Latest / The Retention Marketing Podcast with Fexingo: Email, SMS, and Loyalty for Repeat Customers / How a Beauty Brand Uses Email to Recover Abandoned Carts
Transcript
- Lucas: There's this beauty brand — I'll call them Bloom & Glow, they're real but they asked not to be named — and they were losing about seventy percent of people who added to cart. Luna: That's pretty standard, right? I think the average is somewhere between sixty-five and seventy-five percent across ecommerce. Lucas: Right, exactly. So they were sitting right in that painful normal zone. They had a standard abandoned cart sequence — three emails: one after an hour, one after a day, one after three days — all with a ten percent discount. And it was recovering maybe eight percent of those carts. Luna: Which also feels normal. Most brands see single-digit recovery rates with that setup. Lucas: So they decided to test something different. They stripped it down to one email. Just one. But they changed everything about it — the timing, the subject line, the offer, the whole feel. Luna: One email? That's risky. You're giving up two chances to win them back. Lucas: You'd think so. But they looked at their data and realized that most people who were going to convert did so after the first email anyway. The second and third emails mostly got ignored or annoyed people. So they asked: what if we put everything into one perfectly timed email? Luna: And what did they change about the timing? Lucas: Instead of sending it after one hour, they sent it after four hours. Their reasoning was that after one hour, people are still in browsing mode. They might be looking at other products, comparing, distracted. After four hours, the moment has passed — you've moved on to something else. That's when you need a nudge to come back. Luna: Interesting. So you're catching them when the purchase is no longer top of mind, but the desire is still there. Lucas: Exactly. Then they worked on the subject line. They tested 'Did you forget something?' against 'Your cart is waiting' and a few others. The winner was surprisingly simple: 'Your cart — one item left.' Luna: That's a scarcity play, but it's honest. If they actually had one item left in stock, it's not manipulative. Lucas: And they made sure it was true for every email they sent. They only sent it when the product had low inventory. If it was fully stocked, they used a different subject line like 'Still thinking it over?' But 'one item left' outperformed by thirty-seven percent in open rate. Luna: That's a massive difference for just a few words. Lucas: Then the offer. They dropped the ten percent discount entirely. Instead, they offered free shipping — but only if you completed the purchase within 24 hours. That felt less like a desperate discount and more like a practical incentive. Luna: Free shipping is often more effective than a small percentage off, especially for lower-priced items. And the 24-hour window creates urgency without being pushy. Lucas: The results were striking. Their recovery rate went from eight percent to twenty percent. That's two and a half times better. And their revenue from abandoned cart emails increased by one hundred fifty percent over the next quarter. Luna: So they basically proved that less is more. One well-crafted email beat a three-email sequence. Lucas: It's not that sequences never work. For some brands, especially higher-ticket items, a sequence can help nurture. But for a beauty brand with an average order value around forty-five dollars, one email was enough. The key was timing and relevance. Luna: Did they keep the sequence for higher-value carts? Lucas: They did, actually. They segmented. For carts over seventy-five dollars, they still send a two-email sequence. But for the majority of their customers, it's one email and done. Luna: That's smart segmentation. Not treating every abandoned cart the same. Lucas: And they also added a small twist: the email included a product review from a customer who had bought the same item. That social proof boosted click-through rates by another twelve percent. Luna: So the email wasn't just 'Hey, you left something.' It was 'Hey, here's why someone else loved this.' That's a completely different feel. Lucas: Right. It changes the tone from transactional to helpful. And that's really the bigger lesson here — most abandoned cart emails feel like a nag. This one felt like a recommendation from a friend. Luna: If you're listening and thinking about testing this, what's the first step you'd recommend? Lucas: Look at your own data. Check what percentage of your abandoned cart revenue comes from the first email versus the second and third. If the first is doing most of the work, consider cutting the rest and putting that energy into perfecting the one that matters. Luna: And test the timing. Four hours worked for them, but your audience might respond better at two hours or six. Lucas: Absolutely. Also test the offer. Not every brand needs free shipping. Maybe it's a small gift with purchase, or a loyalty point bonus. The point is to give them a reason to come back that feels valuable, not desperate. Luna: And the subject line. That 'one item left' trick only works if it's true. But there are plenty of honest ways to create curiosity. Lucas: Honestly, if today was worth a coffee to you, that's the link — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. These conversations take time to research and produce, and listener support is what keeps it ad-free. Luna: Yeah, and if you've ever taken one of these tactics and tried it, you know how valuable a single good idea can be. That's all we're trying to do here. Lucas: Exactly. So back to the beauty brand — one more thing they did that I think is worth mentioning. They added an exit-intent popup on their cart page that offered a five percent discount if you entered your email. That captured about fifteen percent of abandoners who weren't already in their email list. Luna: So they're building their list even from people who don't complete the purchase. That's a great double play. Lucas: Exactly. And then those people get the abandoned cart email anyway. So they're recovering some of the ones who would have been lost entirely. Luna: What about SMS? Did they consider that for cart recovery? Lucas: They tested SMS, but it didn't perform as well for this audience. The open rate was high — like ninety percent — but the conversion rate was lower than email. Their theory was that SMS felt too intrusive for a beauty product. Email felt more natural. Luna: That makes sense. SMS can be great for urgent things like shipping updates, but for a 'come back and buy' message, it can feel pushy. Lucas: So they stuck with email. And they've been refining that single email for six months now. They A/B test subject lines, offers, even the time of day. They found that sending at 10 AM on a Tuesday works best for their audience. Luna: That's the kind of optimization that compounds over time. Small wins add up. Lucas: Right. And the big takeaway for me is this: don't just set up a sequence and forget it. Your abandoned cart strategy should be as dynamic as the rest of your marketing. Test, iterate, and don't be afraid to cut emails that aren't earning their keep. Luna: I think a lot of marketers are scared to reduce email frequency because they think more touches equal more sales. But this case proves the opposite. Lucas: Exactly. Quality over quantity. One great email beats three mediocre ones every time. Luna: And the beauty brand now has a recovery rate that's more than double the industry average. That's a competitive advantage. Lucas: It really is. And it didn't require a big budget or complicated tech. Just a willingness to question the default setup. Luna: That's the kind of insight we love to share. Thanks for listening, everyone. Lucas: We'll be back next week with another case study. Until then, keep testing.