ecommerce brands, that number can feel pretty discouraging. The good news is there are ways to win those customers back, and abandoned cart emails are a great place to start.
So if you’re looking for ways to re-engage lost customers, here’s how abandoned cart emails can help you win them back and turn them into conversions.
Why Cart Abandonment Emails Matter in eCommerce
Cart abandonment is one of the biggest challenges ecommerce brands face, but it’s also an opportunity. Send timely, relevant emails to customers who leave items behind, and you get a real shot at reconnecting with them and driving conversions.
The Impact of Abandoned Cart Emails on Conversions
Abandoned cart emails remind customers they still have items sitting in their cart. They usually include details about the item along with a CTA nudging the customer to finish their purchase.
If you want to sweeten the deal, a discount code or a perk like free shipping can help push customers over the line.
Beyond the content itself, timing plays a big role in your conversion rates too. Generally, the sooner you send an abandoned cart email, the better your results. That said, the ideal send time can shift depending on your products, your industry, and your audience.
You’ll also want to avoid overwhelming customers with too many emails, since that can cost you the sale entirely. Some customers respond well to a quick reminder, while others need a bit more time and prefer a follow-up later on.
Test different send intervals to find what actually works best for your audience.
How eCommerce Email Automation Recovers Lost Sales
Done right, abandoned cart emails can be genuinely effective. Abandoned cart campaigns see an impressive open rate of 40%, compared to a benchmark of just 21% for general retail emails. Roughly half of everyone who receives an abandoned cart email will click it, and half of those will go on to make a purchase.
Mailchimp’s abandoned cart automations let you send an email every single time a shopper abandons their cart. You can send a single follow-up, build out a full abandoned cart customer journey, or set up a sequence of automated reminders, whichever fits your brand.
To save you time, Mailchimp offers dynamic content, so you only need to build one email template that works across every abandoned cart email you send. The content updates automatically based on what’s actually left in each customer’s cart, showing them a personalised message and offer.
With Mailchimp’s abandoned cart tools, you can automate your sales recovery entirely, timing emails to reach customers right when they’re most likely to come back and buy.
Crafting High-Converting Cart Abandonment Emails
Creating cart abandonment emails that actually convert takes more than just a reminder about forgotten items. It starts with an engaging subject line, your first and only chance to catch your customer’s attention.
Best Subject Lines to Improve Open Rates
The subject line might be the single most important part of a cart abandonment email, since it’s the one thing your audience sees before they even open the message. It needs to stand out in a crowded inbox and actually get read.
That said, don’t go overboard with exclamation marks or write in all caps, it tends to read as spam. Personalised emails perform better than generic ones too, so address your customers by name wherever you can.
Doing this doesn’t just grab attention and boost engagement, it also helps build a stronger connection with your brand.
According to Mailchimp, keep your subject lines under 50 characters if you’re targeting mobile users. That keeps them displaying properly on mobile devices and stops your message getting cut off in the inbox preview.
Shorter subject lines also tend to grab attention faster, which increases the odds that customers open your email and come back to finish their purchase.
Optimising Your Strategy for Shopify Abandoned Carts
Like Mailchimp, Shopify also lets you build abandoned cart email automations.
These emails are fully customisable, so you can adjust the customer list they’re sent to, the subject line, the preview text, and the sending email address.
Shopify also gives you an abandoned checkout email report to help you understand how well your emails are actually performing. These reports show you how many sessions and completed orders came directly from your abandoned cart emails.
You’ll also see conversion rates, total sales, average order value, average number of products sold, and how many customers were first-timers. Reviewing these reports regularly helps you spot what’s working and where there’s room to refine your strategy and drive more conversions.
For an extra layer of optimisation, connect your Shopify and Mailchimp accounts through their integration, combining both channels into one streamlined engine for reaching customers with personalised abandoned cart emails.
Abandoned cart emails are more than just reminders. They’re powerful tools that can turn lost opportunities into recovered revenue. Use platforms like Mailchimp and Shopify well, and you can send automated abandoned cart emails with personalised messaging and offers that genuinely resonate with your customers and drive conversions.
At OMDIGI, our expert team is ready to help you get started with email automation, making sure you reach your customers with the right message at the right time. Get in contact with us at hello@omdigigroup.com to find out more.