The Internet has dramatically changed the way people process information. When there were only a few ways to do research on a product, such as reading a pamphlet, listening to a radio ad, or watching a television commercial, people had little choice but to consume the marketing content in its entirety, because there weren’t very many alternatives.
The world of online browsing has brought about a massive transformation in this kind of behavior. Thanks to browsers, there are a near infinite number of options available to people at the click of a mouse button, or swipe of a touch screen. And those options don’t relate strictly to whatever task they have in mind. What may start as looking at options for a new lawnmower turns into looking up feeds on a social networking site, which then leads to watching online videos, which may in turn remind the person to write emails to friends not contacted in a while.
The Internet has made it possible for fragmented, impulsive, short term thinking and behavior to be catered to, and because of that, no one has any obligation to stick with any one thing for a long period of time.
And this includes the online shopping experience.
How Browse Abandonment Works
There could be any number of reasons for why it happens, but the end result is the same. A user that has, in the past, created an account and purchased things goes onto a website that is offering certain products or services. The user looks at the offerings, and then leaves the website without having made any purchases at this time. Not even putting things in the shopping cart.
This is called “Browse Abandonment,” and all it means is that a user was looking at the offerings of a particular website, then stopped and left the website entirely for something—or somewhere—else.
In the flighty, impulse driven world of the Internet, there’s no need to panic over this. Multi-tasking is a fact of 21st century life, and there are distractions and obligations to deal with in the real world in addition to the wealth of options online. Browse abandonment can happen for any number of reasons, some of which may actually work in your favor with the right application of product recommendation email marketing.
Distraction
This is the least useful reason that potential shoppers leave a website, and, depending on the type of distraction that occurs, there may be very little that a person can do about it. If a user moves on to running real errands, attending family matters, or was simply killing time in a line up until their turn came up, then his or her immediate attention is going to be drawn elsewhere, which means that there’s no more focus on the products they were looking at.
However, even here, product recommendation email marketing may play a role, as it can keep track of what a person was browsing before abandonment, and send a reminder email. There’s no guarantee that this will a user resumes from where the browsing was left off, but it can at least reengage the interest that was temporarily forgotten, and perhaps lead to a return to the website.
Research
In many cases, a person may be looking at products on your website because of research. This means that they have an active interest in the product or services you are offering, but they are reluctant to commit to a purchase right now because they either want more information on the product, want to compare the product with others, or want to compare your pricing on a product or service with that other providers.
This is, in some ways, an “ideal case,” because the interest in a product or service is already there. The only thing missing may be an extra bit of incentive or encouragement to convert this into a purchase. Product recommendation email marketing can do a lot of good work in this scenario because it can point users towards similar items or services they may not have been aware of that you also offer.
If pricing is a concern here, it may be possible to secure a conversion through special offers, such as notification of a sale or special discount codes that can be put towards a purchase. By making this extra effort to reach out to a potential customer with more products of interest, or added incentives to make a purchase, it can easily provide the critical last push towards buying.
Your Email Approach Matters
When using product recommendation email marketing to address browse abandonment, it’s important to get the tone and approach right. These emails are about reengaging interest, so the tone of voice should not be pushy or aggressive, nor does it necessarily have to focus on just the particular product or service a person spent the most time looking at.
It’s always good to have a mix other viewed items available, and, to provide more choice, show similar items the person may not have looked at. In the case of products, pictures are always a good idea to include in the email since users respond strongly to images. For people that like to do research, you may even want to consider links to user reviews of the product or similar product, so that a more impartial, consumer-centric source of information is available.
The important thing to remember with browse abandonment—and addressing it—is to incentivize customers to return. If you send a personalized marketing email that is friendly, not aggressive, full of good information, and perhaps even offering some encouragement in the form of a discount or special promotion, you’ve taken on more step in securing a relationship with a customer. This does two things for you, encouraging that customer to return, and increasing your relationship with that customer, which can have very beneficial long term effects for your products or services. Customers are important, but loyal, returning customers are even more important, and every effort should be made to encourage shoppers in this direction.
