When you're trying to finalize sales, the right email at the right time can make a huge difference. 

Many small businesses find that sending an email reminding a customer of their cart can be a great way to encourage a purchase. If you want these abandoned cart emails to be as effective as possible, make sure you follow these best practices.

Choose the perfect time.

One of the most important things is simply choosing the right time. Sending the email too soon can look pushy and desperate, but if you send it too late, you risk the client losing interest. 

Most small businesses find that sending an abandoned cart email after 24 hours is effective.

Not only is it the perfect amount of wait time, but it also helps to personalize your approach. By automatically sending the email at the same time of day the customer added the item to their cart, you contact the customer during their preferred shopping hours.

Keep your email simple.

When it comes to advertising emails, shorter is almost always better. Most of your clients are busy and won't have time to read lengthy paragraphs. Instead, try to keep things short and sweet.

To avoid being too wordy, focus on the essentials. Mention the item, list a few reasons to buy it, and encourage the customer to reach out to you to finalize the purchase. 

You don't need more than a few sentences and a couple of pictures for the entire email.

Personalize the email copy.

Marketing research shows that emails with a personalized subject line are 26% more likely to be opened. Luckily, automation makes personalization quick and easy.

Most small businesses already ask for their client's name at sign-up, so you can use your automation to insert it into the marketing copy. A friendly, custom message like "Did you forget something, Jane Doe?" can be very effective.

Don't spam your clients.

Automation comes with the risk of accidentally spamming your clients with too many unsolicited emails. This can have the opposite of the desired effect because it can annoy people and make them unsubscribe from your business. 

It's very important to carefully check your settings before you begin.

Try to avoid anything that results in constant emails. Don't send a separate message for every item in the cart, and consider limiting your weekly number of emails. 

Even if the customer abandons a cart every day, you probably don't want to send them more than two or three emails a week.

Provide an incentive.

In many cases, customers who abandon a cart do so because they aren't quite sure whether they're willing to spend money on that item. Offering them a great deal is an easy way to address these concerns and get them to check out with you.

Automation lets you adjust your incentives to suit your business calendar. You can schedule your system to alternate between things like 10% off, free shipping, or buy-one-get-one deals with ease. You can also use automation to automatically mention any special promotions your business is currently running.

Use a call to action.

An abandoned cart email is more than just a reminder to your customer. It's also a chance to give them a subtle nudge to actually buy the product. One of the most popular ways of convincing customers to make the final decision to purchase an item is a call to action.

This marketing trick is a brief statement that encourages the customer to perform an action. Something like "Check out now!" or "Don't wait to purchase this item!" is a great way to get indecisive customers to finally take the plunge. 

A call-to-action can work especially well when you post it on an interactive button that takes the customer straight to your payment gateway.

Make checkout easy.

Make sure you set up your automated email to link directly to purchase options. In the time it takes a customer to type in your address, sign in to their account, and go to their cart, they can quickly lose interest again.

Abandoned cart reminders work better when you include links and buttons that take users straight to the item or straight to the cart. 

You might also want to connect the email to your ecommerce payment processing service, so the customer can make the purchase as quickly as possible.

Ultimately, abandoned cart emails are a great way of marketing to customers who you know are already interested. By using helpful automation tools, you can send out emails quickly and easily.