Musings On Cart Abandonment, Strategy Disconnects, Customer Quizzes & Useful Ecommerce Resources

Part One - Video: Cart Abandonment Tips (8 mins)

70.19% is the average documented online shopping cart abandonment rate. Every ecommerce site has abandoned carts, and trying to recover them is every ecommerce team’s obsession (well, it should be).

In this video short, I talk you through my recommended 3-phase approach to abandoned cart email programs and the role of SMS reminders in the process. Having done this for a few brands, my advice (which should be tested of course!) is:

• Don’t discount immediately, focus on customer service & USP prompts
• Send the first email within 1hr
• Send the second email +24 hrs and remind people stock isn’t reserved (if it is, tell them how long for to create urgency)
• Send the second email +48 hrs and now test an incentive to complete the order (doesn’t have to be a discount, could be free shipping)
• And most importantly, don’t take my word for it ??

Want a stats overload? Check out Baymard’s stats list updated for 2024.

Part Two - Strategy Disconnect

Lots of brands do brilliant things but don’t think end-to-end. I’m sharing a simple example of a major business with a missed opportunity.

I read an Internet Retailing article celebrating John Lewis Partnership success with clothing rental using HURR . The success of the womenswear launch in 2022 resulted in expansion into menswear, with brands like Boss Tailoring and Charles Tyrwhitt involved ??

Rentals as differentiation and an alternative revenue stream makes perfect sense for a multi-brand retailer. So, naturally, I jumped on the site and searched for “mens rental”.

The article even states, “The department store has also witnessed a jump in searches for ‘Mens Rental’, it appeared in the top 30 search terms on its website over the past 18 months

Here’s what I found in type ahead suggestions:

This search term has been in the top 30 terms over the past 18 months. And the search results aren’t optimised. You can’t rent any of those products. There’s no info on how to rent, or what you can choose from.

When you submit the term, the results page shows all Menswear; none of the top 10 results are eligible for rental from the website and there is no info about rental ????

And…

• Rental isn’t listed in the mega menu nav for Women's or Men's clothing
• It’s not in the header links

So how do you find it online?

By hunting! The only place I can find a direct link is hidden in the landing page from the header and footer links for Services.

It sits on a separate domain https://johnlewisfashionrental.com/

I can only assume the johnlewis.com team don’t want to lose traffic to another domain that’s perhaps run by a 3rd party or a different team?

This isn’t finger pointing. It’s frustration at the disconnect that exists between smart strategy and channel specific execution. IMO this is a really simple fix, ensure search and navigation on johnlewis.com make rentals more visible.

What can we learn? Ensure that every team responsible for customer touchpoints is informed, consulted and motivated to execute an appropriate channel CX.

Part Three - how Bambu Earth focus its ads on a quiz

I’ve been a fan of Octane AI AI for a while; it’s an intuitive interface and you can build out well designed, engaging quizzes to sharpen product recommendations and capture valuable customer data.

Bambu Earth have taken online quizzes to the next level, building a successful quiz and then funnelling ad traffic to the quiz.

Bold move!?

According to Octane, they now spend $300,000+ per month on ads that land shoppers directly on the quiz page.

Why this works:

• Skincare is deeply personal and there is a lot of competition; shoppers are increasingly knowledgable about the products and ingredients they want
• The quiz educated people on the USPs and benefits of the brand (e.g. no preservatives), reducing barriers to purchase
• The data profile helps Bambu Earth make personalised product recommendations to increase relevance, rather than landing people on a generic PLP or category page
• They promote the membership package which offers a 15% discount = value add for shoppers
• They tell you the quiz only takes 3 minutes = sets expectations
• Customer reviews and UGC pictures provide social validation
• They can create targeted promotions based on specific skincare routines, far better than a generic discount code for everyone e.g. free gifts that are related to the products recommended for you.

Oh and data capture. You've got the customer's email so can follow-up with a customised nurture flow to maximise conversion. This is more personal and, in my experience, more reliable than remarketing.

Part Four - useful resources

Events / Webinars

Thursday, 4th July, 11am & 4pm BST

Salesfire discussing data capture solutions to collect first-party data, and learn how to effectively use and grow this data.

https://www.salesfire.co.uk/guide-to-post-cookie-survial-webinar/

Articles / Videos etc.

Triple Whale industry benchmark app, where you can compare key metrics with industry averages and optionally connect your marketing accounts e.g. Meta.

https://www.triplewhale.com/ecommerce-trends

And finally, my Five to Follow:

1. Hannah Tickle , Experimentation Lead at Trainline - podcast coming shortly ??
2. Max Brennan ?? , UK Country Manager at Centra, runs some amazing events!
3. Jamie Huskisson , CEO at JH ecommerce agency which runs MeetMagento UK
4. James Carson , media & strategy consultant, podcast just dropped ??
5. Anton Johansson , CEO Grebban who build beautiful websites

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