How To Reduce Abandoned Carts On Your Shopify Stores
by
Ryan ODonnell
Last updated:
October 21, 2022
Abandoned carts are a plague to a Shopify store.
Some 70% of carts are abandoned for reasons varying from unexpected shipping fees to consumers using carts as wishlists. 85.65% of those abandons occur on mobile.
The shame of abandoned carts, of course, is that it means someone was just about as close as you can get to actually completing the checkout process. Sales down the drain, right?
Abandoned carts should be considered a new step in the sales funnel. Rather than having “lost” a customer, you’ve gained a good deal of data on cart abandoners that can improve your marketing workflows. By leveraging that data well, you can still entice customers back.
So, let’s talk about how to get your visitors over the hump of actually making it through the checkout process so you can start to reduce shopping cart abandonment.
Topics:
How To Reduce Abandoned Carts Shopify
Time needed: 30 minutes
As a Shopify store owner, it’s important to set up a strategy to reduce cart abandonment and maximize conversions from your carts.
Add exit-intent popups
Your first line of defense in cart abandonment is to avoid an abandoned cart. A pop up can be used for multiple reasons. Create a sense of urgency around current offers like, Free Shipping, present an active discount code, or ask for their email address.
Setup a retargeting marketing campaign
Google Ads via a remarketing campaign is a great ecommerce strategy when shoppers abandon the checkout process on your Shopify store. Without an email address, you can’t market to them. So, your only option is retargeting them across the other websites they’re visiting.
Setup an abandoned cart email campaign
When it comes to re-engaging a consumer, email is still one of the most effective tactics. Automate your cart abandonment email campaign and send out a timely reminder of what shoppers left behind in their shopping carts. An abandoned cart email templates sent within the first 24 hours after cart abandonment should have an average open rate of 40%, with 50% of cart abandoners finishing their purchase.
Follow-up on social channels
Just like your Google Ads retargeted campaign, you can use the same list to market to potential customers on Facebook. Having multiple brand impressions is known to have a positive impact on your abandoned cart conversions.
Engage repeat visitors on chat
Talk to your shoppers! There’s no better way to learn what is holding them back from purchasing than asking them directly. Target returning shoppers and try to engage with them via chat apps.
Let’s jump into each ecommerce strategy to save cart abandonment.
Depending on your brand and other business factors, some may be easier than others. We’ll recommend popular Shopify apps for each as well.
Exit intent pop-ups
Given that most shopping cart abandonment happen for reasons other than “no intention to purchase,” you have a few valuable seconds to recover that cart before the visitor leaves your site, at the time of their peak engagement.
One method to stop these visitors in their tracks is exit-intent pop-ups.
Exit intent pop-ups appear when a visitor indicates their intent to leave your site by moving the pointer toward the exit button on the browser. Obviously, this limits these pop-ups to desktop use only.
On average, these exit intent pop-ups boost conversions 5-10%, not exactly an enormous number, but nothing to sneeze at for the amount of work a pop-up takes.
An exit intent pop-up allows you to directly address your visitors with a message to help them complete their purchase. Here are a few messages you might consider:
Direct them to a customer service chat. If someone’s having problems completing their purchase, getting a store rep to help might just solve the problem.
Offer free shipping on the cart. Unexpected shipping fees make up a large reason why carts get abandoned.
Offer a discount code on the cart if they purchase in the next X minutes.
Ask them to answer a single-question survey about why they abandoned the cart. This probably won’t recover the cart but you’ll be able to gather data on why people are abandoning their carts on your site, in particular, and then you can use those answers to fix the problem.
JustUno is a powerful lead capture and online marketing tool that allows you to show targeted offers and promotions to your website visitors. With JustUno, you can create personalized onsite experiences for each visitor, based on their behavior and interests. This ensures that each visitor sees the right message at the right time, resulting in more conversions and sales for your business. JustUno is easy to set up and use, and it integrates seamlessly with all major email marketing platforms.
Pricing: Free plan available. 15-day free trial. Next plan starts at $29/month
With OptiMonk, you can create relevant and engaging online shopping experiences for every visitor on your site. By personalizing messages and optimizing both your customer experience and conversion rates, you can boost sales and increase your ROI. OptiMonk is the perfect tool for anyone looking to take their online store to the next level.
Pricing: Free plan available. Next plan starts at $29/month
Retargeting Ads
There’s a real bright side to shopping cart abandonment: you learn exactly what it is your visitor wants to purchase from you.
Knowledge is power.
Now you can have retargeting ads follow your would-be customer around the web with the items you know for sure they actually want.
Retargeting ads are absolute gold, with a CTR that is 10xs higher than a non-retargeted ad. You can do this through either Facebook or Google ads.
You can continue to market to them while they’re actively searching for other deals by setting up retargeting ads on social media too.
Adroll makes it easy to connect your store to our platform, and automatically import your product feed to create dynamic ads. Other platforms charge for email use and don’t have nearly as many advertising options, but with AdRoll you can use ads AND unlimited email to reach your goals. Plus, their AI technologies make it easy to monitor and optimize your ROAS 24/7.
Pricing: Free plan available. 30-day free trial. Extra fees may apply.
With Ako Retargeting, you can grow your sales and maximize your ROI. They offer optimization for conversion rate and recovery of shopping cart abandonment, A/B testing for multiple product sets and creatives, segmentation of Facebook Retargeting audiences, and more. The rich ad formats allow you to retarget site visitors in a way that is both engaging and persuasive. And setting up product feeds and dynamic ads is quick and easy.
Pricing: Free plan available. Extra fees may apply.
Abandoned Shopping Carts Email Reminder
Sending an email follow-up (or series) to your visitor to remind them to finish their purchase has been proven quite effective.
On average, conversion rates look a little different. Emails sent after 20 minutes have an average conversion rate of 5.2%, after one hour it drops to 4.5%, and after 24 hours it drops to 2.6%.
Your emails, like all marketing emails, should be clear and simple, with a single CTA. Here are some ideas to get you cooking:
3. Offer a discount code or free shipping to incentivize the purchase.
4. Consider asking if there’s anything you can do to help them with a link directly to a customer service chat.
You should not include this in an email with an incentive. Offering them customer service would be the CTA of the email, otherwise, it’s just noise that will confuse them away from taking the action you want.
Merchants lose an average of 60-80% of their transactions to shopping cart abandonment. The Shopify app, Kit Karts, is a powerful abandoned cart recovery tool for Shopify merchants that can help you recover a significant portion of those lost sales at checkout.
With Kit Karts, you can send automated abandoned cart recovery emails at your specified time, giving carts a little nudge and turning them into paying customers. This can help improve the conversion rate of your existing traffic and boost your bottom line.
Kit Karts is easy to set up and use, and it’s one less thing store owners have to worry about.
MESA is the all-in-one solution for abandoned cart automation. With MESA, you can easily manage orders, customers, products, payments, and more. The built-in Email and SMS apps make it easy to send abandoned cart emails immediately when they happen. Plus, the experts at MESA will build your automations at no additional charge. Save time and extra costs by combining your Email and SMS marketing with MESA.
Pricing: Free plan available. 7-day free trial included.
Shopping Cart Abandonment Email Campaign
You shouldn’t quit your abandoned cart email with a single reminder.
Carefully create an abandoned cart email sequence to encourage shoppers with marketing offers. Bring customers back to your brand with a free shipping offer, discount code or with social proof of your product being used.
Again, you now know exactly what your visitor wants to buy on your site. You can use a compelling subject line with dynamic content in your emails to send your visitors emails filled with images, information, etc. about the exact items they’re interested in purchasing. A few ecommerce strategy ideas on email content for you:
1. Update your visitor when items from their cart go on sale.
2. Send your visitor an email on how to style the item(s) if you’re an apparel business.
3. Send your visitor lifestyle emails that feature the products they’re interested in.
For instance, if they have a pillow in their cart, you can send them emails that speak to how those pillows have made people’s lives better. You could send quotes from good reviews or stats about how new pillows = better sleep.
Klaviyo helps turn your customer data into valuable insights so you can make smarter marketing decisions. It gives you the full story on every customer that visits your site, what makes them click, what makes them bounce, and what makes them buy. This way, you can send emails and SMS messages based on customers’ latest online shopping behavior, the products they like, and even when they’re likely to buy next.
Plus, there is advanced segmentation options for welcome emails, price drop alerts, browse abandonment flows, cart reminders, and more. So stop guessing and start using Klaviyo to reduce shopping cart abandonment and drive more sales.
Pricing: Free plan available. Next plans starts at $20/month
Omnisend
Omnisend is the perfect tool for capturing leads and building lists for checkout recovery email. With signup forms, pop ups, email capture, account creation and more, you’ll be able to engage customers and convert leads in no time. Plus, with pre-made and automated emails and SMS flows, you’ll be able to stay in touch with your customers and keep them coming back for more.
Pricing: Free plan available. Next plans starts at $16/month
On-site Notifications
Another way to reduce cart abandonment is to keep them engaged throughout the checkout process with on-site notifications.
One option is to share recently purchased products to provide social proof that other shoppers are taking advantage of your sale. Bonus points if you have a limited supply of items because these notifications can also contribute to creating a sense of urgency as supply visually decreases.
With the Shopify app, POP!, you can create trust and urgency for your products. Visitors will see that your product is in demand, leading to less cart abandonment. And whether you’re an established brand or just getting started, POP! will make your online store look great.
Plus, their sales popup notifications are designed to look and feel natural on your ecommerce store. They’re subtle but effective, driving customer conversions and reducing cart abandonment.
Pricing: Free plan available. 7-day free trial included. Next plans starts at $29/month
Shopping Assistance Chat
A major contributing factor in why a shopper tends to purchase more from a brick-and-mortar store is because of the help they get in store. With someone assisting them, they are able to resolve questions on the spot.
That said, sales can be overwhelming and confusing. Consumers more often than not abandon their carts because of a lack of information about the deals or their chosen products. That’s where a little help can go a long way to helping them complete the checkout process.
If you see a shopper spending a little more time on the checkout page, trigger a checkout recovery email too letting them know you’re around to help. And if you see the shopper engaging, jump on to have a quick conversation to help them out!
Tidio consolidates all your chat, email, and Messenger communications into one easy-to-use panel, so you can stay organized and efficient. Plus, their free mobile app lets you take your customer service on the go. And with their intelligent bots, you can automatically reclaim lost checkouts and increase sales by reacting to your customers’ behavior.
Pricing: Free plan available. Next plan starts at $19/month
Web Push Notifications
Web push notifications are a smart way to pull online shoppers back to your store after they’ve initially abandoned cart. Delivered straight to their device screens, these messages are hard to miss, letting the shopper know their abandoned cart is about to sell out or the deal is ending.
You can enable automated reminders such as reminding the shopper of what they’ve left behind on their checkout page. Or, create a sense of urgency about the product in their abandoned cart by reminding them that the deal is ending soon.
Brands like Headphone Zone were able to recover a considerable amount of their abandoned checkout with web push notifications. The strategy led them to recover $123,279 worth of sales.
With automated notifications, you can bring back even anonymous online shoppers who have left your site without completing a purchase. You can also use PushOwl to market products and flash sales, and to automate tasks like back in stock and browse cart abandonment. Plus, PushOwl is more affordable than retargeting ads on Facebook.
Pricing: Free plan available. 14-day free trial included. Next plan starts at $19/month
Facebook Messenger
More than 1.3 billion people use Facebook every month, with 20% click through rates on chatbot messages, making it a promising channel to re-engage customers by reminding them of their abandoned cart.
Even on Messenger, you can automate multiple abandoned cart reminders to ensure your message is received and read by the shopper. All you need to do is get the messaging right and make the shopper feel like they’re losing something great.
With over 1 billion active users, Facebook is the most popular social networking platform in the world. And with Messenger, you can easily connect with anyone, anytime, anywhere.
With a Shopify app, Facebook Chat Box, you can provide customer support at any time of day or night. This is perfect for businesses that operate internationally, as you’ll be able to offer support no matter what time zone your customers are in. And because it’s so convenient, you’re more likely to build trust and close relationships with your customers. This will lead to more sales and profits for your business.
Pricing: Free
Get Personal
If you’re running a small Shopify store, manually send an email from your personal account with a simple subject line. This can be quite an effective approach.
Ask them if there’s anything you can do to help with their purchase. Would offering Free Shipping sway their decision?
That kind of personal connection can make people feel more connected to your brand and might be just the thing to get them through the checkout process.
Reduce shopping cart abandonment to increase Shopify sales.
Remember, an abandoned cart isn’t a lost sale. It’s just a step in the modern sales funnel.
The truth is that you will likely never recover every abandoned cart, but when you view them as a positive step along a visitor’s route to converting to a customer, you can see there are many creative ways to ease your visitors through the checkout process to the final conversion.
Abandoned Cart Email FAQ
Why am I getting so many abandoned carts Shopify?
First, be sure your payment gateway is configured and you can accept online payment events. If you accept a guest checkout option, shoppers may use that see what their all-in total actually is. Surprise checkout factors can increase cart abandonment such as high taxes, handling fees, and shipping costs being the most common.
What do you do with abandoned carts on Shopify?
At the very least, you should enable Shopify to send abandoned cart emails automatically. Under Settings > Checkout, scroll down to Abandoned checkout emails and be sure to enable this feature. That way, you’re doing the bare minimum to get those lost sales back with very little effort on your part.
Can you see abandoned carts on Shopify?
Yes. From the Shopify admin site, click Order then Abandoned Checkouts. From there, you’ll see a list of every abandoned checkout. You can view the products in the cart, total value and status if you’re using Marketing Automation to send and recover lost sales.
Can I delete abandoned checkouts on Shopify?
Yes. From the Shopify admin site, click Order then Abandoned Checkouts. It’s recommended to review the checkout before deleting them outright. Once you delete the checkout, it can not be undone so proceed with caution.
What you should do now
Whenever you’re ready…here are 4 ways we can help you grow your business:
Add MESA to your Shopify store. The best way to get started is by adding the MESA app from the Shopify App store. Every plan includes the first 7-days free so you can be assured your workflow is running properly.
Browse pre-made templates. Our customizable workflow templates are a great way to get started more quickly.
Talk to our automation experts. If you need help personalizing any workflow template, guidance how to make any automation or, simply want us to make your workflow, we can help.
If you know another merchant who’d enjoy reading this page, share it with them via LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook.
Automate anything and get more from your apps. For free.
