• by Ray Schultz , November 10, 2021

Cart abandonments typically peak on Thanksgiving, the day before Black Friday. But brands should be ready to send abandonment recapture emails throughout the week, judging by the 2021 Black Friday Ecommerce Strategy & States Report, a study by SaleCycle.

Black Friday week offer “a huge opportunity to position your car abandonment email and SMS strategy accordingly,” the study notes. “Shoppers abandon carts all the time for various reasons, but having the right tools to remind them of their purchase can recover online sales at a solid rate.”

The lowest abandonment day last year was Black Friday itself. This suggests “shoppers are adding items to their cart on this day and leaving them to complete their purchase on Black Friday,” the study states. 

The overall cart abandonment rate on Black Friday was 76.61%, down from the yearly average of  81.01%.  

Among tech products, Fitbits and Kindles had the lowest cart abandonment rate on Black Friday. 

Cart abandonment aren’t the only type of triggered emails that should be sent during the holiday period. Another is add-to-cart reminder emails, which go out when an online shopper adds an item to their digital cart. “This shows significant buyer intent and offers ecommerce retailers an opportunity to send basket reminder emails or SMS to increase online sales,” the study continues.  

In general, 70% of purchases last year were on mobile, and 30% on desktop, although there were daily fluctuations.. The lesson: emails should be designed to accommodate smartphones. 

The mobile cart abandonment totaled 79.06% during Black Friday week, compared to 72.43% for desktop. 

Online traffic rose each day approaching Black Friday last year. Desktop online traffic peaked at 4 p.m., while mobile was highest at 8 p.m. And volume was highest at that hour, although browsers were active from noon on.