Address Cart Abandonment by Digging into Customer Data
by Ross Kramer, CEO of Listrak
Published in the DMNews 2010 Essential Guide to Email Marketing
The amount of money that customers spend online continues to grow. Forrester Research reported that consumers made online purchases totaling $155.2 billion in 2009. Additionally, it found that $917 billion in retail sales were influenced by online marketing efforts.
One of the best ways for Internet retailers to engage customers and tap into this growing revenue stream is through behavioral remarketing. Such campaigns typically garner 30% higher conversion rates and prolong customers' lifecycles, raise subscriber value, and increase overall profitability. Two highly effective types of remarketing campaigns include shopping cart abandonment and replenishment.
Campaigns don't have to be complicated to work. Web analytics, keystroke capture, triggered email solutions, and product recommendations are all affordable and straightforward. The campaign should be relevant and focused on completing the sale.
It might take more than one reach back. A series of two or more messages might be necessary to motivate shoppers to complete a purchase. One simple trick is to resend your message with a new subject line to recipients who didn't open it the first time. Another option is to build a multi-touch campaign. Different campaigns generate different results so be sure to test what works best with your customers.
Discounts aren't always necessary. The idea is that customers who purchased recently are more likely to purchase again and, therefore, don't require a large discount. By segmenting your lists by the recency of past purchases and offering discounts accordingly you'll increase your sales and profits per sale.
Measure results beyond click-through rates. Like every email campaigns, it's important to run tests to find out what works best for your customers. Be sure to evaluate your conversion rates and profits and not just your click-through rates. At the end of the day, the impact to your bottom line is the true measure of the effectiveness of a remarketing campaign.
About the Author - Ross Kramer is cofounder and CEO of Listrak. Reach him at rkramer@listrak.com.