Abandoned carts cause huge losses to merchants worldwide. With more eCommerce businesses cropping up and with shorter attention spans, cart recovery is harder than ever. However, one of the best ways to recover carts is through smart SMS strategies.
Merchants have been able to recover 33% of carts with timely and personalized SMS.
If you’re unfamiliar with SMS cart recovery tactics, we’re helping you understand and get started with this high recovery strategy. Read how you can set up cart abandonment messages for SMS and best practices to maximize your recovery.
What is Cart Abandonment?
Cart abandonment is when a store visitor starts to check out a product on an online store but ends up dropping off before completing the purchase. Merchants globally face this issue, with abandonment rates as high as 88%.
Merchants need to actively find ways to curb cart abandonment, through on-site optimizations like clearer messaging and displaying credibility, to timely recovery messages with channels like SMS.
Reasons for Cart Abandonment
Based on statistics, there are many reasons for cart abandonment. Here are 10 reasons you might find shoppers abandoning their cart on your Shopify store.
1. Forgetting to checkout
Many shoppers end up abandoning their cart simply because they forgot that they intended to buy the item but got distracted. These shoppers had full intention to buy the item but due to external circumstances, didn’t end up completing the purchase.
You can avoid losing shoppers by reminding them with a timely abandoned cart message.
2. Unexpected and high added costs
Oftentimes, shoppers end up seeing additional charges like shipping, taxes, etc. only after adding an item to the cart. 60% of shoppers abandon their cart due to extra costs that are too high to be justified paying for. Such unexpected charges hinder sales on many Shopify stores, with a higher number of shoppers dropping off rather than buying the item they intended to.
One of the best ways to combat this is by showing costs upfront within the product page and letting shoppers calculate shipping based on where they live. In fact, 23% of shoppers abandon their cart because they can’t calculate costs upfront. Setting this up can surely solve the issue, letting you manage their expectations and provide transparency over how much the order will cost.
3. Concerns about payment security
Many shoppers are skeptical over sharing their payment details and they end up not buying from the store, especially if it looks suspicious or not credible enough. 19% of shoppers abandon their cart because they don’t trust the site with their credit card information.
Show your credibility as an online store upfront with trust badges across your storefront, product page, and checkout page. This way, you can assure shoppers of your safety and get them to confidently buy from you.
4. Long and confusing checkout
28% of shoppers abandon their cart due to the long and confusing checkout process. From adding shipping details to payment, shoppers have to go through a sequence of pages just to buy a product.
You need to make it as easy as possible for your store visitors to buy from you. Review your checkout process and find areas of improvement, pages which you can combine or skip altogether. This way, you can help shoppers swiftly buy products from your Shopify store and avoid abandonment.
5. Website had errors/crashes
20% shoppers drop-off from a site if it has errors and crashes. This can also lead to losing shoppers who intended to checkout their carts but didn’t due to the difficulties they face on-site.
As a merchant, you need to keep an eye on errors and crashes affecting your site, why shoppers are facing such issues, and swiftly solve them before you lose out on potential shoppers.
6. Unsatisfactory return policy
Buying online is always a gamble. Some shoppers may want to buy a product but may not be sure that the item is for them. They might intend to return the item. However, many sites don’t have a clear-cut return policy and shoppers end up not buying just to ensure they don’t lose money. 11% of shoppers end up not buying a product they are interested in due to unsatisfactory return policies.
By setting up a clear and well-defined return policy, you can help shoppers understand how your return policy works and assure them enough so they are confident to place the order on your site.
7. Lack of customer support
Shoppers want sufficient information before they buy a product. Many shoppers end up not buying a product they are interested in solely because they couldn’t clarify doubts and questions they had with a customer support team.
Every Shopify store that intends to grow must have a customer support team that aids shoppers, helping them understand which product is right for them and answer questions they have.
8. Having to create a new user account
37% of shoppers abandon their cart because the site they intended to shop from wanted them to create a new user account. By forcing shoppers to create an account, you overwhelm them, making them leave and find alternatives that would simplify the process of shopping from the same items.
Instead of mandating account creation, you can give shoppers the option to guest checkout. This way, the checkout process is faster and you can convince shoppers to create an account post-purchase.
Cart Recovery with SMS Marketing
Many brands have set up successful SMS automations to recover carts in a timely manner. It works, especially due to how effective SMS marketing is! Text messages are instantly sent, with most consumers reading these texts within the first 90 seconds of receiving them.
With a 98% open rate, SMS reaches your customers instantly and even when they are offline, ensuring they don’t miss it.
Brands like BrookLinen and even eCommerce giants like Amazon have set up abandoned cart SMS to remind and bring back shoppers to their cart.
Your SMS Cart Recovery Strategy Isn’t Enough— You Need Smart and Human Automated Messaging for Better Recovery
However, just a generic SMS cart recovery strategy doesn’t cut it. Shoppers can identify when they are just being egged on to recover their cart as compared to being genuinely reminded about the item they left behind.
To successfully recover carts with SMS, you need to set up conversational text messages that sound and feel human.
Typically, most conversational marketing strategies are set up with bots where the response is automated based on a specific set of conditions. But, these bots aren’t as flexible and are limited to a few set questions and responses.
However, a conversational SMS marketing solution that is managed by real humans is sure to solve that issue. Shopify apps like TxtCart are built to help you recover your carts through real-time conversations. TxtCart sends personalized cart recovery messages and our team of SMS experts speak to your shoppers in real-time to nudge them to come back and check out their cart.
How Conversational SMS for Cart Recovery Works
The right cart abandonment strategy can help you lower cart abandonment on your Shopify store and help you capture more sales. With a conversational approach to your text marketing campaigns, you’re basically ‘talking’ to your customers and not pushing them to do something. Conversational SMS for cart recovery lets you interact with your shoppers in real-time, understand their motivations, and give them the right offer to bring them back to recover their cart.
Here’s how a conversational cart recovery text message looks like:
- A customer abandons their cart but since they have shared details like phone number and email, the store can easily target them.
- Instead of an automated and generic cart recovery message, the shopper receives a conversational message from a real person.
- The SMS expert on the other end understands the shopper’s needs, whether it’s a lower order value or better delivery time. With this context, the SMS expert sends a relevant offer or clears any doubts they have.
- The shopper is warmed up by the SMS expert and is more willing to checkout their cart.
You can set up TxtCart on your Shopify store now to recover carts effectively! Install the app!
Best Practices for Conversational and Human-Powered Cart Recovery SMS
Besides enabling a human automated Shopify app like TxtCart to respond to your shoppers in real, here are some best practices you should be following:
1. Use urgency
You need to build a fear among your shoppers that they may miss out on the items they had their eye on. When crafting your cart recovery text messages, add urgency within the message to drive this fear home. Urgency lets the shopper know that they will lose out on a specific offer or item, by using words that create that fear. This tactic is sure to get shoppers to act faster and checkout their abandoned cart successfully.
You can use these phrases within your SMS copy to illicit urgency and increase clicks:
- Don’t miss out!
- Limited offer!
- The clock is ticking!
- Checkout your cart before it’s gone!
- Expiring soon!
2. Personalize the message
When writing your SMS copy, you can use personalized language to the message to increase engagement. Since shoppers may not be aware of or may have forgotten what they abandoned, you can mention the product name to remind them about the item they left. You can also address the shopper directly with their name, adding a personal touch and capturing the shopper’s attention better.
You can do this by adding the product name and customer name parameters within your message when creating your cart recovery campaign.
3. Use CTA words to elicit quicker action
Your text messages need to guide shoppers to take a certain action once they’ve read the message. CTA or ‘Call to Action’ words will do this for you, leading your shoppers to take the next step once they’ve been reminded about the product they added to their cart.
Once you’ve framed the first part of the copy and added context about the product itself, you can use CTA words like ‘Checkout now’ or ‘Act now!’ to get these shoppers to click and come back to their abandoned cart.
Note: Many CTA words use urgency like ‘now’ to build the urgency of taking action.
4. Reflect your brand within your copy
When crafting your SMS copy, ensure that the message sounds like you. Oftentimes, many brands write copy that sounds salesy, without any of the brand’s personality reflected in it. When writing your copy, ensure that the tone sounds like you, whether it’s inspiring, hyper, or warm.
Showing who you are, even in such a short copy, is crucial to ensure that your messaging stays consistent and that shoppers can recognize your brand even without having to check the sender’s name.
5. Add an offer to make shoppers eager to come back
Many online brands add an offer within their cart recovery text messages to entice the shopper further. These messages include offers like free shipping, 10% off, or even double the loyalty points. If you have any discounts running on your Shopify store, you can add these to your cart recovery text messages to nudge your shoppers who come back to their abandoned carts.
By incentivizing shoppers, you will be able to better recover carts abandoned by them and make them eager to return to your store.
Examples of How Human-Powered SMS can Improve Recovery Rates
Let’s say you’ve set up a generic cart recovery message that solely reminds shoppers. Such messages don’t take into account the different needs that shoppers have, based on their personal preference. You may end up missing out on a shopper who wants a discount or is unsure of which product suits them.
With human-powered SMS automation, SMS experts understand what your shoppers are looking for and what they need before they can checkout. This helps to engage the shopper better and effectively, bring them back.
There are many ways that human-powered SMS can help recover carts while generic messaging can’t. However, here are 4 examples of how human-powered SMS can improve your cart recovery rates.
1. Shopper wants a discount
A shopper may abandon their cart because they are not satisfied with the order value and are looking for better pricing. In such cases, human-powered SMS allows your SMS experts to understand what the shopper is looking for and find the right discount code to successfully bring them back to shop.
Since not all shoppers would be looking for a discount, such a personalized strategy lets you incentivize shoppers only if they are looking for a discount.
2. Shopper wants to understand the refund/return/ exchange policy
Many shoppers drop-off even when they are interested in a product solely due to complicated refund policies. Once they receive an abandoned cart SMS, your SMS experts can interact with them to clear any questions they have about refund issues and timelines, reassuring them and making them feel confident enough to buy.
3. Shopper finds shipping too high
Some shoppers abandon their carts due to high shipping. In such cases, human-powered SMS allows your SMS experts to talk to shoppers, understand their frustration, and find ways to solve it, either with a discount code or a personalized free shipping offer.
This way, you end up recovering your abandoned cart successfully!
4. Shopper simply forgot to shop
Some shoppers end up abandoning their carts because they were distracted. Instead of immediately giving them a discount or offer, a human-powered SMS strategy interacts with the shopper, understanding why they abandoned their cart. SMS experts would find that they abandoned their cart because they forgot, reminding them to checkout.
This way, you don’t lose out on revenue by throwing away a discount where the shopper didn’t require it and instead, meaningfully bring them back to checkout and reduce cart abandonment on your store.
Ready to reduce cart abandonment with a human-automated SMS recovery strategy?
We hope this guide helped you understand how text marketing can be used to recover carts and how you can enable a human-powered recovery strategy. TxtCart’s high-engaging and high-ROI text marketing strategy ensure that each abandoned cart is targeted. Using the Shopify app, you can set up highly specific offers and copy within your abandoned cart message.
The real humans behind your text marketing will send the cart recovery message and interact with your shoppers closely, providing a conversational experience and nudging these shoppers to come back and successfully checkout.
Install TxtCart to set up conversational and automated cart recovery through text marketing.
