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© 2014 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Experian and the marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners. No part of this copyrighted work may be reproduced, modified, or distributed in any form or manner without the prior written permission of Experian. Experian Public.

Abandoned cart emails report

Maximizing revenue with abandoned cart mailings

Abandoned cart series Maximizing revenue with abandoned cart mailings

One of the recommendations made in our recent Email Remarketing Best Practices Guide was to send more than one abandoned cart mailing as part of a remarketing program. We are frequently asked about timing and content considerations for these additional messages. To look at these elements and understand just how effective an abandoned cart series can be, we analyzed 18 brands that sent an abandoned cart series from January 2013 through January 2014. Series effectiveness Two-thirds of the brands in the study sent two abandoned cart emails, while one-third sent three. All abandoned cart emails had significantly higher revenue per email than promotional mailings. Brands sending a second abandoned cart reminder had a 50 percent increase in abandoned cart revenue compared to just their first abandoned cart mailing. Those sending three mailings saw a 56 percent increase in revenue compared to just sending the initial abandoned cart email.

The revenue per email for each mailing in an abandoned cart series was well above the promotional mailing average

Tip

Second abandoned cart emails that were sent on day 3 had the highest transaction rates For brands sending two abandoned cart emails, the second email was sent on day 2, 3, 5, or 6, with day 3 being the most popular (five of the twelve brands mailed on the third day from abandonment). Timing may not be the sole reason for the high performance of day three. Three of the five brands that mailed that day included an offer in the second mailing, which greatly increased the transaction rates for those mailings.

Series timing All of the brands in this study sent the first abandoned cart email within one day of the online cart abandonment. During that first day, the mailings that were sent in real time had 62 percent higher transaction rates than mailings sent by bulk mail at a later time in the first 24 hour period (transaction rate of 2.0 percent for real-time compared to

The second abandoned cart mailings that were sent on day 3 had the highest transaction rates

1.23 percent for bulk first mailings). This lift in transaction rates for real-time vs bulk was not seen, however, in subsequent abandoned cart mailings.

THE CROSS-CHANNEL MARKETING BUYER’S GUIDE

Optimizing three-part abandoned cart series As previously noted, brands sending three mailings in an abandoned cart series saw a 56 percent increase in revenue compared to just sending the initial abandoned cart email. Looking at the three-part abandoned cart series in this study, we found the highest overall transaction rates were for emails sent on days 1, 2, and 3 out of seven days. Average transaction rates for each touch point of the three part series generally declined, but all stayed well above the 0.06 percent transaction rate for promotional mailings.

For the 3 part abandon cart series, the highest transactions rates were for the series with mailings sent on days 1, 2, and 3

Average transaction rates for the 3 part abandoned cart series declined as the series progressed

Abandoned cart emails that dynamically showed the actual customer cart had 25 percent higher transaction rates than abandoned cart emails that just linked back to the brand’s Website. For more on how you can apply real-time, dynamic content to create highly effective and relevant messaging, download our technical guide online; Breaking the complexity barrier: Applying cross-channel content for message optimization.

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Make the message dynamic and personal

Content considerations Example: Abandoned cart email dynamically displaying the items left in a customer’s cart

THE CROSS-CHANNEL MARKETING BUYER’S GUIDE

Should you include an offer? In our study, we found that including an offer in the first abandoned cart mailing boosted transaction rates by 54 percent (1.81 percent with an offer compared to 1.17 percent with no offer). As we saw with the two part series, including an offer later in the series can greatly boost transaction rates. Second and third mailings with offers had transaction rates that were 2.4 times higher than comparable mailings with no offers (1.74 percent with an offer compared to 0.72 percent without offer). The highest transaction rates for offers were for dollar-off offers (2.05 percent), followed by free shipping offers (1.87 percent) and percent off (1.15 percent).

Example: Abandoned cart email with percent off offer

Tip! It is important to test whether or not an offer should be included in an abandoned cart email. If a customer is already motivated to purchase, then an offer may not be necessary to close the sale.

We also recommend personalizing the subject line of the second or third mailing in an abandoned cart series with the customer’s name. Series emails with personalized subject lines had 12 percent higher unique open rates than series mailings without personalization (36.1 percent unique open rate with personalization compared to 32.3 percent without). Moreover, our 2013 Email Market Study reports that out of all email messages sent (not just abandoned cart emails) with personalized subject lines have 26 percent higher unique open rates than non-personalized emails (19.4 percent with personalization compared to 15.4 percent without).

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Personalize the subject line of the second or third mailing of a series

Key words in subject lines Looking at top unique open rates for abandoned cart mailings, we found different high performing key words or phrases in the subject lines of each set in the series. The following key words or phrases listed had over 14 percent higher unique open rates than other abandoned cart mailings in the same step of the series:

First mailing keyword: ‘forget’ Ex. ‘Did you forget something?’

Second mailing keyword: ‘free shipping’ Ex. Get FREE SHIPPING before your cart expires!

Third mailing keyword: ‘complete’ Ex. How can we help you complete your order?

Summary The following are top recommendations for optimizing an abandoned cart series:

For more of our latest integrated email marketing trends, download our full Q1 2014 Email Benchmark Report, call 1 866 626 6479 or visit us online at www.experian.com/marketingservices.

Send more than one email: Subsequent abandoned cart series emails have consistently shown significant additional revenue beyond what was received by the first abandoned cart mailing. While some of the customers that respond to abandoned cart messages may eventually purchase from regular promotional campaigns anyway, having the orders in hand in the first few days after their online cart activity can only be seen as positive. We recommend expanding your abandoned cart program to become a series.

Make your abandoned cart emails as dynamic as possible:

Showing the customer-specific cart within the email provides the best transaction rates.

Test including an offer: The high transaction rates for abandoned cart series messages with offers, particularly in the second and third messages sent, suggest that the offer may provide the tipping point for those customers who were initially hesitant to complete the purchase of the items in their cart.

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About Experian Marketing Services

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© 2014 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. • All rights reserved Experian and the Experian marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

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