subject: The Importance Of Responding To Lost Sales Within An Hour [print this page] For ecommerce merchants, one of the most critical elements of closing a sale is taking customers through the checkout process. This is the phase where merchants experience the maximum amount in lost sales. Online shoppers are known to abandon shopping carts for a variety of reasons. However, concerted efforts by ecommerce merchants at reducing the abandonment rate must be made in order to recover sales. With shopping cart abandonment rates as high as 70%, bringing back even half of those lost customers will result in a significant increase in profits.
In order to recover cart sales, it is essential to launch an effective remarketing campaign. An attempt at shopping cart recovery must be made through an automated process. This includes sending emails to customers within five to ten minutes of them abandoning their shopping carts. Shoppers tend to still be online during that time and still have the product in mind. A link to the shopping cart when included in the email has the potential to bring back anywhere between 15 "" 50% of lost customers to complete the checkout process. The key is to reassure the customer of speedy completion of the checkout process and to include incentives in an effort to remarket the product.
Real time response is important when it comes to shopping cart recovery. Apart from email follow-ups, live chat and instant messaging can also be implemented through a shopping cart recovery program. Merely including a FAQ section or displaying the phone number does not prove to be an effective solution. Customers that abandon shopping carts are not likely to use either of these options to complete their purchase.
Many customers tend to use shopping carts as a "wish list", especially during the holiday season. This valuable data can be used effectively in a remarketing campaign since they contain information about what products they are interested in. Therefore, an email response within 5 minutes is likely to trigger a purchase even if it is not an immediate one. Sending an email along with the item the customer added to their shopping cart with an easy link back is an excellent remarketing technique that works well. All it takes is the right shopping cart recovery program that can respond to customers who discontinue their shopping carts. An automated response serves the dual purpose of reassuring customers that they are dealing with a credible merchant and politely reminds them of their incomplete order.
