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7 min read

Abandoned Cart Email Benchmarks: What You Should Expect

Written by Andriy Boychuk
7 min read
Table of Contents

    Learning about abandoned cart email benchmarks gives you a better idea of what you can expect, both in terms of cart abandonment and successful conversions.

    But first, refresh your memory on what an abandoned cart is and why you should put in the effort to send an email about it.

    What Is an Abandoned Cart Email and Why Is It Important

    An abandoned cart refers to when someone browses your eCommerce website and places an item or items in their cart, but then leaves the website without buying it.

    Sending abandoned cart emails gives you an opportunity to recover some of this potentially lost profit.

    This makes sense, as you have already put in time and money to attract the shopper to your store. After all, they were close to buying your product.

    An email templated for abandoned cart.

    By retargeting the shopper, you make the most of your past marketing expenditures. You should also find it easier to convert them than you would a new customer since they are already further along the sales funnel.

    You won’t convert all of these abandoned carts into sales, but you will likely convert a fair amount.

    The cart abandonment benchmarks give you industry averages, so you know how successful your cart abandonment emails are likely to be.

    Abandoned Cart Email Benchmarks: Conversion Rates and Profits from Abandoned Cart Emails

    To help you craft a strategy for your emails, consider various abandoned cart email benchmarks. These can help you decide things like how many emails to send and how to craft them.

    To start, consider that the average open rate of cart abandonment emails is 41.18 percent and the average click rate is 9.50 percent.

    Cart Abandonment Rates by Industry

    Before creating your strategy for cart abandonment emails, confirm that your rate of cart abandonment is normal for your industry.

    If your rate is higher than the industry average, this may indicate problems with your checkout process, page load speeds, prices, or something else.

    The following are average cart abandonment rates by industry:

    •         Fashion: 68.3%
    •         Finance: 83.6%
    •         Gaming: 64.2%
    •         Nonprofit: 83.1%
    •         Retail: 72.8%
    •         Travel: 81.7%

    Cart Abandonment Email Open Rates by Industry

    To give you an idea of what to expect from your email efforts, consider the following cart abandonment benchmarks for open rates:

    •         Fashion: 44.1%
    •         Finance: 38.2%
    •         Nonprofit: 42.5%
    •         Retail: 41.4%
    •         Travel: 49.3%
    •         All Sectors: 43%

    Cart Abandonment Conversion Rates by Industry

    While the above are the open rates for abandoned cart emails, the conversion rate tends to be much smaller. The following shows the average conversion rates by industry:

    •         Fashion: 3.33%
    •         Finance: 2.67%
    •         Nonprofit: 2.46%
    •         Retail: 2.92%
    •         Travel: 3.09%
    •         All Sectors: 2.9%

    Abandoned Cart Email Benchmarks by Cart Size and Orders per Month

    You can expect an average revenue of $5.81 per recipient of an abandoned cart email.

    However, the results you can expect vary greatly based on the average size of the cart and the number of orders you receive per month.

    For average orders of less than $50, consider the following averages based on the number of orders per month:

    •         For less than 100 orders per month: 3.05% recovery rate, $144 in sales recovered
    •         For 100 to 499 orders per month: 2.97%, $310
    •         For 500 to 999 orders per month: 3.36%, $945
    •         For 1,000+ orders per month: 2.95%, $9,154

    For average orders of $50 to $100, the following applies, based on orders per month:

    •         Less than 100 orders: 3.54% recovery rate, $238 in sales recovered
    •         100 to 499 orders: 2.97%, $885
    •         500 to 999 orders: 3.36%, $2,160
    •         More than 1,000 orders: 3.78%, $45,720

    For average orders of $100 to $500, the following is true:

    •         Less than 100 orders: 4.06% recovery rate, $545 in sales recovered
    •         100 to 499 orders: 4.74%, $2,806
    •         500 to 999 orders: 4.69%, $7,861
    •         More than 1,000 orders: 4.97%, $37,957

    For average orders of more than $500, consider these benchmarks:

    •         Less than 100 orders: 3.93% recovery rate, $405 in sales recovered
    •         100 to 499 orders: 5.1%, $1,059
    •         500 to 999 orders: 4.44%, $48,650
    •         More than 1,000 orders: 5.44%, $93,539

    You can use these above cart abandonment benchmarks for recovery to predict your results.

    Just look at the relevant figures for your typical order size and number of monthly orders.

    Then, remember that the figures are averages, so your results may be higher or lower.

    Cart Abandonment Benchmarks Based on Email Number

    If you look at the average open rate of cart abandonment emails based on the number of emails in a series, you will notice a 62.94 percent open rate for single emails.

    Two-email series and three-email series have average open rates of 48.65 percent and 46.11 percent, respectively.

    The average click rate also decreases, at 14.53 percent, 11.83 percent, and 10.69 percent for one-, two-, and three-email series, respectively.

    The same trend is true of the average revenue per recipient with $10.75, $8.28, and $5.52, respectively.

    But the most important of these abandoned cart email benchmarks is for overall revenue. Those figures become $3.88 million, $16.4 million, and $24.85 million.

    This means that for the best overall revenue, you should use three emails.

    Cart Abandonment Benchmarks: Most Effective Practices and Why

    With those statistics in mind, explore some of the most effective practices to maximize your ability to reach or exceed abandoned cart email benchmarks.

    Always Get Permission

    Before sending a cart abandonment email, get permission from the recipient.

    This can be as simple as having them check a box while providing their email address. But it is essential to protect you from legal issues.

    Feature the Abandoned Product

    Your abandoned cart email should always feature the product in question prominently.

    Include a picture of it as well as a description and a direct link.

    The best timing for an abandoned cart email is one hour after the customer left the website.

    Address the Reason for Abandonment

    There are various reasons that customers may abandon their carts, including doubts about the product or pricing and technical issues.

    If you know their reason, address it in the email. If the price was a concern, offer a discount. If your checkout process was long, upgrade it and mention that update in the email.

    Create Trust

    Lack of trust is a common potential reason for abandoned carts.

    Create trust in your brand with security badges and logos. Create trust in the product with social proof and reviews in the email.

    Consider a Coupon

    You may also want to add a coupon or other discount to your email.

    Even a small discount of 10 percent can make a difference.

    Conclusion

    Learning the abandoned cart email benchmarks can help you measure whether your email campaign produces the expected results or requires adjusting.

    Abandoned Cart Email Benchmarks: FAQs

    What is the average open rate for an abandonment email?

    If you look at the average open rate of cart abandonment emails based on the number of emails in a series, you will notice a 62.94 percent open rate for single emails.

    What is the average abandoned cart email conversion rate?

    It depends on the industry, but usually, the abandoned cart conversion rate is around 3%.

     
     
     
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