Abandoned Basket Emails: How to Win Back Lost Sales

If you’re managing a B2C ecommerce brand, abandoned carts will be commonplace throughout the year. According to data compiled by Statista, 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned worldwide.

Oftentimes, this has nothing to do with your products, prices, or how attractive your website looks. It’s simply a result of modern consumer behaviour. As such, creating emails that remind people about their cart and ‘nudge’ them towards purchasing can be extremely valuable for these businesses.

In this blog, we cover the importance of abandoned basket emails for ecommerce brands, what to include, and the best practices for creating abandoned basket emails that can encourage people to complete a sale.

What is an Abandoned Basket Email?

These automated emails contain short messages designed to remind consumers about the items they have in their cart. They are triggered sometime after an online shopper places items in their basket but doesn’t proceed to the checkout page.

Abandoned basket emails are typically one-off communications, but it’s also possible to create a series of automated emails that trigger over time. In either case, they serve as an efficient way for ecommerce businesses to follow up with shoppers who have shown an interest in their products. The content of abandoned basket emails is often straightforward and to-the-point, but subsequent emails can include more elaborate content to encourage recipients to reengage.

Why Customers Abandon Baskets

If you were someone shopping in a physical shop, you’d be very unlikely to leave without paying for the basket of items you’ve assembled. However, with online shopping, there’s far less stopping someone from leaving their ‘basket’ at ‘checkout’. Many users browse online shops and create baskets even when they’re not ready to buy, simply to do research.

Aside from those who are just browsing or get distracted, basket abandonment can happen for the following reasons:

• Additional costs (tax, shipping, fees, etc) were too high.
• The user was required to create an account.
• Lack of payment options.
• Delivery times didn’t meet user requirements.
• Website errors or slow loading.
• An overly complex checkout process.
• Total order value wasn’t visible up front.

Fixing Your Buyer Journey

Instead of focusing solely on your abandoned cart emails, ecommerce brands should first consider whether their buyer journey is helpful at every stage. This is because the very nature of these emails is to send people back to your website. So, if your checkout and forms are difficult to use, it’s unlikely to lead to sales, even if the reminder emails are successful.

It could also be that your pages are missing key information, such as delivery and returns, and trust signals like reviews. This is why an outbound strategy like email should often be supported by ecommerce SEO work and on-page improvements. It’s all part of the user experience.

What Should an Abandoned Basket Email Include?

At their core, abandoned cart emails should be direct, digestible, and make it easy for the recipient to return to their cart.

Simple Messaging

An abandoned basket email should first and foremost serve as a helpful reminder. There’s no need for pushy language or overly long sentences. Instead, focus on providing the key information and linking back to their cart and the products they have selected.

It can also be beneficial to provide reassurance that their basket isn’t gone. Messaging along the lines of, “We’re Keeping Your Basket Secure”, lets the recipient know their products are still reserved and encourages them lightly to take action. Ultimately, people are often busy and don’t want to be sold to, so it’s important to get to the point.

Mobile-friendly Design

Consumers often like to browse products and check emails on their phone while on-the-go. Data from 2023 put the total value of mobile e-commerce sales in the UK at £92 billion. Of these orders on mobile devices, in the first quarter of 2026, only 29% of the total carts created went to checkout. Approximately 71% of mobile carts were abandoned. As such, brands need to communicate as clearly as possible in abandoned cart emails to capture their attention.

Mobile-friendly emails are typically categorised by the following design features:

• Short text sections.
• Clear product images that load quickly.
• Simple layout.
• Visible link to basket at a minimal scroll distance for users.

Clear Trust Signals

If someone considers a website untrustworthy or lacking in proper security, they may get cold feet when they reach the checkout stage. If you can place trust signals in your content, both on your website and in your emails, consumers are likely to be more confident in buying decisions. You are essentially considering the reasons why someone might hesitate in buying from your brand, and trying to answer them.

Common examples of trust signals for ecommerce include:

• Reviews and star ratings.
• Other user generated content (UGC).
• Original and real product images.
• Secure payment messaging.
• FAQs.
• Customer support contact information.
• Delivery and Returns information.

Helpful Subject Lines

The email subject line is typically the first thing recipients will see and use to judge what’s inside your email. You should therefore avoid overly spammy language such as manufactured scarcity or time sensitivity, emojis, all caps, and clickbait.

Instead, your abandoned basket email subject line should honestly reflect the content of the email. And the more specific you can make the subject line message, the better. For instance, reference one of the items in the recipient’s basket.

Proper Compliance and Consent Features

Like all marketing emails, abandoned cart messages must follow official GDPR guidelines on consent and privacy. This mainly means including a clear option for recipients to opt-out of abandoned basket emails and tracking cookies, but there could be other considerations. Complying with data protection and privacy regulations does have a direct effect on email deliverability, so your agency should be following best practice.

It’s important to note that rules and regulations for email marketing are always changing globally. If you’re ever unsure about what should and shouldn’t be included in your email communications to remain compliant, you should seek proper advice.

Segmented Email Flows

Over time, once you have enough customer data, you can create automated abandoned cart responses tailored to the individual and/or their basket. For example, someone who abandons their cart as a new customer might have a different message to someone who does so as a returning customer. The strength of email segmentation is that your brand messaging remains fresh and relevant while still being responsive.

Although subsequent abandoned basket emails should still follow the best practices discussed here, you can include different content features to try and grab readers’ attention. An example abandoned cart short sequence could look like:

1. Basic reminder about the items left in their cart.
2. Follow up message including a relevant product recommendation.
3. Final reminder with a discount.

Common Mistakes Brands Make With Abandoned Cart Emails

Abandoned basket emails are an integral part of ecommerce email marketing. They retarget people who could be close to making a purchase in your online shop. However, there are a few common mistakes in these emails which could blunt their effectiveness.

• Not measuring useful metrics: Email marketing is about more than just open rates. The success of an abandoned basket campaign should be measured through clicks and ecommerce sales.
• Sending abandoned basket emails immediately: It’s generally best to wait 2-3 hours after a cart has been abandoned before sending an email. An email sent too soon is more likely to be missed, as the person might still be distracted or busy with something. It can also come across as pushy.
• Becoming impersonal: Just because it’s a reminder email doesn’t mean the messaging has to be generic and bland. Remember to maintain your brand voice for consistency and trust.
• Unclear content: Abandoned basket emails should have a simple design that’s mobile-friendly, content focused on product details, and a prominent link to return to the basket.
• Sending too many emails: If you’re opting for sending an abandoned basket email sequence, it’s essential that you conduct a/b testing. Just because this messaging schedule works for one brand doesn’t mean it will have the same effect for yours.
• Failing to segment or filter out-of-stock products: Sending abandoned cart emails to someone who has already purchased or whose cart has out-of-stock products can damage your reputation.

Are Discounts Necessary for Abandoned Cart Emails?

In short, no. Offering a discount in an abandoned basket email can be an effective way to get someone to go to checkout, but it shouldn’t be your default solution.

On one hand, a discount can be effective for winning back price-sensitive customers and moving stock with a shorter shelf-life. However, giving out discounts in every abandoned cart email can set the precedent that inaction leads to discounts. It may also cheapen the brand over time if it’s seen to reduce prices often, not to mention the bad blood this can create for people who pay full price.

Generally speaking, discounts are best reserved for abandoned basket emails later in a sequence or for a specific type of customer who leaves their cart. Your agency will be able to provide bespoke advice on discounts and other features in your brand’s email marketing.

Conclusion: An Opportunity Not To Be Missed

An effective abandoned basket email strategy often leads to more sales by reminding customers of the products they have left behind and removing purchasing hesitation. When someone abandons a cart on your site for whatever reason, you have an automatic follow-up ready to go. You’re not sacrificing anything by sending these emails, but if you don’t have them set up, you could be leaving sales at the door.

At Mayfly, we work with ecommerce brands across a wide range of industries, many of which employ email marketing to generate leads, win sales, and retarget people who have interacted with their site. We can help create abandoned basket emails that are timely, useful, and easy to act on. We will also provide professional ecommerce website design to support email and social campaigns that send users back to your site.

Contact us today to start setting up your automated email infrastructure.