High cart abandonment rates are something that many eCommerce sites struggle with. Sometimes it seems that no matter what you do, you can’t seem to convince your online shoppers to pull the trigger during the checkout process! That is, until now. That’s right – SMS cart abandonment is all you need to convince your potential customers to take that last step and actually complete their purchase. At the end of the day, you will have more sales and satisfied customers as a result, making it well worth the investment. However, SMS cart recovery isn’t the most straightforward concept out there if you don’t already know what it is. Thankfully, we are here to tell you everything you need to know about this service and how it can work for online retailers trying to compete with Amazon.
What Is Abandoned Cart SMS?
Abandoned cart SMS is a form of SMS remarketing. SMS marketing allows you to directly reach your customers through SMS messages, or text messages, that are sent directly to their cell phones. There are various different forms of SMS marketing ranging from promotional campaigns to order updates to shopping cart abandonment follow-ups. It might seem crazy that there’s a way for an eCommerce store to actually reach out to people who had a product in their cart but left it sitting there before they checked out. Thankfully we are in the year 2020, and that’s totally possible with an SMS cart recovery service for online stores.
How Does Abandoned Cart SMS Work?
Obviously, abandoned cart SMS is a great use of our 21st-century technology, but how exactly does it work? In theory, it’s actually pretty simple! First, you need to utilize an abandoned cart SMS service like Cart Text. Most of these services have an app that you can install into your Shopify platform so that they can gain access to all your data points like phone numbers. Once the app is installed, they will be able to see when a customer abandons their cart without purchasing and can build trust by reaching out to the person directly via text message to ask them why they didn’t complete the purchase. Some of the most common reasons for high shopping cart abandonment rates include not enough credit card or payment options (PayPal, Apple Pay, Visa, etc.), unsightly product pages, no guest checkout option available, poor checkout flow with too many popups, uncertain about the return policy, not enough social proof and testimonials, load times and plugins that are too slow, extra costs weren't upfront, and the customer not trusting the site with their personal information or credit card information.
Some SMS cart recovery services are automated and just use general prompts and responses to communicate with your customers. Cart abandonment emails are also common. However, if you are really looking to go the extra mile and make those high order value conversions then it’s probably best if you have a real person reach out. After all, no one prefers robots to real people! That’s why live SMS cart recovery services, like those offered by Cart Text, are ideal. They use real live people to connect with your customers and personalize the initial message to increase the likelihood of a response. After the initial message, they are able to respond appropriately and provide the customer with whatever they need to actually go back and streamline the rest of the checkout process. For example, if the customer was concerned about shipping costs, the live representative can provide them with a coupon code for free shipping. Or if the customer had questions about the product or payment methods, the live representative can easily get the answer and provide them with the information they need to move forward with the purchase with an overall positive shopping experience.
Once all of the customer’s concerns have been addressed, they can then be directed back to their checkout page with a direct link – making it easier than ever for them to go on and complete the purchase on your eCommerce website. With minimal effort, you will be able to convert more sales, improve your customer service, and boost your brand image all at the same time! There’s really nothing better than that.
Does Abandoned Cart SMS Recovery Really Work?
So all of this sounds like a good concept in theory, but does it actually work? Thankfully, the numbers speak for themselves when it comes to abandoned cart SMS recovery services. But before we talk about those numbers, we need to talk about why SMS is more effective than other methods to reach customers. For years, email has been the gold standard when it comes to marketing and abandoned cart emails have been popular. However, our society is constantly evolving and our methods of marketing need to evolve with it!
Nowadays, people are always texting on their phones. Texting is now the preferred method of communication because it’s quick (almost instant) and concise. It’s also more direct since it comes to our phone instead of our email inbox. And even though most people have their email account accessible on their smartphones, you’re way more likely to open a text message over an email. This is because emails are generally known to be indirect and unimportant – this is why the spam folder exists! Even if your emails don’t end up in the spam folder, the open rates have a pretty low range.
Text messages, on the other hand, have an extremely high open rate. 90% of text messages are opened in the first three minutes after it was received! If that doesn’t sound good enough on its own, 98% of text messages are read eventually. Both of these impressive numbers definitely beat the low open rates of emails and help make abandoned cart SMS recovery an extremely effective service. But the proof is in the numbers:
- The best abandoned cart SMS recovery services, like Cart Text, maintain a 98% open rate and a 45% response rate.
- These services have high conversion rates and can help you save up to 20% of your abandoned carts and earn you that much more revenue as a result. Think of all the profits you would gain if you had 20% of your abandoned carts converted into sales! Well, that is easily possible with abandoned cart SMS services.
How to Find an Effective Abandoned Cart SMS Service
Hopefully, by now you are totally sold on the need for an abandoned cart SMS service. And we don’t blame you – those numbers are pretty enticing, especially when cart abandonment statistics are so frightening! So in order to make the next step, you need to actually find a service to take the weight off your shoulders and get more money in your pockets. Unfortunately, not all services are created equal and some are definitely better than others. So in order to get the most bang for your buck, you need to do some research into each option to make sure that it’s worth the investment. Here are some things to look for when considering abandoned cart SMS recovery options that will pay for themselves in no time:
- As mentioned above, in order to gain maximum conversions and profits, you need to use a live abandoned cart recovery service. This little extra feature can go a long way in getting customers to respond and eventually complete their purchase.
- An abandoned cart recovery service shouldn’t just provide you with extra profit, but it should provide you with useful insight into your numbers with tailored reports. Data is power, and you can definitely use this to your advantage.
- Your abandoned cart recovery service plan should make sense for you. Look for unlimited response options that allow you to really maximize your investment.
- Finally, look for abandoned cart recovery services that can do more. Some SMS recovery services include canceled subscription and billing issue features along with cart recovery! So cover all your bases and boost your customer service by using this live and personalized feature.
At the end of the day, businesses are always looking for ways to make more money. You lose out on a ton of sales from abandoned carts, and an abandoned cart SMS recovery service is one way that you can get this money and unlock your company’s full potential. These services do all the work for you and make it easy for you to earn more money and better understand your customers and overall business.
Sources:
