Losing a customer literally seconds before the checkout is not a retailer’s bad dream but rather the reality of online sales. The grave news is that 69,8% of shoppers never complete their purchases. The good news is that many clients can be reclaimed by choosing the right shopping cart abandonment strategy and communication channels.
In 2020, the global e-commerce market volume set an annual growth record of 25.7%. And although this rapid jump was provoked by a pandemic, the experts are sure the trend will continue. More and more purchases in the world will be made online, which means dealing with abandoned carts will become one of the market’s main challenges. Another prominent trend is that the number of abandoned carts will only increase: more and more online shopping happens on smartphones, and the percentage of abandoned carts on this platform is the highest — 85.5%.
It is worth noting that mobile phones are also expected to become the marketers’ main tools to fight against issue of abandoned carts. The easiest way is to return a customer shortly after an unfinished purchase. What is a quicker way than reaching out to him via his mobile phone?
Why are shoppers abandoning their carts?
There are many reasons why people do not complete their purchases, ranging from expensive shipping to slow website speeds (you can see them in the table below). The top offenders are the additional fees (50%), need to register on the site (28%) and an overly complicated checkout process (21%). However, about 40% of site visitors leave products in the cart because they do not plan to buy anything, and are just studying the item variety. These are your potential buyers that can be converted. What is more, about 10% of abandoned carts can be recovered using the right strategy. What strategy and mobile marketing channels should you choose?
How do you reclaim a customer via his mobile phone?
Email marketing is a staple in abandoned cart management, but the modern world dictates new rules of customer interaction. Do you want to lead a buyer to conversion? Do it quickly, unobtrusively and through a familiar channel.
SMS
Without a doubt, this is an effective way to return to a customer. SMS boasts a 90% open rate, is read within 3 minutes after being delivered and has a click-through-rate of 19%. Customers do not need a special app, Internet access, or even a smartphone for that matter — any mobile device connected to the GSM network is good enough for delivering an abandoned cart reminder via SMS. During the pandemic, SMS still proved to be a reliable and relevant channel of communication.
Messengers
Want to get the responsiveness of SMS and rich content variety of emails in one affordable channel? Messengers are at your service. For example, by enhancing its abandoned cart recovery strategy with Viber Business Messages by GMS, the COMFY retail network has increased the turnover for this trigger by 10% over 7 months. In addition to plain text, WhatsApp, Viber, or Facebook Messenger allow you to complement your reminder with a photo or even a video of the product in question. Another massive advantage of messaging apps is that your clients are already there, communicating with their family and friends, which means they are more open to interaction through this channel. Make sure to maintain this cosy atmosphere — do not be intrusive, not intrude and prepare to engage in dialogue.
Push notifications
According to statistics, push notifications show a 50% better response rate compared to emails. Convenient, informative, always at hand, just one click away from finishing the purchase, push is a fantastic channel with a couple of pre-requisites:
- Your company must have an application
- The client must install it
- The client must allow the app to send notifications
Please note: Sending too much content through apps can alienate customers since push notifications are usually considered to be a channel for urgent updates and other important information.
What your message should look like
Recent statistics indicate people’s growing preference towards text messaging, and 74% of mobile users do not have unread text messages on their device. But what should the abandoned cart reminder text look like?
The rule of thumb is to change the rhetoric from “Hey, you seem to have forgotten to give us your money” to “How can we help you make the right choice and complete your purchase comfortably?”
1. Friendly reminders. Perhaps your customer did not complete the purchase simply because they forgot about it. Sending a reminder via one of the channels mentioned above is a great way to fix that. Just make your message friendly and personable.
2. Additional bonuses. You may not know for sure, but often people are not happy with shipping costs, additional fees or simply want to compare prices from different retailers. Offer your customer a discount or free shipping. This will increase customer loyalty and create a sense of urgency that would nudge the buyer into action.
3. Start a dialogue. The consumer might like the product, but sometimes users face obstructions they cannot handle themselves. Check if the client has any questions.
When composing the text of your message, do not forget about the following techniques:
- The message should contain a clear call to action/instruction
- Encourage customers to make a decision by reminding them that items are not stored in the cart forever, products can be sold out, and special offers end quickly
- Keep the message as simple as possible. Do not promote products and services other than the ones in the cart
- Images always attract additional attention
- The brand must be recognisable. Use logos or short codes (for SMS)
- Personalisation and informal tone are the sellers
Know the benefits of all communication channels for dealing with the abandoned carts as there is no need to dwell on just one. You can combine different solutions and add fallback channels to your communication chain — only a multichannel strategy will be truly effective. About 18 billion dollars worth of goods stay in the abandoned carts every year, and a significant part of the income can be claimed if you correctly use the opportunities hidden in the mobile phone of each customer.