i saw u checking me out

This weekend I went online to make a few quick purchases. I added shampoo to my cart, but conditioner was out of stock. So I went to Google to find it elsewhere, and then I saw an ad for an interesting pair of shoes. I wanted to know how much the shoes were, but then the phone rang and

Today’s email is about cart abandonment.

If you’re new here, welcome! Every week I share ideas and experiments for SMS marketers. I also created TinyTexts.co, a huge, live, searchable database of texts for up-to-the-minute inspiration.

Today’s newsletter includes:

This week, in order to explore abandonment flows, I visited my favorite online retailers, added something to my cart and left, waiting to see who tried to claw me back and how. Let’s get into 5 ideas you can test this week.

First let’s take a look at when the messages came in. Most brands sent me a cart abandonment message within 1 hour. H&M, Bonobos and Sur La Table hit me back the fastest, within 20-30 minutes.

Five brands sent me two reminders. For example, Marc Jacobs pinged me within 1 hour and then pinged me again 3 days later.

If you’re thinking about testing new approaches to your cart abandonment flow, the first worthwhile test might be to bring your timing forward to message the cart abandoner within 60 minutes. Then I would test adding a second message to the flow.

Next let’s take a look at some copy ideas.

Across the board, the most common reason that shoppers abandon a cart is the cost of shipping, or uncertainty around the cost of shipping. This is why Marc Jacobs emphasizes its complimentary shipping in both the messages in its flow, and why you might also want to test this for your brand if you have a compelling shipping offer.

Hey Dude also emphasized its free shipping offer.

The second most common reason that shoppers abandon their carts is due to issues with promo codes, so if you have a relevant promo code to offer, this is the time. I’m not necessarily suggesting creating a new promo code, but if your customer is eligible for an existing promo, emphasize that. Victoria Beckham Beauty reminded me that I have not used my first time purchaser discount yet.

(This text would have been just a touch better if it took me to my cart, but it was a browse abandonment message that brought me back to New Arrivals.)

DBL Jewelry did two interesting things in their abandonment message. They induced FOMO and included a personal touch from the founder.

Finally, you could try experimenting with AI powered Journeys, like this one from Bonobos.

In case you didn’t hear, there was a major sporting event this past weekend and during many major sporting events, Chipotle creates a text-to-claim offer for free food. This week they posted a code on their Instagram Reels and the first 100,000 people to text 888222 with the code won a free burrito. This offer was publicized via press release and social ahead of the game, two relatively inexpensive tactics.

Chipotle has not reported official numbers on the response rate, but based on the comments I see on IG and Reddit, it looks like far more than 100,000 people texted to claim this offer. If you’re looking for ways to get your Instagram followers to sign up for texts, a text-to-claim offer seems like an interesting idea to kick around.

Btw I did text within 30 seconds but I did not win. I got this response instead.

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See you next week!