On-line retailers fail to follow up abandoned baskets
On-line retailers are failing to follow up potential customers who abandon their shopping baskets without making a purchase, according to new research from RedEye the behavioural email specialist.
It claims that more than 70% of customers are regularly abandoning baskets, so this should be a standard tool for retail marketers who could learn a valuable lesson from the on-line gambling sector.
The RedEye research shows that an abandoned basket email can achieve a 12% conversion to sale. However, the company found that only 13% of online retailers are using the technique to target potential customers and that the remaining 87% are missing an opportunity to recapture lost sales and improve online conversion.
Some retailers are starting to recognise the potential of the process with 6% more using the technique compared to when RedEye’s previously studied this market in November 2010. However, retailers are still significantly lagging behind other sectors in automating the targeting of “nearly-customers”. For example, on-line betting companies are shown to be much more proactive at targeting users with 70% using follow-up emails to improve conversion.
Matthew Kelleher, Commercial Director at RedEye explains: “There’s no reason for companies not to try it – an automated abandoned basket system is relatively quick and easy to set-up, and results can be achieved from otherwise lost sales in just 24 hours.”
RedEye’s second Behavioural Email Benchmark Study looks at the use of behavioural email by over 200 on-line companies. Data was collected February-March 2011, and compares research with results from an earlier study released in November 2010. The study researched the online email processes of the likes of Amazon.co.uk, Play.com, Next.com, Thomas Cook and Halfords.
