WhatsApp for Cart Recovery: Copywriting Tips to Make Your Recovery Messages Convert

No matter how good your deals and discounts are, cart abandonment is a phenomenon that you cannot avoid. But that doesn’t mean you can’t bring back these buyers to complete the purchase - after all, they did show a high purchase intent or at least an interest by adding the item to their cart. 

While we have shared a detailed guide on using WhatsApp for cart recovery before, this time we decided to deep dive into what can make your automations more effective - and yes, it has a lot to do with the copy you use in your marketing messages and abandoned cart reminders. 

So in this post, we’re some marketing copy tips to make your cart recovery messages on WhatsApp more effective. 

Marketing copy tips to make WhatsApp for cart recovery more effective 

While we do recommend creating your own marketing message while recovering abandoned carts to remain authentic and true to your brand voice, there are a few things that have proven to work. 

As we started to work with brands on creating their abandoned cart recovery strategies on WhatsApp, there were a few practices that always seemed to work - while others fell flat. 

You can see some of our best cart abandonment notifications WhatsApp templates in our previous post. But here’s what is common in all of them: 

Start strong; preview text matters

One of the things we have observed about WhatsApp cart recovery messages is that they are the most effective when the preview text is contextual. So contrary to popular belief, starting with a generic ‘hey <name>’ may not be your best bet - instead, consider what will appear as a preview to the cart recovery message on WhatsApp in the consumer’s inbox. You want this to be to the point and immediately captivating. If you fail to start strong, the consumer may not even open the message - let alone click through to complete the purchase. 

Personalize your content 

Yes, using a set WhatsApp template for cart recovery is a good idea for brands that are scaling up fast. But to bring back a buyer, you need to personalize all communication with them and this includes your abandoned cart reminders. From their first name, to the product name of the item left behind and your own unique way of talking (brand voice), ensure your marketing message captures it all - and seems like it is speaking to a person vs. a mass audience. 

Pay attention to your formatting 

Remember, this isn’t a message where you’re convincing a buyer to explore the products in your store or learn more about your brand. While storytelling definitely works across all campaign types, we do recommend paying close attention to the formatting of WhatsApp messages - especially abandoned cart reminders. You want the key message to be spotted the very moment someone opens the message - use italics, bold, strikethrough.

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Use emojis in your WhatsApp message  

Emojis can definitely spice up your marketing message - and in a good way. You can use emojis to highlight key elements of an abandoned cart recovery message on WhatsApp. This can include the name of the product left behind, how it is about to get sold out or the discount you’re willing to offer on the cart total. It also helps bring the consumer’s attention to the reason to complete the purchase more easily. 

Create FOMO through your message  

Subtly reminding consumers of what they have left behind will only go so far. To really nudge them towards making a purchase decision, you need to make them feel the fear of missing out on something good - be it the product itself or the additional discount you’re now offering. You can do this by smartly incorporating phrases like ‘limited stock available’, ‘x customers bought’, etc. to show how it’s a deal they don’t want to miss! 

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Create a sense of urgency in your reminder 

Similar to FOMO, creating a sense of urgency in your marketing copy of your WhatsApp cart recovery notifications can encourage the recipient to take an immediate action. This typically includes using phrases like ‘discount only for 24 hours’, ‘cart reserved only for 24 hours’, ‘checkout within 15 minutes to avail flash sale deal’, and so on. 

Create a sense of win-win 

Simply sending out a message that reminds the buyer of the items left behind in the cart, may seem pushy after a while. The idea here is to create opportunities for you to follow-up with this consumer until they complete the purchase - so creating a win-win story here is important. While we do not recommend instantly offering discounts to cart abandoners, you do want to make them a part of your notifications - and ensure that your copy highlights how those discounts are not available to others. 

Sound helpful-first 

There are brands that nearly tip towards pushing a consumer off the cliff when it comes to recovering carts. But we recommend a slightly different approach by making your WhatsApp cart recovery message copy more helpful. Instead of the usual ‘buy now’, include a ‘can we offer you any help’ in one of your follow-ups instead. Owing to the two-way conversational nature of WhatsApp, you’d be surprised how many responses you will get - and how many opportunities to sell will open. 

Include a call-to-action 

And we don’t just mean the link you add to your abandoned cart recovery message on WhatsApp. Your marketing message should also serve as a call-to-action, clearing stating the next steps that the cart abandoner needs to take. This could simply mean adding a line that says ‘reply to place an order’ or ‘click the link below to complete the discounted purchase’. The clearer you are, the better the outcome. 

Can you really recover abandoned carts on WhatsApp? 

WhatsApp sees a high open rate on messages, which also positively impacts the click through rate on campaigns. When you combine automation to send abandoned cart reminders in a timely manner with methodical follow-ups with the right copywriting practices, the platform can help you recover almost 37-44%. 

• Learn how Attic Salt doubled their cart recovery success with the help of our three-step abandoned cart recovery automation.
• Learn how The Pillow Company uses 3 stages of abandoned cart reminders to bring back buyers and increase sales by 60%.  

Get ready to recover more abandoned carts on WhatsApp! 

When it comes to bringing back your customers, there is no one said strategy that is bound to work. You need to understand that while discounts may appeal to one buyer, they may not to another. 

Similarly, while one may be ready to make the purchase, the other one could be moving between the consideration stage and getting ready to place an order. That’s why we always recommend experimenting with your WhatsApp marketing messages to see what works the best for you. 

The one thing we do recommend to all brands though is always following up on your cart reminders. It can take upto 3-5 follow ups before you can bring back a buyer to the purchase-ready state - so you need to ensure that each of these follow ups are not repetitive, but value add in helping them make an informed purchase decision. 

Another thing we do implement in the WhatsApp abandoned cart recovery campaigns is including a way for buyers to complete the purchase on the messaging platform itself. By reducing the number of steps a buyer needs to take to make the purchase, you increase the chances of them converting on the reminder - this is where WhatsApp checkout links come into the mix. 

Want to learn more about our WhatsApp abandoned cart recovery strategy? 

Book a demo with our experts today.