Have you ever gone shopping online, added a few items to your cart, and then closed the window, only to find out later that you’ve been sent an email with a coupon code? Welcome to the world of abandoned cart coupons!
This often overlooked conversion tool has become an increasingly popular way for e-commerce businesses to increase sales and generally boost engagement with their customers. But not all abandoned cart coupons are created equal; certain dos and don’ts should be observed in order to get the most out of them.
In this article, we’ll explore what a successful abandoned cart coupon should look like and how you can use them to maximize return on investment. We’ll provide tips on the best practices for setting up these types of offers so you can go from common shoppers to hot leads in no time.
What Are Abandoned Cart Coupons?
Do you ever feel like your eCommerce business is just spinning its wheels? You have a great product, but there’s something missing that’s keeping customers from committing to a purchase.
One way to get them over the hump and create engagement is with abandoned cart coupons. These are coupons you send to customers who have added items to their cart on your site but have yet to complete their purchase.
The most important element of an abandoned cart coupon is timing. If you send out the coupon too soon after a product has been placed in an abandoned cart, the customer won’t feel special or incentivized enough to come back and purchase. But, if you wait too long before sending out a coupon, the customer may have already moved on and lost interest. Timing is key. You want it to be special and valuable, but not so generous that it undermines your profits, it’s all about getting that balance right.
Done right, an abandoned cart coupon can not only help increase sales and re-engage customers, but it can also maximize ROI for your business in the long run.
Benefits & Drawbacks of Using Abandoned Cart Coupons
Abandoned cart coupons are a great way to engage shoppers who have already demonstrated an interest in your products. However, there are a few key points to consider when implementing this strategy.
Benefits of Abandoned Cart Coupons
- Can be used to quickly recover sales from customers that have already engaged with your brand.
- Increases customer loyalty and encourages repeat purchases.
- Utilizing customer data gives the customer a personalized experience.
- Can be used as an effective marketing tool to drive conversions and increase ROI.
Drawbacks of Abandoned Cart Coupons
- Customers may become overly reliant on special discounts and deals which can lead to customer fatigue or coupon hunting behavior.
- If overused, customers may feel underwhelmed by yet another incentive.
- The temptation for customers to hit “add to cart” before they’re even ready to buy increases when they’re offered an incentive, causing the shop owner to get false information about the customers’ preferences.
Tips to Optimize the Effectiveness of Your Abandoned Cart Coupons
Let’s get straight to the do’s and don’ts of creating an effective abandoned cart coupon.
Do’s
- Take advantage of customer data to create personalized coupons, tailored to their purchasing behaviors. Just be sure to use customer data responsibly and always follow privacy laws.
- Use coupon copy that clearly stands out from your other email messages. Commonly, businesses will opt for a discount amount that strikes customers’ attention, such as “50% off!”
- Send Abandoned Cart Coupons within 24 hours of the cart abandonment. This way you can still capture the customer’s attention, while also providing enough time for them to complete their purchase before the coupon expires.
Don’ts
- Don’t create obvious or overly generic coupon codes with common words like “sale” or “discount” in them, as these can be easily guessed by scammers who would use them fraudulently.
- Don’t forget to set an expiration date on your Abandoned Cart Coupons; this helps you create urgency and motivate customers to take action sooner rather than later.
- Be sure not to overdo it! You don’t want to overload your customers’ inboxes with too many abandoned cart emails. This will cause them to tune out or even opt out of your emails altogether. Keep a good balance of emails but make sure they are spread out enough so that customers don’t feel bombarded by them.
When & How to Send Abandoned Cart Coupons
When it comes to sending abandoned cart coupons, timing is everything. When done right, the right timing helps to create engagement. To give you an idea of when and how to send these coupons, here are a few do’s and don’ts:
Do’s
- Timing: Send an abandoned cart coupon as soon as someone abandons their cart – this increases the chances that they return with your coupon in hand.
- Content: Make sure that the content of your coupon reflects the customer’s interests; when you know where your customers shop, you can tailor the offers accordingly.
- Segmentation: Make sure to segment customers based on their purchase behavior; for example, for new customers, focus on offering discounts or free shipping.
- Follow up: If one coupon isn’t enough to incentivize them to complete their purchase, follow up with another one in a few days or weeks, this could be an even better deal than your original one.
Don’ts
- Timing: Don’t wait too long before sending out the coupon- if you wait longer than 24 hours after someone has abandoned their cart, they might have already forgotten about it and may not be interested in receiving a coupon from you anymore!
- Content: Don’t just offer any generic discounts; maintain relevance by showing them what they will get out of completing that purchase. Personalized messages and special offers tailored specifically for certain items in their abandoned cart are ideal.
- Segmentation: Don’t forget about loyal customers who have already completed multiple purchases; reward them with special offers.
Best Practices for Crafting Effective Abandoned Cart Coupons
When it comes to crafting effective abandoned cart coupons, there are certain best practices that you should follow to maximize your ROI.
Do’s:
- Make sure the offer is enticing and relevant. A discount of 30% or higher is often recommended; however, a 50% off coupon can be effective, depending on the circumstance.
- Use a clear and easy-to-understand coupon format; something like “XXXXXX15” instead of a confusing jumble of words or phrases like “K7T3CUR-111”
- Personalize the coupon for each specific customer; this adds a touch of engagement which helps boost your chances of converting an abandoned cart into a sale.
Don’ts:
- Don’t make the redemption process too complicated; customers will be more likely to redeem your coupon if it’s quick and easy for them to do so.
- Don’t leave coupons that have expired on the website; this creates a very bad experience for customers and could lead to brand loyalty issues in the future.
- Don’t create overly complex rules or restrictions around the use of your coupons; keep things simple so customers understand what they’re getting upfront and don’t back out because they hit too many obstacles while trying to redeem your offer.
Measuring the Success of Your Abandoned Cart Coupon Campaign
You’ve sent out your abandoned cart email coupons and now you need to gauge if your efforts were effective. Here are some tips to measure success:
Establish Baseline Performance
When starting out, it’s important to establish a baseline performance for your abandoned cart campaigns so you know what to compare future performance against. This norm gives you a metric from which to judge progress and can help you set goals for future campaigns.
Monitor Your Campaign Metrics
Analytics such as open rate, click rate, reach, conversion rate, and average order value can give insights into how effective your emails are at engaging customers. Track these metrics over time to get an idea of how successful the coupons were in driving sales.
Adjust Your Coupon Strategy
If after tracking the metrics of your coupon campaigns, you see that performance isn’t where it needs to be, analyze why and adjust your strategy as needed. Maybe make changes such as offering higher discounts or providing more noticeable visuals. Also, consider introducing other tactics such as automated messages or visual reminders that encourage customers to complete their purchases.
By establishing baseline performance, monitoring campaign metrics, and adjusting coupon strategies over time, you can create an effective abandoned cart coupon campaign that helps drive engagement and maximize ROI for your business over the long term.
Mistakes to Avoid with Abandoned Cart Coupons
Avoid these common mistakes when using abandoned cart coupons to ensure the highest return on investment and optimal customer engagement.
Don’t be too aggressive
It’s important to create an effective abandoned cart email campaign, but don’t overdo it. If you start sending emails every day or two, customers will soon begin to feel overwhelmed and resentful. Instead, trigger emails every few days or utilize a drip campaign, giving customers an incentive to come back, without overwhelming them with promotional offers.
Don’t discount too much
Customers should still feel like they are getting a good deal when taking advantage of your promotional offer. Giving away huge discounts or free shipping can devalue your overall brand, so be sure to create something that feels like a bargain without compromising your profits.
By avoiding these common mistakes when sending out abandoned cart coupons, you maximize engagement and avoid future abandoned carts while providing customers with valuable discounts on products they already had an interest in purchasing.
Conclusion
Abandoned cart coupons are a great tool for driving customer engagement and maximizing ROI, but it requires some creativity and effort to make sure you get the best possible results. Fundamentally, the key is to have an understanding of your customer base and a clear strategy for your campaign.
Make sure you set up a process that allows you to take full advantage of the data and insights you get from customers who leave items in their carts. Leverage that data to create personalized experiences and targeted campaigns that speak to your customers’ needs.
If all of this seems like too much manual work, check out the ELEX WooCommerce Abandoned Cart Recovery with Dynamic Coupons plugin. This plugin is ideal to automate the entire process without any hassle.
