How To Improve Your Cart Abandon Flow With One Trick

Hey it’s Max from The Inbox Newsletter.

I'm going to share one of the dumbest, easiest A/B tests I've ever run on a cart abandon flow…

And it doubled the click rate.

Same discount, same products, same flow… one simple change on the offer.

Here's the setup…

Most brands run their cart abandon email like this: "Hey, here's 10% off your cart, come finish checking out."

It's fine, it works, it's not broken… but it's also lame.

The reader sees the number, decides in half a second whether 10% is worth their time, and either clicks or doesn't.

You're letting them make the buying decision before they've even opened the cart again.

Here's the fix…

Don't tell them the discount, tell them there IS one.

"We dropped a mystery discount in your cart, click to reveal it."

The discount underneath can be the exact same 10% you were already running…\

Nothing about the actual offer changes, the only thing that changes is whether the number is visible upfront or not.

And the results are kind of stupid…

→ Click rate jumped from 3.2% to 6.7% (a clean 2x)

→ Placed order rate went from 2.4% to 3.5% (a ~46% lift)

→ Same discount, same products, same audience

Why this works so well…

When the discount is visible, the reader's brain immediately runs the calculation: is 10% off this $80 cart worth re-engaging with? Half the time the answer is no, and they don't click.

When the discount is hidden, there's no calculation to run… there's just a question. What did they give me? And the only way to find out is to click.

The friction to find out is one tap, the perceived upside is unknown but probably good… so people click way more.

The "mystery offer" framing on a cart abandon email also lands harder than on a cold winback or browse email, because the reader already wants the product.

Try it out, I’ve yet to see it perform worse!

Email Inspiration Of The Day

Brand:
Rho

Email Design:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/154v4A_dIaj3VLfyvJtJws9ImiJDZvOoC/view?usp=sharing

Notes:
Sick idea... showing an objection and saying "You've probably seen it in the comments" with a visual of it. People read comments, so taking one that has an objection and busting it is a great idea!

Reply to this email if you have any questions or further content you want covered.

Cheers,

Max Sturtevant

P.S
Here’s how I can help you further…

• Email Marketing Mastery Course/Community:
  A full 30+ module email course that comes with weekly calls with me, 250+ editable email templates, and a community for daily Q&A from myself and other members. Learn More Here »

• Work With My Agency:
  At Well Copy, we’ve done $250M in email sales across 200+ brands in the past 2 years. We’re the best in the game at managing email. Learn More & Book A Call Here »

• Free Resources:
  10+ free guides and resources for you to learn email marketing for free from my content. Access Resources Here »