FREE ABANDONED CHECKOUT EMAIL TEMPLATE

70% of online shoppers who visit your store add their favorite items to the cart and abandon them at checkout (Shopify). This is revenue you can reclaim with our free abandoned checkout email template. However, it isn’t your generic template that you have to manually send every time—instead, it is a set-and-forget automation within your CRM tool.  The goal of an email reminder of an abandoned cart is NOT to simply convey that information and hope for a click; instead, it’s important to bring your potential customer back to their emotional state when they initially showed interest in your product. It’s a necessary part of your customer experience automation strategy to help you recover lost revenue. Download our free abandoned checkout email template and continue reading for 5 key tips to writing an abandoned checkout email that converts!

Uncover 9 strategies to adopt in your ecommerce email strategy

There are many reasons why your customers abandon their online shopping cart. The silver lining is they were interested enough to visit your website, browse and add items to your cart in the first place. A solid cart recovery campaign email strategy can greatly improve the chances of that customer completing their checkout. Let’s uncover 9 strategies to adopt in your abandoned cart email strategy:

1. Write to invoke emotions in your subject line to drive more email opens.
2. Optimize your cart abandonment emails for mobile viewing.
3. Add a clear call-to-action (CTA) with minimal or no additional hyperlinks or CTAs in your copy.
4. Make your customer the focus of your email copy rather than the product.
5. Use well-lit, high-quality product images in your follow-up email.
6. Share time-bound discount codes to drive a sense of urgency.
7. Offer options such as a less expensive alternative among your popular products.
8. Address common objections your customer may have about your product’s utility.
9. Highlight user-generated content from social media and positive public reviews.

A high converting strategy uses at least 2 or more of the above strategies. In the next selection, we’ll show you how to write effective email copy using these strategies.

Explore the basics of writing great, high conversion email copy

There are a few key things to keep in mind when writing the email copy. First, mention the product that was abandoned as early as possible without much filler text, and be sure to include an image of the abandoned item. Remember, you only have a couple of seconds to convince them to click the Call To Action (CTA). That leads us to the second point to keep in mind—a clear and concise action button. Keep any CTAs to under 4 words or fewer to maximize click-throughs. Finally, make sure your email copy is personalized to your customer and their product interests. Let’s dive into a couple abandoned cart email examples.  

Example 1 with a furniture business: Discount offer with a concise CTA

Subject Line:  *customer name*, We saved your cart + an exclusive offer inside! Hey *customer name*, Forgot something?  [Image of product] Don’t worry! We saved your cart below. Complete your order in the next 24 hours and receive a 5% discount on your next order.  [Go to cart] (CTA button links to their cart)

Example 2 with a Pet store business: Alternative product offering with social proof

Subject Line:  You forgot *product name* in your cart, but how about a crowd-favorite alternative? Hey *customer name*, Looks like you forgot *product name* in your cart. Did you know we have an alternative that’s also a favorite of other dog owners like you? [Image of cheaper product] [Go to product] (CTA button links to the alternative product) Once you complete writing the email, it’s time to craft a subject line. We’ll review more in the next section.

Learn how to write subject lines that get clicks

Remember, simpler is better when it comes to abandoned checkout email subject lines. Most email clients do not show the complete subject line if it is too long, so it’s important to be concise and creative. Here are 5 options to choose from to include in your subject lines:

1. Customer name
2. Company name
3. Product name
4. Urgency
5. Simplicity

Believe it or not, that’s IT. There’s no reason to be clever and try to get a click based on curiosity. In the case of these kinds of emails, clear beats clever every single time. Here’s what that might look like in practice:

• *Company name*, we’ve saved your cart 🤙
• Did you forget about me, *Customer name*? 😱
• Lemme teleport you back to your *Company name* Cart. Free of charge.🛒
• *Customer name*, your cart is wondering where you went ❤️
• *Company name* made me send this reminder 🙂

This email serves as just a  reminder. It doesn’t sell hard. In most cases, you can increase the chances of conversion by combining various strategies. For example, include a discount code along with a catchy subject line that includes your potential customer’s name. 

Discover 6 tips and tricks to lower your shopping cart abandonment rate

Based on our experience servicing over 100,000 businesses, these 5 tips and tricks will make the most impact on reducing your shopping cart abandonment rate and increase your conversion rate.

1. Ensure that your emails are sent at the optimal time to maximize opens with your customers with ActiveCampaign’s Predictive Send feature. 
2. Offer discount codes in a way that increases sales and doesn’t devalue our product or brand. For example, try leaning into psychological sales triggers first, such as free shipping.
3. Include social proof by sharing user-generated content within your emails.
4. Reserve the items in their cart with the CTA taking them directly to the cart.
5. Add a countdown timer to your email series to create a sense of urgency.
6. A/B test various abandoned cart texts in addition or in lieu of emails. Check out ActiveCampaign’s SMS feature with your free trial of our platform here. 

Learn from other ecommerce store owners from their frequently asked questions

Download your free abandoned cart email template

Now that you’re armed with the knowledge of the strategies behind creating a great email reminder for abandoned carts, it’s time to plug it into a proven template. This is the EXACT same template ActiveCampaign users implement when they set up their abandoned checkout automations. Download our free guide and template at the top of this page. Want to get started right away? Plug these abandoned cart email templates right into your CRM.