Using SMS to Solve your Abandoned Cart Problem

Cart abandonment is a huge challenge facing nearly every B2C eCommerce business. Many customers add a few items to their shopping cart, and leave without purchasing anything. The cart abandonment rate in 2017 was 78.65%, and the total value of goods not bought was estimated to be over $7 trillion.

Winning back these customers means capturing their attention, and with mobile traffic accounting for about 50% of eCommerce traffic, text messages have become the best way to do this. In 2018, 79% of online purchases were made from mobile devices. But mobile also has the highest abandoned cart rates at 85%, making this the best avenue to leverage.

(Source: “Complete List of Cart Abandonment Statistics: 2006-2018”, Barilliance, 02/28/2018)

(Source: “Mobile eCommerce Statistics (Updated 2019) Percentage of Mobile mCommerce Shopping Trends”, OuterBox, 04/22/2019)

By thinking like the customer, there is a greater chance of turning them around and getting a sale. Considering the role of mobile in the modern consumer’s life, SMS offers a more engaging alternative for interacting with customers.

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Text messaging: The new conversion tool to tackle cart abandonment

With an open rate of 98% and a response rate of almost 50%, SMS is quickly becoming a favored marketing channel for brands. The absence of spam filters with SMS also means that a text from a brand won’t get lost. At least 64% of consumers say they prefer to converse with brands using text messages.

(Source: "How Retailers Engage, Retain Customers with SMS/Text Messaging", SMS-Magic, 12/07/2016)

All eCommerce businesses know that cart abandonment is inevitable. But while customers may abandon their carts, they may decide to return to buy the product later. It is also possible that they never intended to abandon the cart, but ended up doing so due to connectivity issues, or a website crash or time-out. Regardless of the reason, it is important for businesses to do all that’s possible to reach out to the customer and push them to make a purchase.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to send them a link to their saved cart by SMS, along with an incentive to purchase such as a discount or a bundle offer. You can use an SMS marketing platform like Voyage to create personalized and automated cart abandonment campaigns that instantaneously reach out to customers.

With a contextual message and a compelling call-to-action based on the buyer’s requirements, you can gently nudge them back to your website. It’s no surprise that offers and discounts are among the most powerful conversion tools businesses can leverage through SMS. Statistics reveal that:

• At least 75% of consumers have said that they would make a purchase from an offer received via SMS.
• 54% of customers say they would purchase items left in their cart if they are offered at a lower price.

Studies confirm that consistent engagement and incentives can, in fact, lead to sales conversion. One such study found that 46% of businesses that tracked abandoned carts and engaged customers saw that they spent more than their original cart value.

(Source: “7 Key Statistics for SMS Marketing”, Digital Marketing Magazine, 03/31/2014)

(Source: “How Discounts Affect Online Consumer Buying Behavior”, Business2Community, 06/19/2016)

(Source: “The State of Ecommerce Marketing”, Hubspot/Slideshare, 04/18/2016)

The best way to engage with these customers is by using SMS and email marketing together. Using them in tandem made a marketing campaign 38% more effective and resulted in greater revenues as per a recent study.

For small and medium-sized eCommerce businesses, integrating an SMS platform like Voyage with their CRM or email marketing platform might just lead to greater marketing success in 2019.

(Source: SMS & Email Campaigns Earn 38% Revenue During Valentine's Day, Martech Series, 02/20/2019)

(Source: ROI Showdown: SMS Marketing vs. Email Marketing, Campaign Monitor, 01/18/2019)