Recovering Sales from Abandoned Shopping Carts

[Kristijntje]

Results of the e-tailing group's 6th Annual Merchant Survey (1Q '07) indicated that 75 percent of the surveyed merchants may be losing sales by not communicating with shoppers who have abandoned their shopping carts. The survey, conducted by the e-tailing group, headed by online shopping guru Lauren Freedman, goes on to provide e-tailers with advice for rescuing the sales stranded in abandoned carts.

Clearly a standardized shopping cart policy has not yet been established, according to the report, as 29 percent said that they currently do not hold merchandise in carts, 27 percent hold it for 1-3 months and the balance of merchants said they hold items anywhere from 30 minutes to indefinitely. Furthermore, over one-quarter of these merchants did not even know their shopping cart abandonment rates...

full article: http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/news/rese...hp/3710206

[amy]

Cooking.com, which sends a weekly e-mail with a conditional free shipping offer to those who abandoned carts the prior week,

*makes note to abandon cart and wait a week*

"Zale's initial e-mail, sent two days after we left merchandise in their cart is a gentle reminder; the second, sent four days later, adds an incentive of $50 off your purchase of $200 to get the business.

*makes another note to abandon cart*

I think sending more than one email is pushing it.

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link for Zen Cart users:
http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_p...ntrib_info&cPath=40_41&products_id=100