Abandoned Cart Notification Best Practices: Copy Templates For Higher Cart Recovery

Abandoned Cart Recovery
Asiya
July 17, 2023
About the Author
Asiya
Content marketer
Asiya handles all things content at PushOwl. Her passion to write has been a part of her for as long as she can remember. When she isn't working, Asiya spends time writing about culture, sci-fi, and life.

If you've set up abandoned cart recovery messages, you're already doing a great job. If you've set it up on multiple channels like email, web push, and social media, you're much more likely to recover more carts.

But, one of the most important aspects of setting up your abandoned cart recovery messages is tailoring your copy to resonate with your shoppers better and ultimately, recover more carts. Figuring this out requires some trial-and-error with the copy and tactics you use and identifying what your customers are responding to more. While some stores may get better conversions with a discount in their reminders, others would see higher success with a witty title or urgency in the message.

Here are a few tried-and-proven copy tactics to help you customize your abandoned cart reminders:

Create a discount ladder

One of the most common ways that you can convert merchants is by offering a discount in your abandoned cart message. But, you don't want to compromise on your profits.

So, instead of giving away your maximum discount on the first reminder, you can sttagger them with a discount ladder. A discount ladder allows you to slowly introduce an incentive to your shoppers in case they don't check out on the first reminder.

  • First reminder - Don’t offer any discount. Certain visitors might just be distracted while shopping and would have fully intend to purchase from your store. For them, a simple reminder without any discount will get the job done.
  • Second reminder - 5% discount. If the first reminder doesn’t do its job, some other shoppers are likely to take the bait with a small discount.
  • Third reminder - 10% discount. Still nothing? Go all out with 10% to convert the rest of the stragglers.

This way, you can maximize your conversions as well as your revenue.

Offer free shipping

We'll state the obvious— shoppers hate shipping fees. According to Baymard Institute, 61% reported abandoning a purchase due to an extra cost such as shipping fees. Many of your abandoned cart problems could be solved by offering these visitors free shipping.

Here’s how the sequence would look:

  • First reminder - a reminder about the product. The first notification would serve as a reminder to visitors who genuinely forgot to complete the purchase. It’s best to hold off the free shipping offer till the second reminder.
  • Second reminder - incentivize the shopper with free shipping. Nudge visitors to check out by offering them free shipping on their cart. You can either give them free shipping without any strings attached or offer free shipping if the visitors shops for a particular amount.
  • Third reminder - repeat your free shipping offer. If they haven’t been compelled to get the product by the second reminder, create urgency in your offer!

Build urgency

The right words can make a huge difference in convincing us to buy. We're more likely to purchase from a store if they have a 'limited time sale' than if they just say 'weekend sale'.

You can use this tactic by sending abandoned cart reminders that use urgency words like 'last chance', 'hurry now', or 'expires soon'. Even using phrases with a time limit like '4 hours left!' is a good way to nudge visitors to checkout.

Add some humor

If it aligns with your brand voice, you can use humor to better resonate with shoppers. A pun or a clever phrasing can make your customers chuckle and build positive feelings around your brand. You can use puns related to your niche to stay consistent.

Compliment their tastes

Make your customers feel good about buying from you by giving them a compliment about their choice while reminding them about their cart. However, you shouldn't always be complimenting them in every reminder you send. Just like a conversation, just use this tactic in one reminder but make it genuine.

Highlight why they should buy it

Remind the shopper about the benefits or the reasons why they should buy the product they left behind.

While you can't personalize the reminder copy for each shopper, you can give a generic benefit or reason that would resonate with them all. For instance, if you're a fashion brand, you can claim 'great fabric quality' or if you're a skincare brand, you can point out how your products are 'tested by dermatologists'. Such compelling reasons will make shoppers feel more confident to checkout.

If you want higher conversions for your abandoned cart notifications, you need to personalize them to what your shoppers may respond to better. You can test out these different tactics to see what would work best with your customers.