3 Simple Cart Recovery Tactics for the Holidays
Updated: November 20, 2020
by BROCKTON CONWELL
CEO at Kintsugi Digital
CEO at Kintsugi Digital
"It's not too late. Remind busy holiday shoppers that they still want your stuff."
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1. Text cart abandoners in real-time with Tone SMS
2. Enable BFCM-specific or holiday themed Klaviyo Flows 3. Maximize retargeting impression frequency on Facebook/Instagram |
Black Friday is one week away. (At least at the time I'm writing this.)
The holiday shopping season has been in full gear since early November and will only ramp up from here. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Pre-Christmas Shopping, End of Year Sales, etc. are on the minds of brands and their customers alike. Klaviyo projects 2020 sales for the eCommerce industry to top $1.1 trillion dollars.
But with all the noise over the next several weeks, it will be more difficult than ever to keep consumers engaged. Especially with big retailers blowing through advertising budgets left over from the onset of COVID-19 earlier this year...
With the rise in DTC channel activity this year comes a proportionate increase in cart abandonment.
That is—the % of people who add items to their cart (we call this Purchase Intent), but never initiate checkout or complete their transaction.
For marketers, this is the low hanging fruit. 🍒
When targeting cart abandoners, customer acquisition costs (CAC) are low and conversion rates are high—at least when compared with prospecting for new customers.
With the holidays in mind, here are Kintsugi Digital's top recommendations for maximizing revenue with bottom-of-funnel acquisition and retention efforts.
The holiday shopping season has been in full gear since early November and will only ramp up from here. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Pre-Christmas Shopping, End of Year Sales, etc. are on the minds of brands and their customers alike. Klaviyo projects 2020 sales for the eCommerce industry to top $1.1 trillion dollars.
But with all the noise over the next several weeks, it will be more difficult than ever to keep consumers engaged. Especially with big retailers blowing through advertising budgets left over from the onset of COVID-19 earlier this year...
With the rise in DTC channel activity this year comes a proportionate increase in cart abandonment.
That is—the % of people who add items to their cart (we call this Purchase Intent), but never initiate checkout or complete their transaction.
For marketers, this is the low hanging fruit. 🍒
When targeting cart abandoners, customer acquisition costs (CAC) are low and conversion rates are high—at least when compared with prospecting for new customers.
With the holidays in mind, here are Kintsugi Digital's top recommendations for maximizing revenue with bottom-of-funnel acquisition and retention efforts.
1. Text cart abandoners in real-time with Tone SMS
This is such an easy win targeting customers who start checkout (to the point they've already their phone number) but don't finish.
The team at Tone (Shopify App) has real human representatives that will directly text your almost-customers.
It's the perfect opportunity to address any concerns the customer had during the purchase process. (Real-time objection handling!)
A few initial text templates that work well here:
*Note that this will require changing up a couple of settings in your checkout flow for compliance purposes.
We've witnessed hundreds of conversations through this system—where customers were delighted and returned to checkout.
Plus, you can work directly with the Tone team to inform them of BFCM offers, etc. so they're prepared with notes on the best offers to better improve the service they provide to your customers. Their cost is competitive with other SMS tools, but with the added benefit of real-time responses by real humans.
This is such an easy win targeting customers who start checkout (to the point they've already their phone number) but don't finish.
The team at Tone (Shopify App) has real human representatives that will directly text your almost-customers.
It's the perfect opportunity to address any concerns the customer had during the purchase process. (Real-time objection handling!)
A few initial text templates that work well here:
- "Hi! This is Sarah from Billy's Tees. Saw you were checking out our Red Crew Neck. Want me to see if I can get you the best deal?"
- "Hi! This is Lily from Rachael Daisy Jewels. Let me know if I can answer any questions before you checkout.
- "Hi! This is James from Herbal Tea Protein. Thought you may be interested in free shipping. Just use this code:
*Note that this will require changing up a couple of settings in your checkout flow for compliance purposes.
We've witnessed hundreds of conversations through this system—where customers were delighted and returned to checkout.
Plus, you can work directly with the Tone team to inform them of BFCM offers, etc. so they're prepared with notes on the best offers to better improve the service they provide to your customers. Their cost is competitive with other SMS tools, but with the added benefit of real-time responses by real humans.
2. Enable BFCM-specific or holiday themed Klaviyo Flows
If your traditional cart abandonment email automation offers customers a small discount on their purchase—that's probably not the best offer to share with them when you have a sitewide 30% OFF sale going on. Plus, it could create confusion if the cart abandoner discount isn't stackable with other promotions.
Taking the time to review existing Klaviyo (or other ESP) automations is important before periods with big sales.
As a bonus, consider the holidays as an opportunity to divert from traditional brand aesthetic with more holiday themed imagery. Regular customers will take more notice to marketing communications that stand out from the emails they are used to receiving throughout the year.
To be fair, this is especially important if you have a large list, but may not be worth the extra effort for smaller brands with limited resources.
If your traditional cart abandonment email automation offers customers a small discount on their purchase—that's probably not the best offer to share with them when you have a sitewide 30% OFF sale going on. Plus, it could create confusion if the cart abandoner discount isn't stackable with other promotions.
Taking the time to review existing Klaviyo (or other ESP) automations is important before periods with big sales.
As a bonus, consider the holidays as an opportunity to divert from traditional brand aesthetic with more holiday themed imagery. Regular customers will take more notice to marketing communications that stand out from the emails they are used to receiving throughout the year.
To be fair, this is especially important if you have a large list, but may not be worth the extra effort for smaller brands with limited resources.
3. Maximize retargeting impression frequency on Facebook/Instagram
Monitoring ad impression frequency is crucial in preventing ad fatigue. This is especially true for mid-funnel and bottom-funnel audiences that are likely fairly small. (In fact, we usually base budget allocation for non-prospecting audiences based on ad frequency—usually about 20-30% of total budget.)
However, during the holidays (especially BFCM), we allow ad frequency metrics for retargeting ads to skew higher.
A few reasons for this:
In example:
For a brand having a week-long sale on a specific product in July—only 3 ad creatives may be necessary. When targeting existing customers with the goal of re-acquisition, a budget may be used that averages a 3-4 impression frequency over the week. Maybe someone sees all 3 ad creatives once and one of them twice.
During Black Friday, a brand may have every product on sale. So, there may be 10 ad creatives used featuring different products targeted to the same customer list with the same re-acquisition goal. During the 4-day BFCM period, a budget 3X the budget of the sale may be used with an average impression frequency of 8 or 9. However, the customer may see 6-7 different ad creatives from the brand, reducing ad fatigue—but giving the brand an opportunity to share the deals on all their products, potentially even resulting in multiple purchases from the same customer.
(This requires real-time ads management to ensure spend doesn't get pushed into one ad.)
Of course, with RoAS the primary KPI, ensuring there is value in impressions beyond 3-4 is crucial. But, with the noise from so many brands during the holidays, consumer attention deficit syndrome is common, and the higher impression frequency may be just what a brand needs to minimize cart abandonment.
Monitoring ad impression frequency is crucial in preventing ad fatigue. This is especially true for mid-funnel and bottom-funnel audiences that are likely fairly small. (In fact, we usually base budget allocation for non-prospecting audiences based on ad frequency—usually about 20-30% of total budget.)
However, during the holidays (especially BFCM), we allow ad frequency metrics for retargeting ads to skew higher.
A few reasons for this:
- These are the best deals of the year, we want to make sure engaged customers know about the offers (and don't forget them).
- Purchase intent is at an all-time higher—for people who only shop once per year, this is the time to get them to buy.
- Huge sitewide sales usually encompass several products/categories which means more ad creative.
In example:
For a brand having a week-long sale on a specific product in July—only 3 ad creatives may be necessary. When targeting existing customers with the goal of re-acquisition, a budget may be used that averages a 3-4 impression frequency over the week. Maybe someone sees all 3 ad creatives once and one of them twice.
During Black Friday, a brand may have every product on sale. So, there may be 10 ad creatives used featuring different products targeted to the same customer list with the same re-acquisition goal. During the 4-day BFCM period, a budget 3X the budget of the sale may be used with an average impression frequency of 8 or 9. However, the customer may see 6-7 different ad creatives from the brand, reducing ad fatigue—but giving the brand an opportunity to share the deals on all their products, potentially even resulting in multiple purchases from the same customer.
(This requires real-time ads management to ensure spend doesn't get pushed into one ad.)
Of course, with RoAS the primary KPI, ensuring there is value in impressions beyond 3-4 is crucial. But, with the noise from so many brands during the holidays, consumer attention deficit syndrome is common, and the higher impression frequency may be just what a brand needs to minimize cart abandonment.
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