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How to save abandoned carts with automated emails

Welcome to the 16th issue of Always Be Learning. The newsletter that Colonel Sanders called "finger-licking good." Odd way to describe a newsletter, but I'll take it!

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Today's Marketing Breakdown:

Abandoned carts suck.

It's like in fantasy football when your star running back does all of the work getting the team down the field. Only to have the touchdown vultured by Mike Tolbert.

(the bar has been set for most obscure sports reference this newsletter will ever see).

Back to abandon carts, though...

Nobody likes to see them, but they present a massive opportunity.

*Email Marketing enters stage left*

Today, I'm going to show you how you can start saving those abandoned carts with a simple and effective automated email strategy.

Any standard email service provider like Klaviyo should be able to handle what I'm about to show you.

Step 1: Split branches for customers vs. prospects

All abandoned carts are not the same.

If you were talking to a customer or a prospect in person, you wouldn't use the same sales pitch, right? Same logic goes for your emails.

Step 2: Tailor the messaging to the email recipient

Customers:

Your customers have already purchased from you at least once before; they don't need as much convincing from you in an abandoned cart email.

Some key messaging points to use for customers:

  • Show what's in their cart

  • Give them a small discount

  • Use personalization (e.g. talk about what they've purchased in the past)

Prospects:

Prospects have not purchased from you before and need more convincing. It is more likely they dropped out of the buying process because they got cold feet.

Some key messaging points to use for prospects:

  • Benefit-driven copy

  • Show testimonials and product reviews

  • Show social proof (e.g. over 20,000 happy customers)

  • Give them a more generous discount than you would for a customer

Step 3: Pick your cadence

Unlike the messaging, the cadence can be exactly the same for customers and prospects.

I typically use the following email cadence:

  • Email 1 - 1 hour after abandoned cart

  • Email 2 - 23 hours after Email 1

  • Email 3 - 2 days after Email 2

Step 4: Putting it all together

Here's what a finalized Abandoned Cart email flow might look like:

Customers:

  • Email 1 - Cart Reminder

  • Email 2- "This item goes great with [insert product]"

  • Email 3 - "We upgraded your cart with a discount!"

Prospects:

  • Email 1 - Emphasis on testimonials and social proof

  • Email 2- "We upgraded your cart with a discount!"

  • Email 3 - "Your upgraded discount expires tomorrow!"

Pro tip: if you are using Klaviyo and Shopify and the customer that abandoned their cart had a coupon applied to the order, you can mention that coupon dynamically in the email. This works wonders in the first email reminder.

Bottom Line:

Abandoned carts stink because they were SO close to purchasing.

BUT, that also makes them one of the best targets for follow-up emails.

Send your abandoned cart emails at the right time, with the right message, and the right offer. They won't stay abandoned for long.

There you have it! 1 marketing tip to help grow your DTC business.

Here’s what else I’m checking out in the DTC marketing world:

  1. I shared a doc with 101 Subject Line Ideas in a Twitter giveaway not too long ago. I dedicated an entire section to Abandoned Cart emails. Check it out.

  2. 10 books that will make you a better marketer

  3. Analyze your headlines in seconds with this free tool

Hope this has been helpful!

If you enjoyed it:

  1. Please forward it along to your marketing friends!

  2. Reply to this email with what you want me to break down next. I promise I'll reply.

See ya next Thursday,

Joe

P.S. Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

  1. Join the waitlist for my Email Marketing 101 course (click here).

  2. Apply to join my free slack community of DTC marketing leaders (click here).

  3. Sponsor my newsletter and get your brand or business in front of your fellow ABL subscribers (reply to this email).

P.P.S. And if you want to start writing your own newsletter on beehiiv, get started here!