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Education

One merchant's brilliant solution for

shopping cart abandonment

Shopping cart abandonment wasn't terribly hurting Bowab's
business, but it irked him. "Our sales tend to peak near any
gifting holiday: Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day,
Mother's and Father's Day, even the summer holidays,"
Bowab said. During those times, his cart abandonment rate
hovers around 48 percent, well below the average. "During
non-holiday periods, it creeps up to about 60 percent," he
noted.
An uncommon solution

Even though LobsterAnywhere's abandonment rate was
By Chris O'Donnell below Baymard's average finding, curiosity got the better
of Bowab. He wondered what he could do to get customers
Instabill Corp. who had left in the middle of the sale to return and finish
the checkout process. "You never let a customer off the
oe Bowab has been shipping live and frozen lob- hook," he said. "Customer acquisition isn't cheap. They
ster online from his website, LobsterAnywhere.com, came to the website for a reason, so you want them to buy."
for nearly 17 years. He ships lobster and more
J than 20 different seafood dinners overnight any- Bowab wanted a strategy that would gently remind
where in the continental United States. For folks across the customers who abandoned checkout, not a strategy that
country who long for Maine lobster and traditional New might pester them. So he devised a solution: two email
England seafood dishes, he's their man. reminders, one in two hours, another in two days. When
a visitor abandons an order on LobsterAnywhere.com, the
As someone who has a master's degree in education from automated email sent two hours later states, "You've left
Harvard and is midway through his doctoral degree, online something in your lobster trap!" Bowab noted his first email
seafood delivery isn't how Bowab envisioned making his results in a 54 percent open rate.
living. But LobsterAnywhere is hugely successful. His
chargebacks are less than one per year (every one of which If the consumer hasn't responded, the individual receives a
he resolves). Reviews websites are overwhelmingly positive. second – and final – email reading, "Woo-hoo! You landed

A common business challenge the big one!" If his second email draws no response, Bowab
leaves it alone. "I think three or more emails is too much,"
In the month of December 2016, LobsterAnywhere.com he said. "People can get annoyed with too many e-mails. I
drew tens of thousands of visitors. Business was very try to make mine funny and off the cuff."
good this holiday season. That's not to say Bowab doesn't
have challenges. Like many ecommerce merchants, one With the second e-mail, however, he'll offer a $15 coupon
of his challenges is shopping cart abandonment – when a for orders over $100 or more, just for coming back. "You can
consumer begins the checkout process but abandons the incentivize the customer with the second email," he said.
purchase for any number of reasons. Since implementing his cart abandonment solution in late
September 2016, Bowab has brought back 10 percent of the
Among the most common causes of shopping cart 48 percent of consumers who have left his checkout process.
abandonment are: He is hopeful that figure will grow.
• Shipping costs were too expensive. "I just felt that my [abandonment] rate was kind of high," he
• The checkout process was arduous and complicated. said. "I believe that when you have that customer come to
• The checkout process lacked important details. your website, you can't lose them."
• The consumer felt the checkout site lacked proper
security. Chris O'Donnell is a Senior Copywriter for the Instabill Corp. in Portsmouth,
• The consumer was forced to create an account. N.H. Instabill is a full service provider of merchant accounts to e-com-
merce, MO/TO and POS businesses. A resident of coastal New England,
According to the Baymard Institute, an independent web O'Donnell is also a contributor to The Daily News (Newburyport, Mass.)
usability research firm based in Copenhagen, the average and Newburyport magazine.
e-commerce checkout abandonment rate was around 75
percent for 2016.
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