Cart abandonment is a huge problem for most online retailers. In fact, Inc.com estimates that as many as 67 percent of online shoppers will leave items behind in their carts at an estimated cost of $1.79 trillion in lost sales opportunities. That’s a sobering and frustrating statistic for most business owners. But, there is some good news. Research shows that business owners can increase online sales with email remarketing.
Between 2016 and 2017, Statista looked at the primary reasons why shoppers in the U.S. abandoned their carts. There were several reasons why shoppers left items behind.
In general, shoppers did not complete their online purchases due to high shipping costs, or they were simply doing research and browsing. That is good news. These issues can be addressed and business owners can turn these shoppers into paying customers. How? With the help of email remarketing.
Email remarketing gives companies the opportunity to bring people who have already shown an interest in their product back to their websites. This is accomplished by placing snippets of code (pixels) across the various pages of a website. The pixels then place cookies on shoppers’ browsers, which provides valuable insight into their browsing behaviors. Of course, to send out targeted messages to these potential customers, businesses must also have shoppers’ email addresses.
In general, most companies do not require (and should not require) people to log into an account to start shopping. So, how do companies capture their email? It’s not that complicated. Pop-ups are a simple way to grab a shopper’s email. Many companies use pop-ups when consumers first visit the website, when they attempt to leave the website, or when they abandon their shopping cart. The most effective pop-ups include an incentive, such as 10% off their first purchase.
Once companies have visitors' emails and some data on their browsing habits, it easy to create a robust remarketing email campaign to help increase sales.
Email remarketing allows companies to send the right message to the right client at the right time. Compared to untargeted emails, which generally have conversion rates below four percent, remarketing email conversions can be as high as 41 percent. They also generate four times more revenue. But, companies have a limited time frame before a lead goes cold.
According to Moz, shoppers who do not return to their carts within an hour are unlikely to complete the sale at a later date. But here is some good news. Data also shows that 54 percent of shoppers will purchase items left in their online cart, if they are offered a lower price. Be sure to draft remarketing emails to cart abandoners that not only drop within 60 minutes of them leaving the website, but also offers an incentive to encourage them to complete their transactions. This remarketing email from Kate Spade is a great example of how companies can encourage visitors to return to their carts.
If you’re still not convinced email remarketing is worth the time and effort, consider these statistics:
Companies that are successful with email remarketing understand that there is a fine line between persuasion and harassment. It’s important to limit remarketing emails to no more than 3 per week. In addition, the emails should also provide value to the recipient; whether that’s an incentive, loyalty reward or some other important information. It may take some time to create a robust remarketing email campaign that works, but the rewards are worth the investment.
