Abandon Browse Emails

For every e-commerce marketeer, the tough part of the job is getting prospective customers to your website. Yet even when you succeed in this key mission, it is unavoidable that some will drop off without completing a purchase.

The reasons why customers don’t initially convert are vast. Some are window shoppers; others might simply be doing price comparison; and then there are those who are almost ready to push the button, but need a bit more convincing.

The good news is that such low-hanging fruit doesn’t need to slip through your fingers, and that’s where browse abandonment emails come in...

What is a browse abandonment email?

Browse abandonment emails are an email automation which triggers within a certain timeframe after a customer has left a specific page on your website. The purpose of this email, as you’d expect, is to re-engage them – both by extolling the benefits of your product or service, and providing a direct link to resume their purchase journey.

According to research carried out by Google, 53% of shoppers do research before completing a purchase to ensure they are making the right choice. That means plenty of websites being perused, so it can be easy for a customer to forget where and when they saw specific products. This underlines the importance of being at the forefront of shoppers’ minds, and browse abandonment emails enable you to steal a march on your competitors.

Browse abandonment and cart abandonment emails compared

Another type of automated re-engagement email which is commonly used is a cart abandonment email. In this case, the customer is in the latter stages of the purchase journey, as they’ve already loaded up their online shopping basket with an item (or items) before dropping off. Clearly, this type of customer has shown a greater level of intent, which is why cart abandonment emails tend to have higher ROI than their browse counterparts.

But that doesn’t always mean they’re right for you. For example, if your product or service is something of an unknown quantity, a browse abandonment email can be a softer sell, which gives you the opportunity to educate the customer more on its core benefits. Similarly, with big-ticket items, the educational element of a browse abandonment email could be a more-effective way of winning the customer over, and convincing them to part with their hard-earned cash.

Or it may be that you decide to add both browse and cart abandonment emails to your arsenal - especially if you feel your purchase journey lends itself to varied customer outcomes, and that each option could help to improve conversion in different scenarios. Either way, you’ll have the basis for a highly-personalised communication which can help you get those tills ringing.

Who should you target with browse abandonment emails?

Every shopper is different, and behaviours and preferences can vary significantly. Furthermore, if you’ve got a wide range of products on the shelf, it means that even customers with similar tastes could end up having different experiences. That’s why it pays to personalise your browse abandonment emails as much as possible, and create different variations tailored to the individual.

For example, if a customer has recently created an account (or subscribed to your mailing list), but not yet purchased, offering them a welcome incentive, coupon or discount could be a handy way to entice them back to your product pages.

 Alternatively, if someone buys something from you for the first time, don’t let them go cold. If a bit of time passes, then a browse abandonment email is a great way to re-engage them - perhaps by offering them an exclusive deal, or cross-selling relevant products based on what you already know about them.

 Or if a shopper has viewed the same product more than once, you could set up messaging in the email to say that you’ll hold the price especially for them, but only for a certain period of time - thus creating a sense of urgency before the offer expires.

Five quick-fire tips for browse abandonment emails:

Make it stand out: Whether it’s a catchy subject line, or epic visuals, make sure you differentiate your browse abandonment email in amongst all the noise of people’s inboxes.

Hold their hand: Overtly-salesy emails can be a turn-off, but educational content in an email, or links to useful resources such as FAQs can help shoppers overcome their hesitancy - and give them more confidence that the product is right for them.

Personalise (without being creepy!): Customer data is powerful, but use it wisely. No one wants to feel as though Big Brother is watching! But tailoring copy based on key datapoints can help you produce a suite of highly-personalised emails which cater for (and engage!) a range of customers.

Use social proofing: No one says it better than the customer, and reviews from fellow shoppers provide reassurance. So if you’ve got a great rating on Trustpilot, or any other review website, it’s a no-brainer to integrate this into a browse abandonment email.

Create a value proposition: This is the crux of it. A customer gets tons of emails each day. Why should they engage with yours? Whether it’s a personalised incentive, or articulating what makes your USP so special, you’ve got a very small window to grab their attention. So make it count!