Anatomy Of An Abandoned Cart Email Series

Anatomy Of An Abandoned Cart Email Series From Overstock.com

You’re probably familiar with the statistics on the effectiveness of abandoned cart emails – email series sent to prospective customers who fill their cart with items, then fail to follow through: MarketingSherpa highlights one ecomm retailer whose series recaptures 29% of abandoners, turning them into actual sales (an amazing number, when you think about it!)

What does your abandoned cart series look like? And what are your competitors doing in this space? I used Emailium (FreshAddress’s newly re-launched email creative inspiration and competitive tracking tool) to pull up one salient example – Overstock.com.

Let’s dive in. The first thing I’m looking for is speed and cadence. How quickly does Overstock email after the cart is abandoned, and how often do they do it? Our data extract tells us:

Overstock’s first email (“Laura Ashley Diamond Trellis Cotton Bath Rug”) comes very quickly – within 30 minutes of the cart abandonment – and it’s smartly entitled with a hyper-relevant subject line that directly mentions the item the consumer abandoned. With no response from the customer, Overstock keeps up its communication, sending at least one per day.

Overstock is also clearly testing out topical focus. The emails alternate between items still in the shopping cart – offering a price drop, discount off, links to new reviews of the item, etc. – and new suggestions for shopping. Time will tell if the retailer eventually drops the focus on the abandoned cart and puts this consumer into a regular drip activation campaign. (Editorial comment: One subject line that seems oddly impersonal given that this is an abandon cart series: “Valued Customer, are you still interested in this product?” – they couldn’t use a name???)

What are some interesting abandoned cart emails you’ve seen or used? Tweet @Emailium and let us know!