How to Make a Winning Abandoned Checkout Campaign on WhatsApp

_{A masterclass on Abandoned Checkout campaigns on Whatsapp}

A recent survey found that over 69% of shoppers abandon their carts on average across all industries. 

With cinched budgets and investors emphasising lowering CAC (Customer Acquisition) and increasing retention, one must have a solid strategy in place.

As a D2C brand marketer, what can you do to reduce your abandonment rate?

Run abandoned checkout campaigns on your WhatsApp integrated ecommerce store!

Send your customers automated, personalised communications at timed intervals to nudge them towards completing their shopping journey, increasing your conversions by 10% and reducing your customer acquisition costs by 30%!

In this blog, we’ll discuss the reasons for cart abandonment, why Whatsapp is the best medium for such campaigns, and which WhatsApp campaigns you need to run to increase conversions.

Why do 70% of shoppers abandon their Carts?

Well, some shoppers abandon their carts just for the heck of it — their goal while browsing your e-commerce website is just to window shop or compare prices.

But a significant number of shoppers — in fact, over 40% of your website visitors — abandon their carts because of facing issues during checkout.

Take a look at this chart showing why these visitors abandoned their cart:

(Source: Baymard)

This essentially means that over 87% of your potential customers abandoned their cart because: 

1. the checkout process was too complicated
2. they didn’t consider the website reliable enough,
3. or because the checkout process wasn’t transparent enough.

These issues can be resolved by providing your customers adequate support throughout their shopping journey.

How to Reduce Abandoned Cart

Make Checkout Seamless 

Most e-commerce brands sell niche products that differentiate them from their competitors.

But this information needs to get communicated clearly to your customers 

Especially during check-out, which is where customers need the highest level of reassurance.

And just how much does your checkout process contribute to cart abandonment? 74 % of shoppers get frustrated when they see products that are not personalised, and drop off your website.

Steps to make Checkout Seamless:

1. Put in an FAQ page or product guide to inform customers about the range and features of your products
2. Add a live chat or conversational widget option to your website. This easy redirection to an assistant helps your customers resolve their pre-purchase queries in under a minute, significantly smoothening out their purchase journey.
3. Provide automated, 24/7 support in the form of an intelligent conversational agent which can respond empathically to your clients, asking questions about their needs and telling them about your product features, instructions for use, delivery times, shipping charges, and other pre-purchase queries. 

In fact, chat marketing of this kind increases your conversions by 10%!

It even helps in customer retention — 53% of e-commerce customers cite “easy to use and navigate website” as their primary reason to maintain brand loyalty.

Increase Transparency

33% of your potential customers abandon their carts because they don’t know what step of their purchase journey they are at, and because they do not know what you will do with their card details and personal information.

Thankfully, there are solutions to each of these issues.

Tips to Increase Transparency

1. Make your checkout process a lot simpler by integrating a conversational assistant into your website, that can address your customers’ questions as soon as they arise.
2. Deploy a guided selling model  through your assistant to keep your customers updated on which stage of their shopping journey they are at.
3. Include information in your FAQ page about what you do with the data you collect from your customers, including sensitive information like card details.
4. Deploy a WhatsApp integrated e-commerce store to chat with your customers on the platform most comfortable for them, capitalising on the trust that comes with chatting on a preferred social media platform.

In fact, a WhatsApp-integrated e-commerce store makes your customers’ shopping journey simpler and more engaging — you can leverage the photo and video sharing options to share product details in easy-to-understand information bites, and keeping your shoppers engaged by providing product images, product ratings, customer reviews, information on how to use your product etc.

Increase Reliability

To convince customers to click on the buy now option and input their shipping and billing details, they need to trust your brand. If they are confused or unsure about something, they should know you’re there to help the out.

Tips to Increase Reliability

1. Build trust by including customer reviews, ratings and testimonials for your products, and displaying them prominently on your website. 
2. Leverage customer feedback through your conversational agents and WhatsApp integrated e-commerce stores to help your customers believe in the efficacy of your product — no one wants to miss out on buying something they believe would address their needs!
3. And speaking of conversational agents, the best way to build trust and reliability is by responding promptly to your customers — 90% of e-commerce shoppers prefer instant responses, and 86% of customers spend more if brands engage with them and respond promptly.

The ultimate answer to building reliability is thus to deploy the best technology in Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can deliver intelligent support around the clock, scalably!

Why should you run your abandoned checkout campaigns on WhatsApp?

Well, WhatsApp is India’s most popular messaging platform. 

• India has  340 million monthly active WhatsApp users.
• These users spend an average of 38 minutes on WhatsApp every day.

Additionally, customers engage the most on WhatsApp — 

• Over 50% of users check the app every day.
• 80% of WhatsApp users read messages within 5 minutes of receiving them.
• Almost 175 million people message business accounts on WhatsApp every day.
• Finally, WhatsApp Business has an open rate of 99%, while email and other traditional marketing methods reach only 5-10% in open rates.

Lack of trust in the brand is one of the primary reasons why shoppers abandon their cart.

Here’s how Whatsapp can increase your brand’s credibility-

1. WhatsApp is a platform where people engage in personal, one-on-one conversations with people they trust every day.
2. Most conversations on WhatsApp are conversations of leisure — where people are more at ease.
3. This means that your customers would be a lot less suspicious and a lot more trusting when engaging with you on WhatsApp — and you can capitalise on this by running your campaigns through a WhatsApp integrated e-commerce store.
4. Finally, you can respond to your customers promptly — and they will receive and open those replies instantaneously — as compared to responses through your website’s live chat page, email or SMS.

Thus, WhatsApp is the ideal platform to give your customers the final push from their abandoned checkout to clicking on buy now!

How can you maximise your returns from running abandoned checkout campaigns on WhatsApp?

Let’s examine how you can derive the greatest benefits from your WhatsApp-integrated e-commerce store.

Run automated abandoned checkout recovery campaigns

Over 69% of shoppers abandon their carts. 

There is absolutely no way your live agents can reach out to every single such shopper promptly. 

Especially on calls- which should be the last resort.

Additionally, for your abandoned cart campaigns to be most effective, your campaigns must send your shoppers personalised messages about the products they browsed, or personalised discounts for those products.

The only way to capitalise effectively and seamlessly on your abandoned checkout campaign is thus to automate it— using Level 3 AI chatbots that can respond promptly and intelligently, using data it has stored about your customers’ preferences — to target every single potential customer, and increase your sales by 3x.

Offer assistance with the problems your customers may be facing

As we discussed previously, over 40% of people who abandon their carts during checkout do so because of problems that can be fixed easily.

Using an automated abandoned checkout recovery campaign, you can immediately reach out to these shoppers.

This shows your customers you care about their concerns — and they quicker you reach out to them and assist them, the likelier they are to complete their shopping journey.

87% of their issues can be resolved quickly and easily, and the level of support you provide them could go a long way in helping them both complete this shopping journey and make them a repeat customer.

Highlight the unique selling points of your product

If a customer does not require any immediate assistance with pre-purchase queries and the checkout process, you can highlight what brought them to explore your products in the first place.

When you highlight the unique selling points of your product, including information about how it tackles your customer’s specific needs — which they would have shared with your conversational assistant either on live chat or through your WhatsApp integrated store — you reaffirm how your product benefits your customers’ needs.

You can supplement this with customer reviews and ratings to reinforce trust in your product’s efficacy — online shoppers trust reviews nearly as much as they trust recommendations from their friends.

Notify your customers about price drops

An effective abandoned checkout strategy uses a tempting hook to draw your customer back into completing their shopping journey.

Price drops are one of the most irresistible hooks.

You can make price drops even more potent by notifying your potential customers about price drops about the very products they were interested in.

Additionally, you can inform them about price drops for a related range of products, to pique their interest again, and make it more likely for them to explore options.

Offer personalised discounts

Even more potent than personalised price drops are personalised discounts — a customer is always on the lookout for that one brand that makes them feel special.

With this in mind, if a customer feels like you are offering them, and only them, a discount for the product they are interested in, they are likely to pick up their abandoned cart and complete the purchase journey.

This strategy is even more effective if you pair it with other strategies — that we discuss in the sections below — like building fear of missing out (FOMO) around that product, or hyping up your customers with social proof through customer reviews.

Ask your customers for feedback

If all else fails — almost 60% of your shoppers abandon their carts because they were just window shopping — you can ask them for feedback about their experience.

Any customer who feels like a brand is invested in their shopping experience is likely to respond well to the brand, and remember the experience, coming back later.

Additionally, if they faced any issues because of which they did not complete their purchase journey, you can use their feedback to make the necessary changes to your strategy, and make sure other customers don’t face the same issues.

Use these automated templates for abandoned checkout recovery campaigns

Automating your abandoned checkout campaign is the only way to target every shopper who abandons their cart — and keeps targeting them — at the optimal time.

Let’s take a look at some of the best templates for your abandoned checkout recovery campaigns, particularly on your WhatsApp integrated e-commerce store. 

Templates to offer assistance

Shoppers might not complete their transaction if their pre-purchase queries remain unsolved. The ideal way to engage successfully with such customers is to offer them immediate assistance.

Template 1:

“[Name], you are just one step away from benefitting from our incredible [product]!

Have queries? Chat with us at [WhatsApp number]”

Template 2:

“Have questions about how to use our product, its side effects, shipping charges, or delivery times?

Our FAQs [hyperlink] are here to help you out!

Still have a question?

Just reply to this message, and one of our customer support ninjas will get back to you pronto!”

Template 3:

“[x] customers have [benefitted – specific needs that the product targets] from our [product]. Want to be the [x+1]th? Click here to complete your purchase.

Something holding you back? Chat with us. [include buttons to continue to cart or chat]”

Templates to highlight your product

Some buyers may have forgotten about the product they were about to purchase. They may have gotten distracted.

Bring them back to their cart by sending them a warm, gentle, and friendly reminder.

Template 1:

“OMG! You left some items in your cart! Still want them? Get them before they’re gone.”

Template 2:

“[Name], our trusty [product] calls for you! Click here to get it.”

Template 3:

“Still thinking it over? We’re holding [product] for you, but don’t wait too long! [include buy now button]”

Templates to create FOMO

Reminding your customers that your product may not be available indefinitely can motivate them to return to their abandoned cart.

Almost 60% of millennial consumers make reactive purchases within 24 hours of experiencing FOMO.

Customers will complete their purchase if you notify them of limited stock or how quickly you’re selling out.

Template 1:

“Going, going, almost gone. Our most popular items sell out fast. Get your [product]  now!”

Template 2:

“Your cart items are selling out fast, only [x] pieces left! [buy now button]”

Templates to share social proof

Online shoppers trust reviews nearly as much as they trust recommendations from their friends. 

Tell your customers about product reviews and recommendations to drive them to complete their purchase.

Template 1:

“India’s #1 rated

. Return to your cart and see what all the buzz is about.”

Template 2:

“[Name], you have great choice!

[x] customers bought our [product] and loved it!

[buy now button]”

Templates to inform of promotional discounts

Almost 62% of e-commerce customers are deal-seekers. 

Promotional discounts like festive offers, free shipping, and promotional discounts thus play a large part in converting your customers.

Template 1:

“OMG! We have a surprise for you.

Place your order in [x] hours to get free shipping!

Savings of [shipping charges]. [Buy now button]”

Template 2:

“Hurray! We’re celebrating [milestone].

As a special thank you to our customers who made this possible, we’re offering all of you [x]% discount on all products for the next 48 hours!”

Templates to sweeten the deal

The final step in your abandoned checkout recovery campaign would be promotional discounts — drip campaigns offered only to specific customers for a specific range of products — to make them feel special. 

A personalised limited period discount will be the final push your customers want to complete the transaction.

An example of a drip campaign is a 0, 10, 15 strategy — amongst other time-sensitive offers and promotional discounts — remind the customer that their cart is empty and to solve their pre-purchase queries, and then, if the customer still doesn’t re-engage with the brand, sending only that customer a promotional discount of 10%, eventually increasing it to 15%. 

Template 1:

“You’ve been playing hard to get with the [items] in your cart. Here’s 10% off the goodies you left behind! [Coupon code]”

Template 2:

“Hurray! Get 15% off on the product left in your shopping cart. Offer ends at midnight. What are you waiting for? [buy now button]”

‍Templates to create urgency

The final technique you can use to incite your customers to finish their shopping journey is to create a sense of urgency — remind them about the discounts that are running out.

Template 1:

“Oh no, the discount on your cart items is running out. 

Get it before it’s gone! [buy now button]”

Template 2:

“Hurry, free shipping on your cart ends today! [buy now button]”

How to Write for your Abandoned Cart Whatsapp Campaigns

While the content of your abandoned cart message will vary depending on your product, they should include- 

1. Short, concise copy, 
2. Non-demanding call-to-action
3. Product images 
4. Customer reviews
5. Alternative shades of the product 
6. Discount or coupon code (if necessary)

How to Optimise your Message:

1. Make each message in your abandoned checkout campaign series unique.
2. Focus on a single strategy with every message.
3. If you want to offer a discount coupon code, save it for the final message in your series.

How Can you Make your Message Stand Out?

1. Use an attention-grabbing opening line– Think of a couple of hooks that would have your customers click on the message like “OMG! You left some items in your cart! Still want them? Get them before they’re gone.”
2. Showcase a clear + non-demanding call to action– Let your customers feel like you’re giving them a gentle nudge — and a choice — to return to their cart. No one likes to feel pressurised. Additionally, use a call-to-action button like a buy now button, and feature it prominently, to make it easier and likelier for your shoppers to return to the cart. Show them how easily they could finish the checkout process.
3. Let your brand persona shine through– Show off your brand personality by customising your tone, and using emojis, photos, and videos. 
4. Provide Clear Channels for Support– To clear your customers’ pre-purchase queries, prominently display support options available to them, and let them know the hours during which they can contact you. Also offer them a range of options they could ask for support on — from shipping and tracking to how to use the product, its side effects, comparisons with similar products etc.
5. Display the product– Show your customers a picture of the product in their abandoned checkout. They’ve made the effort of selecting that product from a range of products, and seeing what they’re missing out on could provide that nudge you need to push them to complete their transaction!
6. Share User Generated Content– Social proof is one of the most compelling ways to reignite your customers’ interest in the product. Display pictures of people using your product to help them visualise themselves using it too — and drive that home by following it up with positive customer feedback and ratings.
7. Share Customer Reviews– The second part of social proof is hearing from people like themselves about the efficacy of your product.  Prominently display customer reviews and testimonials to reinforce trust in your product. To make this even more impactful, feature a call-to-action button immediately after this social proof.
8. Deploy promotional campaigns at the right time– Your promotional discounts, and especially a drip campaign, should be the last part of your abandoned checkout recovery strategy. Offer these discounts only at the most opportune moment to capitalise on converting customers, while saving yourself the promotional cost!
9. Employ Urgency– Use urgency at the right time to reinforce the feeling that the product is going out of stock, or that a promotional discount is running out. Anything sooner would pressurise the customer, and anything later wouldn’t be as effective! 

Whatsapp Campaigns to Reduce Abandoned Checkout

We have curated campaigns you can successfully leverage to help your customers even after checkout — 

1. COD Confirmation – 40% of COD orders are either returned or not delivered. Adopting a conversational assistant that promptly confirms your customers’ orders helps reduce returns and non-deliveries in a scalable way, while giving them clarity about their order status.
2. Order Confirmation – Promptly confirming orders lets your customers feel you’re on top of their needs, out to deliver the most memorable experience to them.
3. Order Shipment – Keeping your customers reassured and updated about their order keeps them engaged and excited, while offering them the benefit of knowing exactly where their order is at all times.
4. Customer Feedback – 91% of customers consider another purchase after positive customer service. Sending customer reviews and actively asking them for feedback drives your sales and increases their satisfaction.

Our signature drip campaigns, particularly the 0, 10, 15 strategy, have been developed specifically to maximise the returns from your abandoned checkout recovery campaign on WhatsApp.

LimeChat can help you increase abandoned cart conversions by 10%

A successful WhatsApp marketing strategy is only that which can customize its marketing strategy to every user in a scalable way.

LimeChat’s level 3 AI chatbot stores and recognises user data in a manner that allows it to personalise its conversations with each one of your customers. 

It allows you to retarget customers in a timely manner, by letting them know about promotional discounts, hot products, products going out of stock etc based on their past activity and interaction with your brand website.

Our integrated helpdesk and streamlined workflows mean you can:

• Trigger WhatsApp automation when a cart is abandoned and a checkout is created.
• Schedule when each message in your strategy series goes out.
• Integrate those automations with Shopify.

Since we focus purely on D2C and e-commerce brands, we’ve also curated templates that are made for niches like beauty, apparel, health and wellness and more — so you can quickly start WhatsApp marketing.

Eager to know how your fellow brands have found our campaigns? 

Click here to discover how Bombay Shaving Company, Kapiva, and andMe deploy their templates to deal with abandoned cart recovery.

Curious to know more? Book a free demo now.