What Do Abandoned Shopping Carts Tell Online Retailers?
Once a cart is abandoned, the key is to follow up and guide the customer back to the purchase, without falling into the trap of offering too many discounts.
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E-commerce continues to revolutionize the retail industry. However, abandoned carts is one problem that could be costing online retailers more business than it should. Responding to customers who have abandoned carts has the potential to lock in the sale, but many companies are sending out weak follow ups, according to a study from TargetingMantra.
Paras Arora, head of product marketing at TargetingMantra, compared empty cart follow up emails from 15 different online retailers including Overstock.com, Bloomingdale’s, Amazon, and eBay. He used six parameters to generate scores.
These parameters questioned if the follow up included:
- The abandoned product
- A call to action
- Relevant product recommendations
- Responsive design
- Discount offers
- Short email length
Apparel retailer Oakley scored the highest, as their follow-up did everything possible to ensure that a customer would reconsider their purchases.
