It’s nearly impossible to eliminate cart abandonment. You might have the most user-friendly website, seamless checkout process, competitive prices and innovative products. Yet, there will always be some customers that abandon their carts before completing the transaction. However, you can reduce cart abandonment, even if you can’t eliminate it entirely.
How to reduce cart abandonment using SMS
1. Handling unexpected costs
The customer has found the perfect item and added it to their basket. At checkout, they’ve come across an additional cost that they didn’t expect – such as shipping or VAT, which leads them to abandon their cart.
While it’s important to clearly outline and signpost your pricing strategy, some customers may miss this regardless. If they do abandon their baskets because of unexpected costs, you can send them a text message that offers them an incentive to complete their purchase. For example, if you suspect that it’s your delivery charges, why not offer discounted or even free shipping?
2. Simplifying your checkout process
The more complex your checkout process is, the more likely your customers are to abandon their basket. This is supported by a Baymard Institute study which found that two of the top reasons for cart abandonment were a long checkout process and customers being required to create an account to complete the transaction.
Customers – particularly first-time customers – want a fast, friction-free checkout experience. They don’t want to have to create an account or fill in extra form fields (e.g phone number, birthday etc).
If you think your subscriber has been scared off by the checkout process, you can send them a link to a more simple purchase process via SMS. Here’s an example of an SMS message you could send:
Hi [Name], we couldn’t help notice you left these in your basket. We hope that everything our end was as it should be. If you would still like to go ahead and checkout these items, click the link for a smooth purchase [insert URL]. Alternatively, reply with “HELP” and one of our advisors can jump in and assist you.
Offering a two-way conversation may reveal other reasons why they didn’t complete their purchase. You can use automated SMS to handle responses, with HELP being a keyword initially and if things get more complicated, escalate the matter to a real member of staff.
3. Fixing invalid promotional codes
Offering an exclusive and/or limited-time promotional codes is a great way to bring customers to your website. But if this code doesn’t work when the customer goes to redeem it at checkout, it’s likely they will abandon their cart.
Before you send promotional codes and offers, check that:
- There are no spelling errors.
- The code hasn’t expired.
- The code isn’t too long or complicated (this can lead to your customer mistyping it and not realising).
If your website collects data for failed voucher code input, you can spot the problem quickly. Automatically link this data to your SMS platform and set it to automatically send out new voucher codes to these customers.
Tip: If your customer narrowly misses the deadline for the promo code and it expires, and you’re able to track this data in your SMS platform, why not send them an extension? Here’s an example of what you could say:
We noticed that you were trying to use an expired discount code. We’d love to extend our special offer for you. Use code EXTEND23 at checkout! Hurry! Offer ends on [DATE].
4. Reducing distractions
Scrolling is a pastime for many so it’s completely normal for a customer’s cart to be abandoned when something more important arises or even just getting tired and going to bed.
Use SMS to gently remind customers who have left items in their cart without checking out. Although some may have simply changed their minds, there will be people who just forgot. There may even be a few customers who genuinely believed that they completed the checkout process but didn’t.
So, don’t neglect the power of an SMS reminder. Coupled with an email reminder, it can be just the thing that convinces your customer to complete their purchase.
Tip: Send your SMS reminder out at the right time. If you know that customers may get distracted at certain times of the day, avoid that time and pick an hour where you know you’ll have their full (or nearly full) attention. Additionally, try to send your reminders within 24 hours so your customer doesn’t completely forget about their purchase or find it elsewhere.
5. Pulling customers back in even if they found an alternative
Generally, consumers like to shop around to find the best deal or product/service for their needs. This is another common reason for cart abandonment. Your consumers may find a cheaper alternative or what they feel is more suited to their needs.
If price is what caused your customer to abandon their basket, why not use SMS to send a special discount code or voucher. This could be what seals the deal, particularly if the consumer is still shopping around.
Reduce cart abandonment and boost sales when you use SMS
Maximise your SMS results when you work on a reliable platform with the best features for the job. Not all new abandoned cart recovery strategies are successful, but when you use SMS messaging with TextAnywhere, all your efforts are trackable.
Here are some of our best bits:
- Bulk SMS – send text messages or SMS marketing in seconds using our user-friendly bulk SMS sender.
- Email to SMS – the effortless way to send SMS online from your current email provider.
- SMS Shortcodes – help your customers easily identify and remember you, with a simple shortcode.
- Virtual SMS number – facilitate two-way SMS messaging with customers and employees.
- SMS Alerts – business changes happen fast; send SMS notifications even faster.
- Emergency SMS – from cyber attacks to fires, you need speedy, reliable communication.
- Automated SMS – take back time by automating customer communication.
- SMS API – seamlessly integrate with your existing software so you can easily deliver campaigns.
- SMS Marketing – easily attribute revenue to specific marketing activities.
Get in touch with the TextAnywhere team today to find out more or activate your free trial!