It can be cheaper to convince someone who has already shown up in your store to return than to look for a new customer. Especially if that person had a serious intention to buy from you, but something went wrong. That’s the twofold nature of abandoned carts — a sale you didn’t make on one side, and the opportunity to sell on the other.
An abandoned cart email is a surefire way to bring customers back. These emails recover about 15% of abandoned carts, according to our statistics.
But what can you write in an abandoned cart email for the best results? We’ve studied how big brands do it. Here are eight must-have principles of abandoned cart emails.
Related: Abandoned Cart Recovery for Ecwid Stores: Bring Customers Back With Automated Emails
1. Come Up With a Creative Subject Line
Your store’s name and a friendly reminder are a perfect match. You can try informal, cheerful phrases like "I’m waiting for you" or "Looks like you forgot something." A classier "You left products in a cart" is also a good one.
Test different subject lines. As long as your subject line idea makes the email stand out and goes well with your brand, it’s worth testing.
”A name + a reminder” combination can be both formal and informal
The text after the subject line is your email preview. It also influences your open rate. Ideally, the preview text should be a co-pilot of your subject line, supporting the idea and engaging the recipients in the message.
As a bare minimum, make sure the preview and the subject line are not similar.
A default subject line for an abandoned cart email in Ecwid looks like this:
If you sell online with Ecwid, you can use your own subject line in the abandoned cart email template.
2. Add Your Store’s Logo
Usually, brands put logos at the top of the email. It helps their customers to remember the purchase they almost made.
Mango customers will recognize the shop at once
A default template in Ecwid displays the store logo at the top right corner automatically.
Tip: you can change your logo in Settings → Mail.
3. Differentiate Your Brand With Copy
Let’s be honest, your email will unlikely be the first abandoned cart email in your customers’ lives. So your copy should stand out to increase the conversion rate.
Try to make it fun, not just to push sales
Mention that you saved the whole cart for the customer and you’re waiting for them to come back soon. Create a bit of FOMO by clarifying it’s a limited offer.
Forever 21 creates fear of missing out
If you want to rewrite the copy in Ecwid’s abandoned cart email template, go to My sales → Abandoned carts and press the "Send email" button. Type the text in the popup. That will change the copy for one email.
If you don’t want to edit it manually every time, you can also change the template. This option fits those who have switched on automated abandoned cart email delivery. Here’s a quick how-to:
- In My sales → Abandoned carts, follow the link "Edit template".
- Find this part:
![Editing abandoned cart email template in Ecwid]()
Under this caption, you’ll see the body text of your abandoned cart email written in black. Edit the black text as you like. You shouldn’t change the rest of the code. ![Abandoned cart email template 2]()
Feel free to edit text in black, but don’t change text in different colors
Under this caption, you’ll see the body text of your abandoned cart email written in black. Edit the black text as you like. You shouldn’t change the rest of the code. 
4. Offer a Discount Coupon
Some customers are so used to getting discounts for coming back that they abandon their carts on purpose. They will be looking forward to a special offer in your abandoned cart email.
Levi’s gives a discount and warns customers about the expiry date
Some sellers don’t give a discount for this exact product, but they add information about special offers. In general, discounts work better for bringing customers back.
In Ecwid, you can create discount coupons and add them to your abandoned cart email copy.
5. List All the Products in the Cart
Their titles and beautiful pictures will remind the customer how badly they wanted that stuff. Don’t forget to link each item to its product page in the store.
Levi’s gives a discount and warns customers about the expiry date
The list of the items for an abandoned cart email in Ecwid is generated automatically. You don’t have to do anything here.
6. Add a Call-to-Action
A CTA button is the culmination of your abandoned cart email. Everything that goes before it should be convincing enough to make people click.
The button itself matters, too. Make it bright, distinctive, and add short and simple copy. Experiment with different CTAs, as this can dramatically increase the conversion level. 30% of tests on vwo.com involve a call to action.
Nasty Gal makes going back irresistible
In Ecwid, the abandoned cart email template already has the "Complete Your Order" button; you don’t have to add it separately, but you can experiment with the CTA.
7. Add Your Contact Info
Show your phone number and email address. You can also add links to your shop’s social media pages.
Consider this scenario: A customer is ready to finish the order, but they aren’t sure whether the order arrives in time. Or the discount coupon doesn’t work. Or they want to ask a few more questions. There must be someone customers can address with their problem.
Specify the department (“Customer Care,” "Returns," "Shipping Issues") so that your customers know when they should call and what to expect when your team picks up the phone.
The Body Shop customers know how to contact customer service
Ecwid includes your store’s email address in the abandoned cart email template. You can change your email in Ecwid Control Panel → Settings → General.
You can add your phone number to the template by editing the black text at the bottom:
8. Do It Your Way
You can design your abandoned cart email in corporate colors, write an official message, use a couple of set phrases.
Or you can send a friendly letter, as if you wrote it on your way to the office, waiting in traffic — without logos and decorations. Such reminders look more personal. They are perfect for small and "cozy" shops.
Customers will appreciate the service. Even if they don’t complete their order, they can share some valuable feedback, if they feel the email was written by a real person. As for big brands, they don’t often send such letters.
You can transform your Ecwid abandoned cart email template to look like that. Edit the abandoned cart email template in Settings → Mail. Select the whole template and delete it. Paste the text you want to send (change it as you like):
‹br› Hello, my name is Anna.
‹br›
‹br› I work in Diagon Alley shop. We noticed that you added products to the cart, but didn’t finish the order. Did you have problems with placing the order?
‹br›
‹br›If you need help, please call us at 8-900-123-45-67, or send an email to anna@gmail.com. My colleagues and I will help you to work it out.
IMPORTANT: If you have changed the template’s text and then want to go back to it, copy it first and save it in a text document. You can always go back to the Ecwid’s standard template. Just follow the link "Back to the standard template".
Have you ever completed your order because of a timely and cool abandoned cart email? Tell us in the comments!