Have you ever started to purchase something and then got distracted and didn’t finish that purchase? This is known as abandoned cart.

I sure have… A few weeks ago, I thought I bought something on Amazon and two days later when I expected it to be delivered – and it wasn’t – I got concerned. I logged into my Amazon account and there it sat, still waiting to be purchased.

Your customers do the same thing, so an abandoned cart campaign can help convert those potential buyers into actual buyers.

In fact, a study by Baymard Institute found that 69.23% is the average documented online shopping cart abandonment rate. 69.23%!!

The study further found that 61% of the people surveyed abandoned cart because of the extra costs associated with the purchase (shipping, tax, or fees). Consider adding shipping cost or fees into the cost of the product and then offer free shipping.

If you have a long checkout process, you might want to consider what you can do to get someone in the door and then gather additional information you need. 27% of those surveyed abandoned cart because the checkout process was too long or complicated.

Ironically, 22% abandoned cart because the website had errors or crashed. Make sure your site is working! Test it regularly to make sure it’s functioning properly and also try it in different browsers.

In a different study from 2014, Design for Founders found that the Number 3 reason people abandoned cart was because they weren’t ready to purchase or wanted to save it for later.

Now, let’s talk about what to do if someone has abandoned their cart. You can create an abandoned cart campaign. As a small business owner, not only do you want to send a couple of emails, but you can also call them. Everyone is so inundated with emails, a phone call can increase the odds of converting those potential buyers to actual buyers.

When I run my Infusionsoft group training program, I use an abandoned cart sequence. You can see it here. I’m using Infusionsoft for my own ecommerce and email marketing, so this is how I have it set up:

Someone who is interested fills out a webform where I collect name, email and phone number. When they submit that form, it goes to the order form (where the information they previously filled out is already filled in).

If they don’t finish their purchase, after 30 minutes, they get an email, and then another email in 24 hours. After that, I will also call and find out why they didn’t finish their purchase. Perhaps they decided the timing wasn’t right, which lets me know that the next time I run the training, I need to reach out specifically to them. Or I can give them the dates of the next training at that time.

Maybe there’s another reason like they can’t afford the 3-pay option, and I can work with them to set up a 4-pay option so they can do the training. The point is I get to have a conversation and find out if we can work something out so they can do the training.

Another strategy you can do with abandoned cart campaigns is to offer a discount. In a 2014 study by VWO, they found that 54% of shoppers will purchase the products left in their carts if it’s offered again at a discounted price.

The last thing I’ll touch on here is doing a retargeting campaign. By “pixeling” someone who has visited a particular page, you can run ads to retarget them either through Google Adwords or Facebook ads. I’m sure you’ve visited a website and then you start seeing ads for that company in your browser or on Facebook. You can use the same strategy to retarget abandoned cart people!

Do you have an abandoned cart strategy? Share with me below!