Abandoned cart follow-up strategy best practice & recommendations Monday, 19th March 2012

Abandoned Cart: did you know…

•  87% of consumers abandon carts •  75% say they will return to complete the

purchase •  54% of cart abandoners who intend to buy

will do so in the first 24 hours

2 Source:  Amaze/University  Glasgow  2010  

What you will find in this document •  This document outlines our findings on best practice

abandoned cart follow-up strategy & communications. •  It also outlines some of our recommendations about how

these best practices can be implemented & be included in eCommerce communications strategy.

•  It covers:

1.  Abandoned cart follow-up: best practice 2.  Abandoned cart follow-up: Australian & overseas e-retailer

examples 3.  Abandoned cart follow-up: who does it well examples 4.  Abandoned cart follow-up: recommendations for eCommerce

sites & stores.

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1. Best practice: Key recommendations Time to send, incentives & post conversions rules

Key recommendations: Overview

The top five recommendations on the abandoned cart follow up strategy include: 1.  Reminder: best time to send emails 2.  Win back: how to incentivise 3.  Email content: key messages 4.  Sign in: what details to capture 5.  Post conversion considerations

1. Reminder: best time to send

STATS: •  54% of cart abandoners who intend to buy will do so in the first 24 hours •  Another 10% will buy within 48 hours •  82% of people who intend to buy, will do so within a week

SOLUTION: •  The longer you wait to re-engage an abandoner, the less likely they will be able

to recall the reasons for shopping. Re-engage no later than 24 hours after the abandonment process

•  Send the first email within the first two (2) hours of cart abandonment •  Send the second within 24 hours

•  Test the timings: Movies Unlimited, for example, sent emails 1 hour, 6 hours & 24 hours. The 1 hour email generated a higher response, but the highest conversion came from the email send 6 hours after the abandonment process

6 Source: Market Live 2012; Inbound Internet Marketing Blog 2011

2. Win back: how to incentivise STATS: •  Only 16% of retailers with abandoned cart programs offered a discount,

free shipping or sales incentive to lure back customers •  11% of cart abandoners found the check out process confusing •  24% place items in cart to consider later, 41% weren’t ready to

purchase

SOLUTION: •  Don’t always default to discount because the primary reason for abandoning

cart is not always price •  If you do offer an incentive, set up rules so customers only receive once or

potentially offer every nth customer an incentive to prevent training customers to expect discounts

•  Tell the service centre about the discount incase a technical difficulty lead to the customer completing the purchase over the phone

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Source: Market Live 2012; Inbound Internet Marketing Blog 2011; Chief Marketer 2011

Source  

3. Email content: key messages CONSIDERATIONS:

•  Include copy such as "did you have a problem at checkout" or "need help" to position email as a value add rather than a sales pitch

•  Include a link to the abandoned cart & refer to items in the message •  Include images or related products for cross selling & upselling, just

incase the model has sold out or customer was not sold on the original item

•  Create a sense of urgency & include an expiration date for the cart •  Include other ways to complete the purchase or seek help, such as

telephone numbers or email help •  If free shipping is normally offered, highlight this in the messaging in

case the shopper missed the offer •  Add value to the follow-up emails by including ratings, reviews & an

alternative way to contact customer service

8 Source: Chief Marketer 2011

4. Sign in: what information to capture •  At the first step ask for an email address •  State the purpose for collection is to contact shoppers if there is a

question about their order Walmart Example

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Rules to consider •  Once purchase is completed make sure the customer is removed from

the automatic email system.

•  If the customer does not purchase after a certain timeframe, set rules to remove the customer from the abandoned cart program.

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Source: Chief Marketer 2011

Australian & overseas e-retailer examples

Who does a good job? •  Not a lot of Australian e-retailers are doing a good job with abandoned cart follow up.

Most of them do not do it at all or even cookie the site to allow ease of conversion for return visitors.

•  There is a big opportunity is to implement a test & learn campaign, analyse results & design an abandoned cart email program as a part of a communications plan.

•  We placed items in carts & abandoned them on 29th February 2012. All eCommerce retailers who had our email address did not send a follow-up email.

•  Retailers were revisited on 16th March 2012 to see if cookies had captured cart & purchase information.

•  This review looks at the eCommerce process for:

1.  Nikon (https://e-shop.nikon.com.au/pages/default.asp)

2.  Dick Smith* (http://dicksmith.com.au/dsau/home.jsp?gclid=CMPR5tbZsK4CFYVMpgodpUroOA)

3.  Apple (http://store.apple.com/au?afid=p219|GOAU&cid=AOS-AP-AU-GOOGLE)

4.  Mac Cosmetics* (http://www.maccosmetics.com.au/ )

5.  Movies Unlimited* (http://www.moviesunlimited.com/musite/default.asp)

6.  Amazon (http://www.moviesunlimited.com/musite/default.asp)

•  * When re-visiting this retailer, we proceeded further through the checkout process before abandoning again.

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Nikon: Purchase Process

Step  1  

Step  2  

Step 2: Abandoned cart at this screen without filling in details. Too much to fill in up –front. Step 3: Returned on 16 March & did not find item in the cart.

Step 1: Clicked on account.

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Dick Smith: Purchase Process Step 1: Completed email details (email captured first).

Step 2: Abandoned cart at 9:55am. Dick Smith have my email details. No follow up. Step 3: Returned 16 March & did not find item in the cart.

Step  1  

Step  2  

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Apple: Purchase Process

Step 2: Abandoned cart at this screen without filling in details. Form too long. Step 3: Returned on 16 March & did not find item in the cart.

Step 1: Select product & proceed to checkout. Step  1  

Step  2  

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Mac Cosmetics: Purchase Process Step 1: Enter email address only.

Step  1  

Step  2  Step 2: Asked for further information, but cart abandoned at 11:30am. Now have email details. No follow-up email. Step 3: Returned 16 March & found item still in cart, but did not remember email address. No follow-up email sent.

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Movies Unlimited.com: Purchase Process

Step 2: Asked for details & provided shipping costs upfront. Abandoned cart at 12:45pm. The store have email details. No follow up. Step 3: Returned 16 March & found items in the cart. Email address was also remembered. Proceeded further through the check-out process. No follow-up email sent.

Step  1  

Step  2  

Step 1: Asked for email address. Clear checkout process & steps.

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Amazon: Purchase Process Step 1: Collected email

Step  2  

Step  1  

Step 2: Technical problems with cart so abandoned at 10am. Amazon now have email details. No follow up email. Step 3: Returned on 16 March. Item still in cart. Did not retain email address & had difficulty with the cart, so abandoned it without proceeding further.

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Who does it well? Examples Examples of how industry leaders follow up on Abandoned Carts

Fossil: Example of the Follow up email

1.  Links to other products incase looking for something else

2.  Statement to show care & service

3.  Imposed time limit to create urgency, but to not rush the customer

4.  Link to shopping bag

2  

3  

1  

2  

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Opportunity:

Product

details in cart.

Sears: Example of a Follow up email

1.  Express concern for the customer about the shopping experience

2.  Link to shopping cart 3.  Additional ways to contact

the store

1  

2  

3  

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Shopbop: Example of follow-up email

1.  Link to shopping cart (twice)

2.  Reiterating free shipping offer (thrice)

3.  Statement to encourage urgency

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3  

2  

1  

1  

2  

2  

How can eCommerce leverage this? Top five recommendations

eCommerce: recommendations

1.  Trigger emails: •  Design an abandoned cart program that includes a

series of trigger emails designed to re-engage the customer.

2.  Email collection upfront: •  Modify current process to capture only email

information up front. Second step is to capture more detailed information such as address.

3.  Service & care: •  Refrain from using discount offers, instead focus on

customer service & care.

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eStore: Deliverables

4.  Program: •  Design & build abandoned cart program

o  2 hours – Key message - Technical problems at the check out? o  1 day – Key message - Service focused o  5 days – Key message - Made a decision? o  2 weeks – Key message – Information offer.

5.  Contact rules: •  Rules to stop trigger emails once purchase is made

or cart is emptied.

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References http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/21539/5-Best-Practices-for-eCommerce-Abandoned-Cart-Nurturing.aspx%20%20 http://www.marketlive-blog.com/2012/01/30/winning-sales-from-abandoned-carts-3-email-best-practices http://chiefmarketer.com/email/campaigns/0216-abandoned-cart-emails/?cid=nl_email_ess%23%C2%A0%20 http://www.marketlive-blog.com/2012/01/30/winning-sales-from-abandoned-carts-3-email-best-practices%20 http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/21539/5-Best-Practices-for-eCommerce-Abandoned-Cart-Nurturing.aspx http://chiefmarketer.com/email/campaigns/0216-abandoned-cart-emails/?cid=nl_email_ess%23%C2%A0%20 http://chiefmarketer.com/email/campaigns/0216-abandoned-cart-emails/?cid=nl_email_ess

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/21539/5-Best-Practices-for-eCommerce-Abandoned-Cart-Nurturing.aspx http://chiefmarketer.com/disciplines/online/pulling-abandoned-charts-1001

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Thank you

WiTH Collective

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