Conversion Tactic #2: Cart Abandonment Campaigns
Welcome to the second installment of the conversion series. After detailing lapsed buyer campaigns, this week we will explore cart abandonment, another online conversion technique with high yield. Conversions are important for public sector organizations, so make sure you read on to understand each aspect of online conversion opportunities!
Who are “Cart Abandoners”?
Cart abandoners, as the name implies, are individuals who visit a site and add an item to a cart without purchasing. Abandonment can also occur when a visitor leaves before completing a desired action like downloading an eBook or becoming a blog subscriber.
Why do People Abandon Online Transactions?
Individuals abandon online transactions all the time. In fact, 68% of consumers on e-commerce websites abandon a cart, according to the Baymard Institute. This is similar to the public sector.
Cart abandonment happens for a variety of reasons. Customers may shop at work and don’t have time to complete the transaction, multi-task online and get sidetracked, save an item but don’t actually intend to purchase the item, or change their mind. Whatever the case, don’t take the cart abandonment personally because these individuals are high converters.
How Do You Reengage Abandon Carters?
Abandon carters give marketers one of the greatest opportunities for reactivation because the customer already has interest in your organization.
This group of customers is more likely to convert than new customers. In fact, SaleCycle reported over a third of cart retrieval emails result in purchases. With a thoughtful reengagement strategy for cart abandoners, you can address recipients, set content based in customer lifecycles, and develop targeted messages to reactivate this segment.
Follow these steps to convert this type of customer:
- Invest in technology to help you: It’s pretty tricky to track conversions and automate communications without a sophisticated platform to power your efforts. With a platform such as GovDelivery, you can track actions these customers take, and send automated communications to them.
- Examine existing customer data: Analyze your existing customer base to identify reactivation segments
- Learn about your audience: Identify and group those who have abandoned the cart.
- Craft converting content: Create personalized communications that prompts action to this group.
- Promote immediacy: Immediacy is so important in marketing, especially for cart abandonment. A best practice is to engage with customers no more than 24 hours after they abandoned a cart.
- Express concern: Sometimes people just need a friendly prompt to spark their interest in completing a transaction.
- Offer incentives: Include a unique offer – an incentive to complete a purchase can increase your conversion rate by up to 263%.
- More action, more satisfaction: You don’t always have to lead with an offer. If your reconversion emails are unsuccessful at first, send information and resources.
- Time communications: Leverage technology to create timed, regular campaigns.
- Test and measure: Use analytics to uncover your message’s true potential. Test and optimize headlines, content, colors, graphics, and more until you find the highest converting message.
Real-Life Examples
You may believe that cart abandonment reengagement campaigns are only successful in the private sector, but they are proven to be successful in the public sector as well.
On a federal level, Healthcare.gov also performed a successful abandon cart campaign. The email campaign was the number one referrer to Healthcare.gov, signing up 1 million subscribers for the Department of Health and Human Services’ ACA list.
Reactivation strategies for abandon carters should be an integral component of your communications plan as a public sector organization. Engaging abandoned customers is a low-hanging-fruit conversion tactic, meaning with little effort you have the potential to reach maximum results. Keep the content relevant to these abandoners and keep them engaged with strategic messaging based on the lifecycle they are in. The best part of abandoned cart marketing, is that it is a marketing technique with low cost per acquisition. The key is to leverage a marketing platform that automates the process.
If you have experience with abandon cart campaigns, take the conversation to our social accounts and let us know your best practices on Twitter and Facebook!