What abandoned cart emails are
An abandoned cart email is an automated message sent to a customer who has added items to their online shopping cart but left before completing the purchase. These emails aim to remind the customer of their selections and encourage them to return to finalise their order. They are a key part of an e-commerce retention strategy.
This page is one slice of the Nitrosend email library. It holds 68 real emails from 51 brands, all of them collected out of two ordinary inboxes. Nothing here is a mockup.
Abandoned cart emails you can look at
Filter by industry, design style, layout or length. Open any one to read the subject line, what it is doing, and the prompt that rebuilds it.
What 68 of them actually do
Most abandoned cart emails aim for simplicity and directness. Half of the emails we collected use a minimal design style. Over three quarters, 84%, use a single column layout. This suggests brands prioritise clarity over complex visuals when trying to recover a sale.
Brands often include multiple calls to action, but many keep it focused. The median email in our collection includes two calls to action. However, 26% of these emails use exactly one call to action, keeping the message highly focused on completing the purchase. We also found 44% of emails address the recipient by their first name, a common personalisation tactic.
Urgency and warmth are the dominant tones for abandoned cart emails. Over 40% of the emails we collected use an urgent tone, pushing for immediate action. Another 31% adopt a warm tone, aiming to be helpful and inviting. This suggests a split between direct prompts and softer nudges.
Product visuals are common, but not universal. Just under a third of brands, 32%, include a hero image in their abandoned cart emails. A similar number, 31%, use a product grid to display the items left behind. This shows a preference for visual reminders, but also a significant portion of brands relying on text.
Abandoned cart emails are split between activation and retention, and more than one email can improve results. Our collection shows 57% of these emails are part of a retention strategy, while 43% aim for activation. E-commerce senders who add a second email to their cart abandonment flow recover 22% more carts than single-email flows, based on anonymised, aggregate patterns across all Nitrosend accounts. This highlights the value of follow-up messages.
Subject lines often aim to create curiosity or urgency. Curiosity subject lines make up 38% of the collection, while urgency is used in 19%. This suggests brands try to entice opens without always resorting to promotional discounts. We have also seen users adopt the Liquid Death cart abandonment structure for their own email flows, drawing inspiration from the email collection.
None of this helps if the send never lands, which is a email marketing problem rather than a design one.
What to take from these
- Use a second email in your abandoned cart flow. Our data shows this recovers 22% more carts.
- Consider adding "you might also like" sections to your emails, as Amazon has done to boost revenue from still-abandoned carts.
- Keep your design minimal and use a single column. Half the brands in our collection use a minimal style.
- Address the recipient by their first name. This common personalisation tactic helps make the message feel more direct.
- Experiment with curiosity-driven subject lines. These are a popular choice among brands in our collection.
- Include a product grid to visually remind customers of their items. Many brands use this direct visual cue.
Once the shape is right, the rest is getting the thing delivered.
What is in this set
By industry
68 emails from 51 brandsNext to this one
The same corpus, cut a different way: promotional, newsletter, account notice.
Questions people ask
Our internal data suggests sending more than one email can improve recovery rates. E-commerce senders who add a second email to their flow recover 22% more carts than those who send only one. Consider a short series rather than a single message.
Brands commonly include product images or grids, a clear call to action to return to the cart, and often personalise the message with the customer's first name. Some also add "you might also like" sections to offer alternatives.
We observed a split between urgent and warm tones. Over 40% of emails use an urgent tone to prompt immediate action, while 31% opt for a warmer, more inviting approach. Testing both can help you find what resonates with your audience.