In the US alone, there was an estimated $517,360,000,000 transacted in total online sales in 2018. That number is massive considering that 87% of the world's annual GDP was less than that amount over the same time period.

But there could have been much more.

Not every time a person starts an online purchase does the process continue all the way through to the end. In fact, an average of estimates indicates that only three in ten attempts actually results in an online purchase. All other attempts are abandoned at one point or another.

There are many reasons why online shopping sessions are abandoned. The fact of the matter is that shopping abandonment is just a natural process of the experience -- especially because "just browsing" is the primary reason for abandonment. Not every time do people walking into a store at the local shopping mall walk out with purchases in hand. Online shopping is no different.

The nice thing about online shopping is that there is the opportunity to re-engage these shoppers who have initially abandoned their journeys. Online retailers who send abandonment remarketing emails are able to recover about 11% of revenue that would otherwise be lost.
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Online retailers are finally catching on that abandonment remarketing programs should be considered a normal component of the marketing mix.

Tip 1: Do you know how many of your potential customers are abandoning?
​I am always amazed at how many of our clients answer, "We have no idea." The reason why they have no idea is that the ecommerce platform they are using lacks this ability to track. Or, if the platform does have this ability, they simply aren't paying attention to this portion of their site visit reporting.

Tip 2: Do you know where your potential customers are abandoning?
Knowing how many shoppers are abandoning is a good start. Knowing where they are abandoning is even better.

>> Browse Abandonment -- most abandonment takes place during this phase of the purchase process. Tracking page view history prior to browse abandonment helps you determine whether you need to fix your ecommerce site navigation and/or product search. Sometimes, it might give you insights into gaps in your product line that maybe you should consider adding to your catalog.

>> Cart Abandonment -- believe it or not, the most common reason for cart abandonment is that customers use the shopping cart as a "wish list". They will add items into the cart just to hold them there as they continue to shop around the web. Some shoppers just aren't ready to buy. Others are ready to buy, but not sure if they want to buy from you. Another big reason for abandoning a cart is sticker shock. Perhaps the shipping cost is too high compared to your competitor who is either offering a lower shipping cost, or none at all. Or perhaps your competitor is located in a more jurisdiction enabling it to offer more favorable sales tax charges.

>> Checkout Abandonment -- this type of abandonment is the one you should focus your immediate attention to reduce as much as possible. It's the same thing as a person standing in line at the checkout counter with a basket-full of goods, and then literally walking out the store leaving the cart in the line. Checkout abandonment is directly the cause of a payment process with too many friction points. Count how many fields you are requiring your shoppers to fill in when entering their payment information. Count how many keystrokes, using yourself as the test subject. Experiment with what you can do to reduce the friction as much as possible. Capture only the least amount of information required to complete a purchase. Offer support for express paynments like Paypal, Apple Pay, Visa Checkout, and others.

Tip 3: Do you have a remarketing program?
​I am pleased to see that more and more ecommerce platforms are starting to offer abandoned cart remarketing emails built into their offering. Some platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, Ecwid, and WooCommerce will send emails out themselves, others will track the abandonment event but not send the emails directly. Instead, they will integrate with a wide selection of email marketing platforms.

As early as 2014, the question was, "why would I need to have an abandoned cart recovery program?" I'm pleased to note that our newer clients are now asking, "why wouldn't I need to have an abandoned cart recovery program?"

If you haven't yet started with an abandonment remarketing email program, we recommend that get started right away. At the very least that planning a tangible and reasonable timeline to start.

If you already are using an abandonment remarketing email program, we recommend that you consider strategies to increase your recovery rates -- just like with any revenue-generating marketing program. Figure out how much earlier in the shopping process you might be able to capture email addresses. Remember: no email address, no abandonment remarketing email. A|B Test variables such as how soon after the abandonment is detected that you trigger the first email. Test different emails for different types of abandonment. Test how many emails you can send while still maintaining good customer relations. Test subject lines, and calls to action within the body of the email. Test, Test, Test. The best benchmarks are your own customers.