Whoops, looks like you forgot something…

That’s right, you’re letting them leave without the items in their cart. And let’s face it, an eCommerce store is no place to be littered with rampant abandoned carts. Not only does it create digital clutter, but, more importantly, it loses revenue.

Someone has visited your website, added something to their cart, initiated checkout, then said “Look, a squirrel” and ran off. Whether life just got in the way (or the price did), they didn’t complete their purchase. But you know what they did do? Display high purchase intent. That’s where the cart recovery sequence comes in.

The purpose: Automate the process of pushing people back to your site and encouraging them to finish up the transaction they were initially trying to complete.

The strategy: Triggered after someone fails to complete checkout. Remind the customer of the item they wanted to purchase, break down potential barriers that are keeping them from checking out, and offer customer support in case something went wrong.

How many emails to send

Say you’re on Shopify, the platform does offer a single standard email that they send out to people who don’t complete their purchase. But here’s the thing…

One email is not enough. 

As eCommerce marketing experts, we’ve done pretty extensive testing around how many emails should be sent within a cart recovery sequence. The magic number is somewhere between three and four, depending upon average order value, your brand proposition, and unique selling points,

Typically, this sequence leads with gentle nudges to get them to come back. After that, we reinforce the value propositions that you bring to the table at a brand level or at a product level. We finish up with a strong incentive like a discount to prompt them to come back and complete the transaction.

Based on our data, emails two, three, and four of this sequence perform way better than one email as a cart recovery attempt. In the end, having only one cart recovery email (or worse, none at all), means you’re losing out on a lot of revenue. Check out the other emails you need as part of the Six eCommerce Core Email Marketing Pillars.