Definition
Cart abandonment email campaigns recover sales by reminding shoppers what they left behind. Best practices have evolved significantly, with well-optimised series now recovering 10-30% of abandoned revenue depending on industry and execution quality.
Optimal Structure
- Email 1 (1 hour after abandonment): Reminder — show the products, make the subject line about the items left behind
- Email 2 (24 hours later): Social proof — reviews, ratings, or popularity signals for the abandoned items
- Email 3 (48-72 hours later): Incentive — free shipping, discount, or urgent stock warning
Key Optimisations
- Subject line: Mention the specific product left behind — this outperforms generic "you left something" subject lines by 30-50%
- Images: Show the abandoned product prominently
- One-click checkout: Reduce friction by linking directly to a pre-filled cart
- Exit timing: Send the first email within 1 hour for the highest conversion rates
Related Glossary Terms
A/B Testing
A/B testing in email marketing is the practice of sending two variations of an email to a small sample of your list to determine which version performs better before sending the winner to the remaining subscribers.
Announcement Email
An announcement email is a dedicated campaign that communicates a specific update, milestone, or change to subscribers, from product launches and feature releases to company news and events.
B2B Email Marketing
B2B email marketing targets business professionals and organisations with longer sales cycles, educational content, and relationship-driven campaigns compared to B2C email.
B2C Email Marketing
B2C email marketing focuses on sending targeted promotional and transactional emails to individual consumers, emphasising personalisation, urgency, and direct response.
Bundle Email
A bundle email promotes a package deal combining multiple products or services at a discounted price, designed to increase average order value and move inventory.
Drip Campaign
A drip campaign is an automated sequence of pre-written emails sent on a schedule or triggered by specific subscriber actions. It nurtures leads, onboard new users, or re-engage dormant subscribers over time.