ABX tests are a very powerful and simple resource to test how long we should wait after a user abandons their cart before sending them an email with the products they left. We can do this by testing several possible options on a sample of real contacts.
In this article you’ll learn how to create an ABX test to optimize the wait time for cart recovery email.
Objective: Conversion.
Difficulty: Intermediate.
When to use it: When you want to compare two or more cart waiting times.
This strategy is part of our pool of templates. To implement it in your account, log in to your Connectif account and go to "Workflows Create new workflow". In the Create from template section, enter the name of the workflow (ABX test for best cart recovery sending time) in the search engine then click Select and Create.
How it works
To perform the test to optimize the wait time before sending the cart recovery mail, we’ll create a workflow with an ABX test that compares the open rate of several emails with different delivery times. Once the test has been carried out for seven days, the winning branch will remain in use.
Workflow configuration
Before configuring your workflow, create the following elements:
— Five emails, to be sent in each of the branches.
STEP 1. “Start” node
(This node will set the target audience for the action).
1. Click (Edit node settings) for the “Start” node.
2. Under Select limitation, check "All my list" and select "Contacts with email".
3. Under Select data source, check “All existing and new”.
4. Click Update.
STEP 2. “On cart abandonment” node
(This node will detect the cart abandonment).
5. Click (Edit node settings) in the “On cart abandonment” node.
6. Set a "Total price" filter for the price to be greater than "0".
7. Under Limitations, uncheck the "Deactivate after triggering" box.
8. In Temporarily disable after event, add a limitation of “1” Day.
9. Click Update.
STEP 3. “Start A/B/X test” node
(This node will start the A/B/X test).
10. Click (Edit node settings) for the “Start A/B/X” node.
11. In Determine the winning branch, select "Time elapsed since the start of the sampling phase" and set a value of "7" Days.
12. Click Update.
If you want to learn more about the “Start A/B/X Test” node, click here.
STEP 4. "Wait" node
(This node will initiate a waiting period before continuing the workflow, except for the first branch.)
13. Click (Edit node settings) for the “Wait” node.
14. Under Set the time delay, select "A period of time" and enter "15" Days.
15. Click Update.
STEP 5. "Has purchased" node
(This node will identify if the contact has made a purchase during the waiting period).
16. At the junction of this node with the previous one, click on the circle until "Yes" appears.
17. Click (Edit node settings) for the “Has purchased” node.
18. Under Number of purchases made, select "Is greater than" and set "0" purchases.
19. In the next dropdown menu, select "In the last time interval" and set "15" Minutes.
20. Click Update.
STEP 6. “Send email” node
(This node will send the corresponding email to each of the branches after waiting.)
21. At the junction of this node with the previous node, click the circle until the letter corresponding to each branch appears.
22. Click (Edit node settings) in the “Send email” node.
23. Select the email you want to send and click Next .
24. In the Send to section, select "Contact".
25. Indicate the "Newsletter" type of email.
26. Configure the parameters section of "Send to contact".
27. Under Google Analytics, click "Enable Google Analytics" then Next .
28. Click Complete .
STEP 7. “On link click” node
(This node will detect the first click on the email sent).
29. Click (Edit node settings) in the “On link click” node.
30. Select the email it needs to react to.
31. Click Update.
STEP 8. “Evaluate A/B/X branch” node
(This node will award a point to the branch if the email open is detected).
32. Click (Edit node settings) in the “Evaluate A/B/X” node.
33. Select "Literal value" and type "1".
34. Click Update.
To finish configuring the workflow, repeat steps 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 to add the branches you need for the test.
Success!
Your workflow to optimize the best sending time for a cart recovery email with an ABX test is now ready.
Once the test has started, a sampling phase begins and, when the workflow ends, the winning branch is automatically selected. If you want to know more about ABX tests, click here.
Do you have questions?
Don’t forget, our Connectif specialists are here to help you. To contact them, open a Support ticket by clicking the blue “Help” button on your dashboard.
Keep learning!
To make the most of your Connectif account, we recommend reading these articles next:
- ABX test to optimize newsletter subscription, to compare different popups with subscription forms.
- Abandoned cart recovery funnel, to send a sequence of emails when a user abandons a cart.
- ABX test to optimize cart recovery, to compare two different abandoned cart mailings.
- ABX test to optimize the email subject, to compare several sends of the same email with different subjects.