12 Sep High-Octane AC Revenue Recovery
Not all abandoned cart programs are created equal. And, their effectiveness can be directly measured by the amount of revenue recovered.
But there are underlying factors that contribute to revenue recovery – often unknown and under-appreciated utilities and techniques that make the difference between a wildly successful program and one simply paying lip-service.
Here are those critical five factors:
- Marketable Carts
- Multiple Emails
- Customer Service Focus
- Offline Feedback Loop
- Cross-Device Cart Rebuilding
Let’s take a closer look at each one.
Marketable Carts
Collecting email addresses associated with shopping carts is job one. Without them, you cannot communicate with your online shoppers and their abandoned carts become lost revenue-generating opportunities.
Requiring the email address at the beginning of the checkout process and capturing it immediately upon entry is critical, but identifying return shoppers across any device is your ultimate goal.
The more marketable carts – the more lost revenue you will recover.
The more marketable carts (those with email addresses) you have, the more lost revenue you will recover. The true ROI of your program cannot be calculated without this metric – and you won’t find this information in Google Analytics. Get it from your AC program provider to evaluate the efficiency of your email address capture.
Multiple Emails
One email is not an abandoned cart program. It is an autoresponder attempting to qualify for the position and failing miserably.
One reminder may never even be seen on its solitary trip to your customer’s crowded inbox. If it happens to carry a discount, it may be mistaken for a marketing message and be quickly sent to the dreaded promotions tab.
There is never a good reason to offer a discount on the first AC reminder.
In our view, there is never a good reason to offer a discount on the first AC reminder – whether it stands alone or is part of a series.
Two emails have 100% better chance of being opened than one, but still leave much to be desired when it comes to overall performance.
We recommend a 4-email series deployed over the course of 7 days following abandonment. If the messaging in each one is appropriate, you can expect above average engagement and substantial revenue recovery without annoying your customers.
Customer Service Focus
Abandoned cart reminders are not remarketing tools. The single purpose of these communications is to encourage the completion of the order your customer started.
They are most effective as helpful notices from your customer service department. So your messaging should be written in text, be short and to the point with all links leading back to the shopping cart.
Abandoned cart reminders are not remarketing tools.
If AC reminders look like marketing emails, they may be treated as such and come to rest in your customer’s promotions or spam folders.
Offline Feedback Loop
Predictable customer service issues are preventable. Your customers are justifiably confused when they receive an abandoned cart reminder after placing an order over the phone. They can be downright irate when a discount is offered after placing an order. This is a customer service nightmare just waiting to happen.
The simple preventative solution is a real-time feedback loop which witness all conversions – no matter where they occur – and immediately stops your AC email flow. Your program should have one in place. Your customer service department will be grateful.
Cross-Device Cart Saver
Most online shoppers use multiple devices on the path to purchase. If you are not able to reproduce their shopping carts on every device they happen to choose, your AC reminders will lead them to an empty cart.
It is no longer an option to employ cross-devise technology in your AC program – it is a necessity.
This frustration is real and becoming more prevalent with the rapid growth in mobile shopping. It is no longer an option to employ cross-devise technology in your AC program – it is a necessity. Optimal revenue recovery depends on it.
Note that NONE of these contributors to increased revenue recovery involve offering a discount. For more on that subject, stay tuned!