Introduction

Consider this scenario; Someone Googles one of your products, your SEO kicks in and you appear in the top 3 of organic of paid ads. That person now clicks on your website, chooses the product and using your ecommerce engine adds the product to their card. Then they click on checkout and begin the process of purchasing the product. Most checkouts will have the following steps: Review Your Order, Login (or proceed as Guest), Billing Details and finally, Payment.

At some point along these steps the person abandons the purchase. After ALL those steps from searching on Google all the way to Billing Details or even Payment, they do not make a purchase. This can happen for several reasons, something as simple as becoming distracted can make a person forget about the purchase and the purchase is left unfinished.

How often does this happen? You probably wouldn’t be surprised to hear that this is a common issue for e-commerce businesses. However, I bet you are surprised to hear that there is a global average of 70% for cart abandonments.

Businesses have been looking for ways to reduce cart abandonment for years, to spend all that money to get a customer and then for them to simply stop at the final step is a huge motivator for business owners to encourage customers to complete the purchase. It has been found over years of trying different techniques that SMS, with its instant delivery and 98% read rate is by far the most effective in cart recovery campaigns.

This article aims to guide e-commerce businesses on how to effectively use SMS marketing to recover abandoned carts. We will provide actionable strategies, message templates, and best practices to help businesses drive conversions and maximise revenue.

Reduce your cart abandonment rates today with Sendmode’s easy-to-setup SMS communication tools. Click on the image below for a free trial. You don’t have to purchase (or abandon 😊) anything.

Why Do Customers Abandon Carts?

We mentioned one reason cart abandonment above (distraction) but there are a number of others which could stop a purchase such as

High shipping costs or unexpected fees.

This can be very frustrating for customers, getting all the way to the end of an online purchase only to be met with an unexpected cost which derailed their motivation to purchase. In a recent survey 58% of UK online shoppers abandon carts due to unexpected costs.

Complicated checkout processes.

Most ecommerce solutions have overcome this by now but if you are using a legacy ecommerce solution which has too many steps, it is more likely that people will get fed up and abandon the cart. Amazon spend millions of dollars on optimizing the buying process on their website and reducing it to as few clicks as possible. There is a reason for this!!!

Lack of trust or payment options.

Most ecommerce solutions will have similar widely known payment options such as Paypal, Strips, Visa Debit and Credit. If your ecommerce solution does not accept these and uses other less known payment gateways then you are immediately placing a question in customer’s minds, can I trust this website?

Distractions or indecisiveness.

As mentioned above, if someone gets distracted they can leave their laptop for a few minutes and then forget about the purchase. SMS is super effective in these cases as a reminder to complete the purchase.

Indecisiveness can occur if the customer loses trust in your website, the payments options are not known or they are overwhelmed with options.

It is important for you to know at WHICH step your customer abandoned the cart and also if they make a purchase your could gently ask them why they abandoned the cart in the first place. This provides more invaluable information to you as you strive to improve your ecommerce site and drive down abandonments.

Recover abandoned carts easily with Sendmode’s easy-to-use SMS automation tools. Click on the image below to get started.

Why SMS is Ideal for Recovering Abandoned Carts

There are several reasons why SMS is ideal for your Abandoned Cart and Remarketing Strategies

• High Open Rates: One of the reasons SMS is so popular is its high open and read rates. Global statistics show that SMS open rates exceed 98%, with 90% of SMS read within 3 minutes of being received.
• Direct and Personal: People’s mobile phones are very personal to them. When you send an SMS, make sure to personalize the message with their first names. This creates a personal touch with customers and is proven to vastly improve response rates.
• Actionable Messages: Make sure you have a weblink in the SMS which brings the customers back to exactly the point where they left the cart. Do not make them start the process again, if possible they should be only a few clicks away from a purchase and that’s where they should start again from.

This could be an example of an SMS you could send to a customer who has abandoned their cart. “Hi [First Name], It looks like you have [Product] in your cart. If you would like to complete the purchase please click [WEBLINK]. We’ve also added 10% off if you use this code [VOUCHERCODE] if you redeem by [DATETIME]”.

Strategies to Reduce Cart Abandonment with SMS Marketing

There are several best practice strategies which will reduce Card Abandonments. Let’s have a look at them now.

• Timely Reminders: If someone has become distracted and moved away from their laptop, it is reasonable to assume that a timely reminder SMS could reignite their purchase.
  • For example, ‘Hi [Name], don’t forget, your cart is waiting! Click the link to complete your purchase now: [Link]’.
• Exclusive Discounts: If the customer hasn’t responded to the first timely reminder maybe it is worth considering incentivising further with a extra discount to encourage them to checkout.
  • For example. ‘Hi [Name], we noticed you haven’t completed your purchase of [PRODUCT], click here to complete the purchase [WEBLINK] and enjoy 15% off your cart for the next 24 hours with this code [VOUCHER].”
• Urgency and FOMO: Notice in the example above how there was a time-limit on the offer. This is meant to create a sense of urgency to encourage completion of the purchase.
• Personalised Messages: Make sure you personalise the message. It has been proven that personal messages will get a much higher response than those not with customer name mentioned. We have written an article about the benefits of personalising your SMS marketing campaigns. It is available here https://www.sendmode.co.uk/personalized-sms-marketing-why-its-essential-for-your-business
• Follow-Up Campaigns: After the initial reminder you can send 1 or 2 follow on messages if the cart is not recovered. We recommend 2 messages over the following 2 or 3 days. If the customer has not responded by then it is best to leave it.

Recover abandoned carts easily and quickly with Sendmode’s SMS automation tools. Click on the image below to begin a free trial today.

Best Practices for Abandoned Cart SMS Campaigns

Finally, let’s look at the SMS Message itself. Here are some tips for what should be in the content of the message.

• Keep Messages Short: For all our customers we advise them to keep their message short and concise. People’s attention spans are decreasing and the best way for a message to engage is short, sharp and to the point. We recommend limiting the messages to 160 characters or less.
• Include a Direct Link: Make sure to include a direct link back to the same point the customer abandoned the cart. Your ecommerce engine will provide this thus making it easy for customers to return to their cart and complete the purchase.
• Send at the Right Time: The first reminder can be 1-2 hours after abandoning the card (unless this is late at night), the follow on messages should be sent at a convenient time. Mid-morning or early afternoon is best.

We’ve been in the business for almost 20 years and can advise on the best strategies for reducing cart abandonment. Optimise your SMS campaigns with Sendmode’s tools today by clicking the image below to beging your free trial.

Conclusion

There are several reasons why someone would fail to complete a purchase on your website, even after going to the effort of finding the product and beginning the purchase cycle. It is very important for businesses to try to recover these potential customers and encourage them to finish their purchase. Remind yourself how much money it takes to get the customer in the first place via marketing.

We believe SMS is the perfect channel for recovering abandoned carts with its immediate delivery and 98% read rates. There are a number of best practise strategies which can help you reduce the abandonment rates and ultimately increase your purchases and bottom line.

If you are not using SMS we are happy to offer a free trial and a number of free credits to test SMS as part of their cart recovery strategy.

Ready to recover lost sales? Visit Sendmode.co.uk and start your cart recovery SMS campaigns today

FAQ Recommendations

1. What is cart abandonment?
   Cart abandonment occurs when customers go as far as adding items to the cart on your ecommerce site but leave without completing a purchase.  It is as high as 70% globally and is a huge opportunity for your business to encourage these warm leads to become purchasing customers.
2. How can SMS help recover abandoned carts?
   SMS offers an instant way to reach your customers on a channel with is read by 98% of recipients within 3 minutes of receipt. This means you are guaranteed your customers will both receive and read your cart recovery campaign message. Furthermore, SMS service providers have very easy ways to setup automatic cart reminder messages to your customers. Setup Once and you don’t have to worry about it. All you need to do is measure the decrease in abandonments.
3. When should I send cart abandonment SMS messages?
   Timing is critical. Luckily SMS are delivered instantly and therefore it is important to send the first cart abandonment reminder within 1-2 hours after the cart ha been deemed abandoned.  Additional reminders can be automatically scheduled over the next 2 days.
4. What should I include in an abandoned cart SMS?
   It is very important to include the customer’s first name, the abandoned product details, when they were purchasing and then a direct link to their cart so they can pick up where they left off.
5. What is the average cart recovery rate with SMS?
   Globally it has been shown that SMS campaigns typically will recover 15-20% of abandoned carts. This makes SMS an extremely effective tool to reduce cart abandonments.
6. Are discounts necessary for cart recovery?
   While not mandatory, offering a small discount is always a help and can significantly improve cart recovery rates. Consider using a discount on the last SMS you send to your customer’s if the first one or two have not tempted them to complete the purchase.
7. What’s the best time to send cart recovery SMS messages?
   This would be the same as normal Bulk SMS Campaigns. It is best to send messages during lunch hours during the week and then mid-morning and mid-afternoon at weekends when people are shopping. These have been found to be the best times to send your cart recovery campaigns for maximum engagement.
8. How do I track the success of my cart recovery SMS campaign?
   It is important to measure the success of your cart abandonment strategy so you can refine and improve it over time.  Use metrics such as Click-Through-Rate (CTR), and overall conversion rate to analysis the response rate from customers.