Best Practices

Email Marketing Automation

Abandoned Cart Series

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What is an abandoned cart automated email series?

The automated email series for the evaluation stage of the customer journey is the abandoned cart series. It is a key tactic of ecommerce.

The abandoned cart series is a follow-up email series sent to someone who has added items to their cart and proceeded through a portion of the checkout and then left the site without purchasing.

Why set-up an abandoned cart email automation series?

Research suggests that almost 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned. This is a huge piece of revenue being left on the table if you are not automating your follow up to these people who have demonstrated interest in your product or service. 

The purpose of this series is to remind prospects about items that they’ve left behind in their cart and provide incentive to complete their purchase. 

How to set-up an abandoned cart email automation series

A study revealed that when an abandoned cart series consists of 3 emails in a series, it’s been shown to have a 56% increase in revenue compared to just one email – so here is a recommended approach.


Email 1: Cart reminder

This is a very simple email that gets straight to the point. It reminds you where you were shopping. The cart reminder email ideally includes a photo of the item left in the shopping cart as a reminder. There’s a link to the item so the recipient can head straight to checkout, removing obstacles to completing the purchase.

The reason we have a cart reminder email is because the prospect may have become distracted or had something come up which hindered the buying process. This email is designed to remind them what they’re missing with a direct link back to their cart to complete their order.


Email 2: Your guarantee

The guarantee email in this series is sent to the prospect 24 hours after they’ve abandoned their cart. There are many reasons why a prospect may have missed the initial email and abandoned their cart. The guarantee email is where you offer a guarantee.

The reason you have a guarantee email is to remind the subscriber of the benefits of your product/service. This is an ideal time to offer a guarantee that reduces the risk of signing up.


Email 3: The sweetener – a discount or value add

The sweetener email is the third email in the abandoned cart series. This email is sent out if the prospect hasn’t purchased the product in the cart. It is the final email in this series to encourage the completion of the order.

As this is the final email in the sequence it is designed to be the last effort to get the prospect over the line with the purchase. This email is offering a ‘sweetener’ or a ‘discount’ to encourage the prospect to give your product a try and complete the sale.

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