Comments on: Shopping Cart Abandon: How Long Should You Wait?

By: Guillermo

Guillermo — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:27:48 +0000

Hrmm that was weird, my comment got eaten. Anyway I desired to say that it’s nice to know that someone else also mentioned this as I had trouble finding the same info elsewhere. This was the very first location that told me the answer. Thanks.

By: Cliff Hoeffliger

Cliff Hoeffliger — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 22:54:12 +0000

Thx for this information. It’s much appreciated! Best regards.

By: RFID Reader

RFID Reader — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:58:03 +0000

I’ve already bookmark this article and will definitely refer this article to all my close friends and colleagues. Thanks for posting!

By: Leta Dorcy

Leta Dorcy — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:23:41 +0000

Thanks a lot for this blog post, i was looking for such thing and found so many blogs but this post of yours is really different and very much helpful. Expect similar thread of yours in future, Bookmarking this blog now for my own site on discount shopping.

By: Bill Haskitt

Bill Haskitt — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:58:03 +0000

In B2B the timing is even more critical as the relationship is one in which the visitor returns to the site multiple times each month. Not only is the immediate timing crucial but how often after you send the same email about abandonment. Do you send one every day? obviously not. We have found in B2B that the conservative approach is to wait 60 days before re-reminding about the abandoned cart.

Bill

By: Bill Haskitt

Bill Haskitt — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:57:54 +0000

Bill

By: Chris Healey

Chris Healey — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:41:50 +0000

Hey Bill – I am sure if the abandonment email included a discount code then the visitor would not mind.

By: Charles Nicholls

Charles Nicholls — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:55:06 +0000

Hi Bill

Thanks for raising this – you are absolutely right that the only way to know what works best is to do a test. Clearly different websites have different characteristics, so experiences vary, and testing is the best way to nail it.

Some people suggest that waiting three days following an abandoned shopping cart is best practice, since it gives the customer a chance to return to the site of their own accord.

But studies (e.g. Forrester, Marketing Experiments) have often shown that an immediate follow up gets the best results. This is particularly true where the customer may be comparison shopping for a time sensitive purchase, such as an airline ticket, travel insurance, or booking an express parcel shipment.

It also applies to other areas like online applications in financial services where the length of the process can causes an abandonment, and the timely reminder is can be perceived as a great benefit by the customer. The key is to experiment in your environment, and see what works best. Ultimately following up on all types of abandonment, shopping carts, registrations and online application forms will drive up website conversion figures.

We’ve found that when the abandonment follow up email is done well, then customers do not find it intrusive as long as it is service oriented, not sales. So we advise our customers to concentrate on Tone and Timing. I went into this in a bit more detail in my blog (http://websiteconversion.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-to-make-customers-love-great.html) which sets out 6 best practices for email follow up that customers will love.