You can just sit there and watch those carts pile up and those potential customers walk away…

OR

You could be really proactive and create yourself a cart abandonment email like Shoes of Prey did. Who are Shoes of Prey? It is a site where you can design and create your own shoes and get them delivered. You can check out their awesome email on the right – just click on the image.

Did you know the average shopping cart abandonment rate in the US is 65%! That is 65% of your potential clientele that is leaving right now and maybe not ever coming back if you don’t have an automated cart abandonment program in place.

However some companies have reported that following up with those abandoners by email yields a 50% conversion rate, and that their cart abandonment programmes account for one third of the total of yearly email converted sales! Wow, let’s get started!!

Let’s just back up for a moment….. What exactly is shopping cart abandonment?
It is where someone has started the process of purchasing something through your ecommerce store and for some reason they have not completed the purchase.

What are some of the key reasons people abandon their carts?
The top reasons are as follows:
44% is because the shipping costs are perceived to be too high
41% are just not quite ready to make the purchase
25% decide the price is too high or may have seen it cheaper elsewhere
24% want to save them for consideration

How exactly do you structure this ‘cart abandonment programme’?
Some companies have cart abandonment email program that spans a few days, where the first email goes out on day 1, the second email goes out on day 3 and the third email goes out on day 5. That seems to be best practice.

When exactly should the first cart abandonment email be sent?
Some experts recommend that you send it between 1-2 hours after abandonment, and up to 24 hours at the latest. For the second email, 3-5 days later is good, and for the third and final email, 1 week later is appropriate.

How many emails should you send?
It’s recommended you send 1 at the minimum, 2 emails is even better, 3 is ideal, 4 or more emails may just too many.

Is incentivizing the emails a good idea?
the reported conversion rate is the same on all three follow up emails without an incentive, so be sure to incentivize your emails. The experts say use incentives but do it with tact and caution. Best practice is to include an incentive on the 3^rd email of the sequence.

What else should you include in your emails?
Include clear ‘reminders’ and prompts throughout your email, such as ‘see your shopping bag’ or ‘forgot something’? Or ‘shop now’, or ‘still deciding’? or ‘you have 48 hours left to snag your buy’.

What should our emails say?
Ensure the tone of your emails is friendly, that you offer reassurance, to settle any fears about refunds, or secure purchasing, or consumer guarantees, to cover off any of the reasons that the customer may be shying away from buying.

What about the all-important subject line?
Again like the copy, include prompts or reminders – here are some examples:
Free shipping if you complete your order in the net 24hours
You still have items in your cart
Forgot something?
A reminder from (Company Name)
Your cart is getting lonely
We are still holding your items for you
Items in your cart are still available for purchase

In summary:
Be humorous, but be professional too. Be sure you are being completely clear in your copy, subject line, call to action, and feel free to offer an incentive. And if you want to look at implementing such a programme you can start by creating a single email to start with, roll that out, test it, optimise it, analyse how that works, then perhaps add a second or even a third email into the series later.

PS – 87% of consumers abandon their carts, but 75% say they will return to complete their purchase later. So don’t panic. And don’t worry you are not alone, because just 40% of companies have such an email ‘re-marketing’ technique in place.

Ah, mother’s day. that time of year when our mailboxes fill up with pictures of pyjama’s, slippers, robes, flowers, spa packages, and pink ribbons flowing through a sea of make up and magazines. But what if your mum, or the mums you know, aren’t into pyjama’s or fluffy robes or sitting around reading magazines? There can only be so many mums in the world who like pink and enjoy going to spa’s. Mine doesn’t enjoy any of these things.

Are you a company that doesn’t think you have something fluffy to offer mums?  This your chance to stand out in the inbox and do something different. This means that even if you are a hardware store, you too can offer something for Mother’s Day because I know mum’s that like DIY, sports or even gadgets. How about offering something unique like buy some nails and get a free mother’s day gift of your choice? How about if a mum comes into your sports store and buys some shoes she gets a free workout drink bottle and iPod holder? Start thinking outside the box and see what you could offer than no one else can.

I love this email by UNICEF which offers you the chance to give your mum measles for Mother’s Day. Read about the campaign here and  check out the email here.

If this tact doesn’t suit you, there is another way to stand out…

E-mail driven transactions peak two weeks before mother’s day according to a report by Experian, and the lead up to Mother’s Day is when our in-boxes get flooded with perfume. However, the same e-mail marketing study showed that e-mails with the term “Mother’s Day” in the subject line in the week AFTER the day had a 44% higher open rate than the e-mail campaigns in the week leading up to it! Thinking about this, it would be very original of you and might be very interesting when you do a small Mother’s Day themed series of emails, or just send a post-Mother’s Day e-mail on purpose, inject a bit of humour or something original in there and see how much attention you get!

I like this email by explore.org – they sent it post mother’s day, and definitely has a unique twist to it – they encourage you to celebrate Mother’s Day by spending time with new animal families on their live web cams. See screenshot of email below, click on image to see larger version.

And Fab also sent a post Mother’s Day campaign that says “It’s possible that you somehow forgot Mother’s Day. But don’t worry, tomorrow is a new day. There’s nothing quite like a Mother’s Day surprise the day after Mother’s Day”. See screenshot of email below, click on image to see larger version.

The question is why these post-holiday e-mails get so much attention. Yes, some people visit their family or catch up with their mum after the official day. It could be they are very disorganised. It could be whatever was gifted wasn’t the pleasant surprise they thought, and subsequent replacement gifts are bought… or perhaps they gave gift vouchers which are redeemed after the day.

Yes it seems a bit ‘against the grain’ to send a Mother’s day e-mail AFTER the day, but see if you can put a unique spin on it like the campaigns featured above have done, use some original ideas, catch readers with some funny copy or a quirky subject line. See how you can stand out by being different.

The figure for Australia is 43 percent, and in New Zealand it’s 20 percent of all money spent online is spent on offshore ecommerce sites.

Why the differences? I’d hazard to say:
* Aust are more sophisticated online shoppers and know how to find what they want, whereever. NZer’s more cautious about doing business on another continent.

* Aust is a bigger market therefore more likely serviced by overseas sites offering delivery. NZ is tiny and not likely to even come under consideration for many sites, esp niche ones.

* Aust use eBay like we use TradeMe – and they have natural and easy access to overseas sellers there. NZ’s TradeMe has international sellers but it’s focus is very much local.

* In addition that eBay experience means that Aussies are more likely comfortable with PayPal and other payments methods whereas NZer’s are constrained by websites that don’t accept non-local credit cards (argh hands up who else gets mad at this).

*New Zealand ecommerce purchases by dollar value are weighed around flights/travel too which are usually sourced from NZ.

There are likely many more reasons…

P.S. source: The Aust. stat is as reported by Ebay. The NZ one is via The Warehouse annual report, and verbally confirmed by the lovely Tui Fleming at TWL to me today.

What do you think?  Does that ring true to you?  Why do you think that’s the case?  What do you think will happen in 12 months time?  2 years?

To read our weekly blog posts for the most comprehensive posts on emarketing, and email marketing in New Zealand, click the JERICHO logo at the top of the post here, and pick through the menu on the right hand side, or use the Search box.  To follow us on Twitter got to http://twitter.com/roanne1 and choose Follow.

You are getting your seasonal campaigns designed, your stock levels right and the Christmas rush is looming – maybe it’s time to STOP and re-check what you are doing online first.

If you have an ecommerce site then you’ll love these insights we heard from Google and the Australian Centre for Retail Studies at a NZRA online retailers seminar this month.

• There are more reasons than ever to be selling or at least showing, online.  Google expects at least a conservative 35% increase this year on last years search volume for Christmas purchases.

• Does your site have search? Does it work? Presenting unhelpful results is the same as one of your store staff pointing an enquiring customer to the wrong place to look for an item – rude, annoying and off putting.  According to the Australian Centre for Retail Studies, people who search within your site are your VIP’s – they are 3 times more likely to buy than browsers.

• Even if you have a bricks n mortar store, does your site have at least your best selling stock listed, with photos and descriptions?  78% of New Zealand and Australian shoppers use more than one channel to research, pre-purchase.

• When asked how they research their purchases before they buy, consumers were presented with a list of channels.  10 out of the 12 they ranked as top ways to research were online!

• Last minute applies to online too.  New Zealand shoppers use overseas shopping sites from October to early December for their Christmas shopping.   Then they hit the local sites with the peak coming mid-December.

• Google predicts their Google Maps use on mobile will overtake use on desktop by June 2011. Location-based marketing potential is soaring.  Google can already see that mobile search is peaking – before and after work , and at lunch time as consumers use their smart phone to locate information about the shopping they are about to do.

Do these ring true to you?

We know you are busy, but your comments are always welcomed….

To read our weekly blog posts for the most comprehensive posts on emarketing, and email marketing in New Zealand, click the JERICHO logo at the top of the post here, and pick through the menu on the right hand side, or use the Search box.  To follow us on Twitter got to http://twitter.com/roanne1 and choose Follow.