Automatic Recover Cart Email

[alexandermorris]

I know that you can see the cart sales that were not completed and that you can manually send email to them. I use this occassionally but I was shopping on the net today and ran into some kind of Recover Carts program that worked on me and I want to see if I can implement it in my cart.

I almost purchased from this site but in the end I closed the page because of a tax that was added at the end. I immediately received an email asking me why I had decided not to buy and it included a discount code for 10% that was tailored for me because it included my last name in the code. Had I not received the email immediately with the 10% discount code, I would not have bought from them because I was just about to buy somewhere else.

I would love to know if there is a way to implement this into oscMax as this kind of approach definitely works on recovering carts. It needs to be an automatic program where it looks at the products in the cart or the total cart price and bases the discount amount on that and then sends the email automatically. If I have to send it manually it won't work because I don't have the time to monitor the recover carts continually.

Thanks!

Cherie

[ridexbuilder]

Let me Google it for you:

Cron Job Support for RCS
12 Apr 2009 Copy Files using the directory structure listed.

Since version 2.30 it is possible to send emails to your customers from a cronjob using the configuration-settings made. Basically what it does is exactly the same as the normal admin page by pressing the 'send' button at the bottom, the difference is mainly that it goes automated, you do not have the option to deselect baskets.

* Edit 'recover_cart_sales_cron.php' and provide the full path to your admin area and set the language.

* Test the cronjob by simply entering the url to the file in your browser, make sure no session are opened at this point! Also notice that it will send emails automated, so be carefull with testing!

* Add a new cronjob to your admin console (or ask your hoster), sample: /usr/local/bin/php -q /home/<...>/domains/<...>/public_html/catalog/admin/recover_cart_sales_cron.php

[met00]

LMAO. Sorry, but as the original author of RCS I had thought about setting it up as a crontab and decided against it as I liked to have control over what was happening in the store (picking who to send the e-mail to) so that low margin orders didn't get sent the e-mail. Unless you can build a filter (this assumes that you have a way to see the cost in the database) that limits your exposure (offering at 10% discount on items already on sale or with low margins like loss leaders) I can see that an automated process (cron) can come back and bite you on the butt.

Just my $0.02 based on long term use of the tool as well as it's initial design.

[ridexbuilder]

Very good points, Met00.
Why not employ robots in your B&M shop and spent more time monitoring the webstore?

[Repeat shopper cottons on to the 10% discount and never completes the sale, thus always getting a 10% discount. ]

[michael_s]

It would be easy enough to put a minimum order amount or checks against specials, etc, whether or not to send the email to customers on the cron. Neat approach to automated followups though. Adding an incentive to the customer almost immediately after abandoning an order is pretty smart.

[alexandermorris]

You would have to be able to set limits on it. It needs to base the discount on what was in the cart. It would be great if the discount only applied to what was in the cart and the discount was based on the sales price or product. You could make it apply to only new customers. If anyone can elaborate on how to do this or can offer their services on creating this, I would be interested.

Over Christmas I had several abandoned carts. I think this would reduce the occurance because they have to be close to buying if they enter in all their information and then abandon the cart.

[ridexbuilder]

There could be two (amongst others) possible reasons, for non-completion:

• Are your postal rates high? Estimated Shipping or an Info Page showing rates might help.
• Do you use SSL? Customers may be put off by lack of a padlock.

Just things to consider.

[alexandermorris]

I've gotten compliments on the shipping rates and have an on going promotion where shipping is free for orders of $50 which works really well. I have a shipping cost estimate where people can see the shipping prior to entering in any information other than the zip code.

I also have SSL and I display the Godaddy cert on the sidebar of every page. You can visit my site at www.bottlesling.com .

I think the abandoned carts are either people who are having trouble checking out or are just indecisive. The automatic recover cart email would help me to solve any checkout problem or push someone over the edge toward buying.

[ridexbuilder]

You're certainly doing the right things there.

I think the abandoned carts are either people who are having trouble checking out or are just indecisive

Yep, often the case.


Observations, if I may...
[By default I block Flash - hate it!]

Home page: took me a minute to find the shop link at the bottom of the page.

Checkout Process: although you have both a (customised) checkout button and text link, I find that page a bit 'messy'. Partially due to the offset page (it's those Flash banners again). Having the default buttons on the other options does distract from the Checkout button - I'd give it more prominence.

[Intended to be constructive]

[alexandermorris]

I guess I would need to see what the page looks like to you. The flash on the side is a navigation menu that allows you to jump to specific product groups. In addition you can jump to the shopping cart from a shop button on a top menu bar navigation.

If you can't see the flash then you can't see the navigation. Plus I have flash all over my site. Sales are up since I added it. Why do you hate flash?

I like the flash because if I want to change the navigation I just change the swf file, upload, and all the pages of the website are updated with the new navigation. I don't have to update webpages individually.

I'd be happy to work on the Checkout button. Can you give me an example of what you think looks better?