Best Practices for Browse Abandonment Subject Lines

How to Ensure Someone Opens a Browse Abandonment Email and Converts to a Purchase? By crafting a well-timed subject line that entices your customers to return to the product pages. This is easier said than done.

Despite requiring some planning, browse abandonment emails do work! These emails have a 62.9% higher open rate than traditional emails.

To help you increase your open rates, researchers have delved into the data to discover which types of browse abandonment subject lines are most common, which fail to meet expectations, and how to capitalize on this.

Browse Abandonment Benchmarks

A researcher analyzed over 1,000 browse abandonment emails sent to more than 1 million people to see how this type of email generally performed. The results were impressive:

• Average open rate: 52.79%
• Average click rate: 10.87%
• Revenue per recipient: $2.88

Browse abandonment emails vary in performance—largely due to different levels of purchase intent. But overall, they all had high open and click rates.

To help you generate more opens (opened emails) from your browse abandonment subject lines, here are a few tips:
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Keep It Simple

You don't need to be overly clever to generate more opens—it's enough to remind recipients that they left a page. Doing so piques your reader's curiosity without being creepy or overwhelming.

The most popular subject line for browse abandonment emails was "Did you see something you liked?" This subject line had an open rate of 56.82%—7% higher than the benchmark average.

A few simpler but effective subject lines were:

• Recommended just for you: 53.82% open rate
• We saw you checking us out: 58.55% open rate

These validated subject lines share a few things in common:

• They address the recipient directly with "you." You’ve already built a bit of a relationship since they visited your site, so carry that into the subject lines.
• Simple language that you would use every day. No overly complicated text.
• They are all 30 characters or less. This leads us to the next tip...
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Count the Characters

When looking at browse abandonment subject lines, the best performers are on the shorter side.

Performance gradually declines as subject lines get longer. Subject lines with 40 characters or fewer performed 10% better than those with more than 40 characters.

Here are two reasons for this:

• You have only a fraction of a second to grab subscribers' attention, and long subject lines can prevent them from opening your emails.
• People read their emails on mobile devices, with 68% of emails opened on mobile. Mobile screens have a cutoff of 25-30 characters, causing longer subject lines to be truncated.

With that in mind, we recommend using subject lines with fewer than 40 characters to ensure that those scanning your emails read the full subject line.

The performance of subject lines gradually decreases as they get longer. Subject lines with 40 characters or fewer performed 10% better than those with more than 40 characters. Here are two reasons for this:

• You have only a fraction of a second to grab subscribers' attention, and long subject lines can prevent them from opening your emails.
• People read their emails on mobile devices, with 68% of emails opened on mobile. Mobile screens have a maximum of 25-30 characters, causing longer subject lines to be truncated.

With that in mind, we recommend using subject lines with fewer than 40 characters to ensure that people scanning your emails can read the full subject line.
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Question Marks, Periods, and Exclamation Points

Using the right punctuation in your subject lines can add life and entice your reader to open the email. Question marks, periods, and exclamation points proved to be the most effective punctuation.

Punctuation Average Open Rate

• Question Mark (?): 56.19%
• Period (.): 48.50%
• Exclamation Point (!): 48.00%

Punctuation adds character to your subject lines—whether it’s curiosity, finality, or excitement. However, be cautious with your punctuation. Yes, framing your subject line as a question increases curiosity, resulting in an open rate that is 6% higher than average. But don’t overdo it. Too much punctuation can come off as overly emotional and immature. It not only affects the open rate but may also trigger spam filters and damage your email deliverability.
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Mythbusters of Browse Abandonment Subject Lines

Data helps us debunk some long-held myths about high-performing emails. Let’s take a look at some browse abandonment subject lines that many assume yield high open rates but in reality, do not meet expectations.
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Product Personalization

Product personalization in the subject line includes the product or category the person was browsing. Many retailers assume that reminding the person of what they were browsing will lead them to open and purchase.

In reality, using the product yielded an open rate of 21% below average. Remember that the interest level for people leaving a product page is much harder to gauge than for someone leaving a shopping cart. Including the product in the subject lines can cross the line from helpful to intrusive, deterring the reader from opening the email.
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Discounts

Including a discount in the subject line did not perform well—almost 18% below average. A few poorly performing examples include:

• "Get up to 25% off for you (today only)"
• "10% off for just 24 hours!"

There are two reasons why this might happen:

1. By including the discount, the subject line can become too long, causing the reader to lose interest.
2. Using special characters ($, %, FREE) may cause your messages to trigger spam filters.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t include discounts in the subject line, as discounts do work. Start by testing different discounts to see what your audience likes. Or play with the discount by not revealing exactly what they’ll get—this piques their curiosity and entices them to open your email. For example: "Deals we’re proud of" or "Shop now. Save big." Once they open, reward the readers with the specifics of the discount. This will help boost both open rates and click-through rates.
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Time-Sensitive Pressure

Many marketers use the subject line to create urgency for their subscribers to take action. This is done by setting a time limit on the call to action.

Unfortunately, emails with a time limit in the subject line received the lowest open rate of all—27% below average. For example, a customer used the subject line “Final notice... (4 hours remaining)” and received an open rate of less than 15%. If your subscriber feels pressured, they’re likely to say "forget it" and not open your email.
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Ideas for Browse Abandonment Subject Lines

If you're struggling with browse abandonment emails, let these 20 successful subject lines inspire you:

Simple yet Effective

• Have you seen something you like?
• Recommended just for you
• Thanks for stopping by!
• Take a second look!
• Still thinking about it?

Personalized

• Hey Phil, any questions?
• Phil, did you see something you liked?
• Phil - you have great taste!
• Your Tom Brady shirt is waiting for you.
• The Tom Brady shirt is still waiting for you!

Discount-Focused

• Deals we’re proud of.
• Shop now. Save big.
• We want you back - enjoy 15% off
• Here’s how we’ll take care of you.
• Maybe this helps - €10 off, just for you.

Creative

• Have you been watching me?
• We must have the same taste.
• We saw you peeking...
• I'm in love! I'm in love!
• Have you kept an eye on this?
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Conclusion

‍The data proves that browse abandonment emails drive sales for our clients. The first hurdle is ensuring the reader opens your email—and that’s why the subject line is so important.

Every audience is different and responds differently to subject lines, so consider the best-performing subject lines as a good starting point. A/B test your subject lines to determine what resonates well with your audience and what doesn’t. Perhaps your audience loves urgency or product personalization—your own data will guide you.

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