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3. Special Discounts Aren't Always Necessary

Many online retailers fear that offering a discount in their shopping cart abandonment email campaigns will train customers to abandon carts and wait for the discount.  There might be a few people who try to game the system, but even at the discounted rate the sale should still be worthwhile.

However, to maximize your profitability you could follow Jim Novo’s discount ladderⁱⁱⁱ when determining which customers receive an offer and how much.  The idea behind the discount ladder is simple – the customers who purchased recently are more likely to purchase again and, therefore, do not require a large discount to influence purchasing decisions.  The money you save by offering this segment a smaller discount should be applied to customers who haven’t purchased in a while as they are the customers who need more incentive to buy.

By segmenting your lists by recency of purchases and offering discounts accordingly, you’ll not only increase your sales but you’ll increase your profits per sale.