Sales & Conversion
Personas
Ecommerce
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
I was working on a complete website revamp for a Shopify e-commerce client. The original brief was straightforward: update the abandoned checkout emails to match the new brand guidelines. New colors, new fonts, done.
But as I opened the old template—with its product grid, discount codes, and "COMPLETE YOUR ORDER NOW" buttons—something felt off. This was exactly what every other e-commerce store was sending. While every marketing guru preaches discount-heavy recovery emails, I discovered something that completely changed how I approach cart abandonment.
The question everyone asks is: Should I offer a discount in recovery emails? After testing this with multiple clients and seeing dramatically different results, I'm going to share why the answer isn't what you think.
Here's what you'll learn:
Why discount-heavy emails actually hurt long-term customer value
The conversation-style approach that doubled our reply rates
How addressing real friction beats throwing money at the problem
The psychology behind why "human" emails outperform promotional ones
When discounts actually work (and when they backfire)
This isn't theory—this is what happened when I completely rewrote the playbook for one of my clients. Check out our ecommerce strategies for more conversion tactics.
Industry Standard
What Every Ecommerce Expert Recommends
Walk into any marketing conference or browse any "cart abandonment best practices" blog post, and you'll hear the same advice repeated like gospel:
"Send a series of 3-4 emails with progressively higher discounts."
The conventional wisdom goes like this:
Email 1: Gentle reminder with product images (no discount)
Email 2: Add urgency and a 10% discount
Email 3: Increase to 15-20% discount with "last chance" messaging
Email 4: Final push with maximum discount or free shipping
This approach exists because it works—sort of. You will recover some abandoned carts. The numbers look good in your dashboard. Customer acquisition cost appears to improve.
But here's where conventional wisdom falls apart: you're training customers to abandon carts intentionally to get discounts. You're also devaluing your products and attracting price-sensitive customers who'll never pay full price.
Most e-commerce "experts" focus on the immediate recovery rate without considering the long-term impact on customer behavior and brand perception. They're optimizing for the wrong metric, and it's killing sustainable growth.
The real question isn't whether discounts work—it's whether they're the best solution for the actual problem.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
When I started this project, my client had the typical discount-heavy abandonment sequence. It was "working"—recovering about 8% of abandoned carts with an average order value that was 25% lower than direct purchases.
The client was a premium product e-commerce store with items ranging from €150-€500. Their customers weren't impulse buyers; they were making considered purchases. But the data showed something interesting: people were struggling with payment validation, especially with double authentication requirements.
The Setup That Revealed Everything
During our website revamp, I discovered through customer service logs that payment failures were happening frequently. Customers would start checkout, hit authentication issues, get frustrated, and abandon. Then they'd receive a discount email and think: "Oh, I guess I should have waited for the sale."
We were solving a technical problem with a pricing solution—completely missing the mark. Instead of fixing the real friction, we were covering it up with discounts and teaching customers that patience equals savings.
The breakthrough came during a casual conversation with the client. They mentioned receiving multiple customer service inquiries about payment problems, especially on mobile. People wanted to complete their purchase but couldn't figure out why their payment kept failing.
That's when I realized: we weren't dealing with price sensitivity—we were dealing with process confusion. The abandoned cart emails needed to address the real problem, not mask it with discounts.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Instead of another generic "Don't forget your items!" email, I completely reimagined the approach. Here's exactly what I built:
The Conversation Email Strategy
I created a newsletter-style email that felt like a personal note from the business owner. The subject line changed from "You forgot something!" to "You had started your order..." - immediately more personal and less accusatory.
The email content followed this structure:
Personal Acknowledgment: "I noticed you started an order but didn't complete it"
Understanding: "This happens more often than you'd think"
Solution-Focused Help: The 3-point troubleshooting list
Human Touch: "Just reply to this email if you need help"
The Game-Changing Addition
Here's what made the difference—instead of a discount, I added a simple 3-point troubleshooting section:
"If you ran into issues completing your order, here are the most common fixes:
Payment authentication timing out? Try again with your bank app already open
Card declined? Double-check your billing ZIP code matches exactly
Still having issues? Just reply to this email—I'll help you personally"
The Multi-Touch Sequence
Instead of escalating discounts, I created escalating help:
Email 1: Personal acknowledgment + troubleshooting tips
Email 2: Product education + alternative purchase methods
Email 3: Direct phone/chat support offer + success stories
Each email was written in first person, as if the business owner was personally reaching out. No corporate templates, no aggressive CTAs—just helpful, human communication.
The result? We turned a transactional email sequence into a customer service touchpoint that built trust instead of training discount dependency.
Key Metrics
Reply rate increased from 2% to 18%. Customers started asking questions and sharing feedback, creating dialogue instead of just transactions.
Conversation Style
First-person writing from the business owner perspective made emails feel personal and trustworthy, not automated and pushy.
Problem Solving
Addressing actual payment issues was more effective than masking problems with discounts and pricing incentives.
Trust Building
Offering personal help created long-term customer relationships instead of one-time discount-driven purchases.
The transformation was immediate and sustained:
Email Engagement Metrics:
Reply rate increased from 2% to 18%
Open rates improved by 35%
Click-through rates doubled
Business Impact:
Cart recovery rate improved by 40% without discounts
Average order value remained at full price
Customer service inquiries became problem-solving conversations
Unexpected Outcomes:
Customers started replying with specific technical issues, allowing us to identify and fix systemic problems. Some completed purchases after getting personalized help. Others shared feedback that improved the entire checkout process.
Most importantly, we stopped training customers to expect discounts and started building genuine relationships based on helpful service.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here are the top insights from this experiment:
Discounts treat symptoms, not causes: If people are abandoning carts due to technical issues, confusion, or concerns—address those directly
Conversation beats promotion: People respond better to helpful communication than sales pressure
First-person messaging builds trust: Writing as the business owner creates human connection
Problem-solving creates loyalty: Helping customers overcome obstacles builds long-term relationships
Replies reveal insights: Two-way conversation uncovers systemic issues and improvement opportunities
Full-price customers are better customers: Avoid training discount dependency that hurts lifetime value
Human touch differentiates: In a world of automated emails, personal communication stands out dramatically
When to still use discounts: If your analytics clearly show price sensitivity as the primary abandonment reason, or for seasonal clearance campaigns with specific business goals.
When to avoid discounts: For premium products, when technical issues exist, or when building a brand that commands full pricing.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS companies with trial expirations or upgrade abandonment:
Address common onboarding obstacles instead of offering discounts
Provide personal demo offers or extended trials
Focus on value realization rather than price reduction
Create conversation opportunities with customer success teams
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce stores looking to improve cart recovery:
Identify technical checkout issues through customer service data
Write emails in first-person from business owner perspective
Include troubleshooting tips for common problems
Invite replies and personal assistance instead of pushing transactions