The phenomenon of emptying the basket of purchases and tips to avoid it through mailings

When one of the store’s customers adds some products to the shopping cart, then empties them and exits the site, this may cause losses for you as an online store owner, especially if this customer came through paid advertisements that you make. 

The phenomenon of emptying the cart of purchases (Cart Abandonment) is supposed to be dealt with very seriously because most stores that ignore this phenomenon end up with noticeable losses due to the process of emptying the cart of products. 

There are many reasons that we explained clearly in the article Reasons for emptying the shopping cart. We also talked in the article about one of the WordPress plugins that can be used to reduce the rate of emptying the cart to the lowest possible extent, by sending emails to every customer who empties the cart to encourage him to return. Go to the store and complete the order. 

In this article we will focus on the most important factors to consider when writing an email to a customer who has emptied their cart and checked out. 


Statistics on the phenomenon of emptying the shopping cart

In order to write the content of an email to a customer who has emptied the shopping cart and left the site, you must be well informed about the statistics on the process of emptying the shopping cart of products within electronic stores. 

1- The rate of emptying the basket of products on various devices

Since most visitors to online e-stores come from mobile phones , it is natural that the percentage of basket reduction from purchases is highest on those devices, which have become ranked first in visits to most stores and websites around the world. 

You can benefit from this information to improve the process of purchasing products within your store for mobile phone visitors. For example, you can create pop-up windows dedicated only to visitors to the online store via mobile phone, containing discounts or promotional offers to reduce the rate of emptying the basket. 

There are many other factors related to the countries in which the customer empties the basket, as well as some months or times when emptying the basket of purchases increases. All of these factors can be taken into consideration to reduce the rate of emptying the basket to a minimum. 

2-The percentage of probability that the customer will return to purchase again after emptying the basket

Approximately 31% of customers who emptied the basket of products return to purchase again from the store at a later time, and this is considered an incentive for you to work on accelerating the cycle of the customer returning again to purchasing from the store by sending him an e-mail, for example, encouraging him to return to purchase to obtain It has some features reserved for it only. 

Note that only 8% do not return to purchase again from online stores after emptying the basket and go to physical stores to complete the purchase. The more you encourage the customer to return to the store and complete their purchases, the more you can reduce the percentage of emptying the basket to the lowest possible extent within your online store.

3- Reasons for emptying the basket of products

In the era of e-commerce, the customer has become able to compare product prices in a large number of places and electronic stores via the Internet, which has made the price of the product higher than its normal rate in the market represent the largest percentage of the reasons for the customer leaving and emptying the shopping cart due to hesitation to buy it at a price higher than Average price elsewhere. 

Also, requiring the customer to create a new account on the store first before he completes the order is one of the procedures that makes the ordering process more complicated for the customer, which leads to a higher rate of emptying the basket of products, so do not make the process of creating a new account mandatory unless you are selling. Products designated for a specific segment and cannot be purchased except by registering a new account in the store. 

You can also simplify the process of registering a new store account if you use WooCommerce to operate your online store, as WooCommerce specifically provides the creation of an account automatically for the customer using his data that he entered to complete the order. 

When prices are not clear on online store products, such as including shipping prices, taxes, commissions, and other factors that affect the value of the final price of the product. Make sure to display prices in a clear way to customers to reduce emptying of the shopping cart. 

The trust factor is also an important factor that helps reduce the rate of emptying the basket of purchases. Security factors vary depending on many factors, such as clarifying the privacy policy clearly to customers, as well as the presence of a secure SSL connection on the site and choosing a payment gateway that provides a secure electronic payment process.

4- Provide alternative payment methods as much as possible

Do not force the customer to pay money through one method or a specific method. Let him choose the method that is most appropriate for him, and try to provide all payment methods appropriate to the location and place of entry of visitors to your online store. 

You can also try paying in advance or in installments, which is one of the most common payment systems in most famous online stores.

Statistics indicate that electronic payment operations in online stores increased by 215% due to the provision of term or installment payment methods. 

Note that payment by credit or in installments in online stores has many legal and banking conditions and procedures that must be adhered to depending on your country, so study the matter well and consult specialists before making payment in installments available. 

5-Email messages help reduce the rate of emptying the basket in the store

When an email is sent to a customer who has emptied their shopping cart and checked out, it helps reduce the empty cart rate by approximately 6.5%, in addition to potentially increasing sales by 20% in most online stores. 

This indicates the importance of sending emails to customers who are emptying their shopping cart and checking out of the store. 

But writing emails needs to take many factors into consideration in order to be significantly successful in reducing the rate of emptying the basket of purchases.

In the following paragraphs, we will review for you the most important factors that you take into consideration when writing email content that targets store customers who have emptied their shopping cart and left the store, in order to encourage them to return again and complete their purchases, which reduces your online store’s losses and certainly increases sales and profits, respectively.


Tips for writing email content to reduce the percentage of empty shopping carts

After learning about some of the most important statistics related to the purchasing process from online stores and the percentage of emptying the basket in them. 

In the following paragraphs, we talk about important tips that you can take into consideration when you write an email message in which you persuade the customer to return again to the store and complete the order.

1. Choose the appropriate time to send the email.

When a customer empties the basket of purchases and leaves the store, this often indicates that the customer had a bad experience on the site that led him to completely ignore the purchase process. 

At this time, the customer is not waiting for an email message from you immediately. Allow some time to pass for the customer’s negative feelings towards the store to disappear, and then you can send an email message in which you must be very careful that it provides a real benefit and encourages the customer to return again to the store. Store to complete the order. 

The opinions of e-marketing experts differed regarding the appropriate sending time, but most of the times recommended by many are an hour after the customer leaves the store and empties the shopping cart, or after a day or after three days. 

Of course, there will be no ideal dates, but in the end it depends on your own experience to get the best possible result, as what works for others will not necessarily work for you, but try to take the opinions of others in determining the appropriate time to send an email to the customer who emptied the basket. . 

2. Send more than one email message at different times

It is possible that the customer will be convinced by the first e-mail message you send, but he is not ready to purchase at the present time, and therefore sending him another message after a day has passed, for example, may be the ideal time for him to return to the store and complete the purchase process. 

The following picture shows one of the mailings from Amazon after emptying the basket of purchases in it:

 Just one day before that, another email was sent, and we notice that the content of the email changes every time:

Repeating e-mail messages at separate times can contribute to convincing the customer to return to the online store to complete the purchase of orders that he had previously neglected, provided that the e-mail contains good and thoughtful attraction factors to encourage him to enter the store again. 

At the same time, be careful not to send the same e-mail to the same person more than once. Also, do not send more than one e-mail on the same day, because too much urgency in e-mails may ultimately lead to the customer putting your site in the spam basket. 

3. Make sure to divide the types of customers into segmentation

In a previous article, we talked about the theory of segmentation or dividing the types of customers within the store into more than one segment, where customers are classified into a number of segments that differ in their behavior and the way they interact within the online store. 

When you do a good division and classification of all segments of visitors that access your website, then sending mail messages will be very targeted, as you write content that strongly targets the classification or target segment. 

Imagine that you have a group of customers who are classified as having entered the store and emptied the basket more than once. Therefore, when you send them an e-mail message, it is necessary to provide them with a discount or an exclusive offer other than any other offer they viewed during their last visit, and thus help them… Make the decision to return and complete the order. While customers who have only emptied the basket for the first time inside the store do not have to be sent a discount, but they can start sending offers and products with discounts or special prices. 

Dividing customers into different segments and customized classifications helps you in making decisions very significantly, as it helps in understanding the needs of each type of store visitor, and thus gives an opportunity to work on writing highly targeted content.

4. Carefully customize email content to meet customer needs

When you want to draw the customer’s attention through your e-mail messages, try to make the speech directed personally and very specifically to him. Do not use general phrases such as “our clients,” but use “our client,” and so on. In the rest of the suitor sent via e-mail, it must be directed precisely to the receiving person. Note the Amazon website messages that begin with a greeting with the customer’s name:

In addition to mentioning the customer’s name at the beginning of the email, also make sure to attach links to your official accounts on social media sites, as many customers trust stores that have a noticeable presence on social media platforms, and therefore when you attach links to your official accounts on social media sites, you will win. This helps increase customer confidence in you and thus increases the likelihood that they will return to the store and complete orders.

Notice the following image showing the footer of one of the e-mail messages, where links to social media platforms were attached in order to increase the person’s interaction with the content:

In the end, the phenomenon of emptying the shopping cart of products and leaving the store should not cause you much concern because it exists in most online stores, even the largest ones. 

You can always turn some losses into potential profits by understanding the problem and working to provide innovative solutions to it. Also, when you follow up with your store’s customers after they leave and empty the basket, and send them encouraging emails to return to the store and complete their orders, this contributes to increasing the possibility of them returning and adding products inside. Basket and thus you converted some losses into profits.

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