How To Create Abandoned Cart Email Subject Lines That Convert

No matter how great your email marketing funnel is, you’re leaving money on the table if you’re not taking proper measures to remind customers to finish their purchases.

Cart abandonment benchmarks show that 69.80% of online carts get abandoned. This is a massive amount of lost money for your e-commerce business.

Abandoned cart emails are the #1 way to entice web visitors and customers to complete purchases. But you need a compelling subject line to make them open your emails in the first place.

In this article, we’re sharing some of the best tips that you can use to create abandoned cart email subject lines. We’ll also share some examples to inspire you as you move forward.

Table of contents

1. 6 types of abandoned cart email subject lines
2. Tips to write the best-abandoned cart email subject lines
3. Getting started on abandoned cart email subject lines

6 Types of Abandoned Cart Email Subject Lines

In this section, we’ll explain six types of abandoned cart email subject lines that you can use in your email marketing efforts.

1. The FOMO subject lines

FOMO (fear of missing out) is an important marketing tactic that is greatly used across various industries. For good reason—most people don’t like the feeling like they’re missing out on something. The very thought of it can make one uncomfortable.

Scarcity is a great aspect of FOMO that you can use to make your customers come back to buy your product. All you need to do is send abandoned cart email subject lines that tell customers that they have a limited time to buy a product. You can use information that indicates time sensitivity or product availability in your subject lines to encourage opens and conversions.

Here are some FOMO formulas you can use:

• [X product] is selling fast! Complete your purchase now
• Don’t miss out: Only [Number] [Product] left in stock
• Get your order in before its too late
  

2. The personalized subject lines

A personalized subject line can quickly grab your customer’s attention and boost the open rate. A study conducted by Experian reports that personalized subject lines had 12 percent higher unique open rates than emails without personalization.

When applying personalization, it's best to not overdo it. Just the customer’s name and the name of the product left in the cart will be suitable.

Here are some personalization formulas that you can use:

• Did you forget this, [Name]?
• Forgot Something: [Name], did you leave this behind?
• Hey [Name], your cart is expiring soon
• Still thinking it over, [Name]?

3. Discount subject lines

Sometimes, customers develop cold feet when it comes to making payments and end up leaving their products in the shopping cart. In other cases, it's just not product price, research found that 49% of customers abandon shopping carts because of extra costs (shipping, taxes, fees, etc.)

That's why discounts are the needed boost for customers, who need to complete a purchase. However, you need to ensure that you offer discounts that your business can afford so that you don’t make sales below profit expectations.

Here are some discount-based abandoned cart email subject lines that you can use:

• Hurry! 10% OFF Order!
• Your cart is waiting, and so is your 5% off!
• Don't miss out on 10% off your cart!
• Forget something? This is your last chance! Here’s 10% off
• Save [Percentage] when you complete your purchase

4. Attention-grabbing subject lines

The average person receives up to 126 emails per day, so it's easy for your email to get lost in the crowded inbox. How do you make your abandoned cart emails stand out? By using attention-grabbing words in your abandoned cart email subject line.

Here are some examples that you can use in your subject lines:

• Where did you go?!
• Your shopping cart misses you!
• Need help with completing your purchase?
• Hey, you forgot something!
  

5. Product-related subject lines

In some cases, your subject lines don’t have to include a discount or special offer to entice customers to open your email. If your brand has a well-known authority, you can include your brand name in your subject lines to remind customers where they wanted to buy from.

Here’s an example of how Massdrop uses its brand name to personalize its subject line. Spot the name at the beginning of the subject line and the product hyperlink text in the opening paragraph.

6. The creative subject lines

Getting creative in your abandoned cart email subject lines is another way you can entice customers to open your emails. You can also personalize your subject line while getting creative to give it an added outstanding meaning.

Just ensure that you don’t overdo it. If you want to add a bit of humor, ensure that you add humor that your customers don’t find offensive.

Tips To Write The Best-Abandoned Cart Email Subject Lines That Convert

So far, we’ve explained some of the best types of abandoned cart email subject lines that you can include in your email marketing efforts. Now, let’s move on to the best practices that you can apply to write the best-abandoned cart email subject lines that convert.

1. Add emojis

You’ve probably come across an email subject line with emojis. Why do marketers bother to use them? Research suggests that 56% of brands that used emojis in email subject lines were able to boost open rates. So, it makes sense that people opt for emojis. They are colorful, attention-grabbing, and can make an abandoned cart email subject line stand out in a crowded inbox.

That’s why you should consider adding them to your subject line. However, ensure that you don’t overdo it. Avoid adding too many emojis that are completely irrelevant to the message or products in your subject line.

Stick to only one emoji that suits the products or emotions in the subject line. If you want to learn more about using emojis in the subject line, you can check out this article we wrote about using emojis in the subject line.

2. Ask questions

When you read a question, your brain subconsciously answers the question in milliseconds. This process can trigger engagement and curiosity because it’ll keep you thinking. The same applies, when you include questions in your abandoned cart email subject lines, It can keep customers engaged and curious.

3. Keep subject lines short

Ensure that you keep your subject line between 7 and 41 characters so that they don’t get cut. If you exceed this length, you could end up getting low open rates and ruining your abandoned cart recovery strategy,

4. Avoid spam folders

You need to avoid words that will make customers perceive your subject line as spam. For example, you need to avoid writing in all caps, and using too many emojis and exclamation marks.

5. Send more than once

If you stop sending abandoned cart emails after one email, you could miss out on the opportunity to boost conversions and revenue. Sometimes, customers may not see your first email initially due to various factors.

That's why you need to send more than one email so that if they don’t see the first email, they’ll see the subsequent ones. However, you need to know when to draw the line. |Just because you want your customer to notice your email doesn’t mean that you end up blasting their inboxes with too many abandoned cart emails. Stick to 2-4 emails and update your subject line accordingly.

6. AB test your subject lines

The truth is that not all subject lines are created equally. One may resonate with your audience while another might not. However, the best way to know the best-abandoned cart email subject lines for your brand is by running AB tests.

With AB testing, you can create two versions of email subject lines and test them to know which one will generate the most open rates. As you learn more about specific email subject lines, you can adjust them accordingly.

Getting Started On Abandoned Cart Email Subject Lines

The best-abandoned cart email subject lines are the ones that grab attention, spark curiosity and entice customers to open your emails.

The subject line examples and formulas shared in this article will help you to maximize your revenues and recover those abandoned carts' lost sales. Use the tips and examples explained above to guide you as you create your subject lines.

Among all things, remember to keep your subject lines short, personalized, and discount based. Also, don’t hesitate to A/B test your subject lines so that you can identify what works for your brand and audience.

On Engage, we have made it easy for you to easily integrate your customer data and use it to craft powerful automated emails with subject lines that boost open rates.