Recently, Japan has experienced dramatic advancements in information technology and has widely adopted the internet. This has led many ecommerce businesses—including ecommerce malls—to experience higher popularity and sales. In addition, the market size for cross-border ecommerce for overseas customers in Japan continues to expand. Therefore, the use of diverse payment methods for ecommerce continues to progress to reach broader customer bases and make more convenient payment environments for customers.

As competition among Japanese ecommerce businesses increases, cart abandonment has become a challenge. To prevent lost sales opportunities, businesses must identify the causes of cart abandonment and implement countermeasures.

Recovery emails are one of the most common countermeasures to prevent cart abandonment. By sending recovery emails to customers, businesses provide them the opportunity to reconsider their purchases. This can lead to increased sales. In this article, we provide sample emails that introduce the fundamentals Japanese ecommerce businesses need to know about recovery emails. We also explain key points for successful emails and how to implement them.

What’s in this article?

• What are recovery emails?
  
• Effectiveness of recovery emails　
  
• Reasons for cart abandonment
  
• Sample recovery emails
  
• Key points for successful recovery emails
  
• Steps to implement recovery emails
  
• How to create a payment environment that supports recovery emails
  
• How Stripe Checkout can help
  

What are recovery emails?

Most online shoppers have added items to a cart and left the site without buying anything. Ecommerce businesses send recovery emails to customers who have abandoned cart items. These emails aim to prevent cart abandonment and recover the sale.

In other words, recovery emails notify customers via email that their purchases have not been completed. They encourage customers to revisit the ecommerce site and review their carts. The goal is to lead the customer to make the purchase.

Many customers who shop on ecommerce sites might temporarily put items in their carts but don’t intend to buy the product immediately. Instead, they delay the purchase because they want to add more items or need more time before deciding to purchase.

Recovery emails serve to remind these customers that items remain in their carts, potentially inspiring them to make purchases.

Effectiveness of recovery emails

Recovery emails are an effective way to encourage customers to revisit the ecommerce site and complete their purchases. A customer who has put a product in their cart has at least some level of interest in it. Therefore, reminding them of the product can help the ecommerce business convert that interest into an actual sale.

The results of a 2024 recovery email survey by E-Agency revealed the following:

• Ratio of recovery emails opened: Over 43%
  
• Click-through rate: Almost 10%
  
• Conversion rate: Approximately 2.4%
  
• Average recovery rate for customers who abandoned a cart: 1.5%
  

According to the above data, customers opened over 43% of recovery emails. This indicates that many customers are at least opening the emails they receive. Compared to general newsletters, recovery emails tend to feature more personalized content. This can result in higher open rates and click-through rates.

Furthermore, the research indicates that the average recovery rate of 1.5% equates to approximately ¥1.27 million per site per month. This shows that cart abandonment countermeasures can yield significant results.

Reasons for cart abandonment

The reasons why customers abandon carts vary. The main causes include the following:

• Typical payment method not available
  
• Resistance to entering credit card information
  
• Total amount higher than expected
  
• Account registration required before purchase
  
• Errors during purchase process
  
• Lengthy purchase process
  
• Slow shipping
  
• Unclear customer support information about returns and exchanges
  
• Addition of product to cart without intent to purchase
  

Beyond the reasons listed above, cart abandonment due to 3D Secure can also occur. Implementation of 3D Secure has been mandatory for businesses in Japan since March 2025. Therefore, ecommerce businesses must implement cart abandonment countermeasures that have been specifically tailored for 3D Secure.

Sample recovery emails

Examples of recovery emails can be broadly categorized into reminder-type and support-type emails. Below, we cover each one individually. To use the samples, enter the customer’s name, product name, etc. in the brackets.

Reminder-type recovery emails

A reminder email helps the receiver remember their potential purchase. For example, if you enter a meeting into a cloud-based calendar, you might receive an automatic email notification, such as: “Meeting tomorrow at 9:00 AM.” This is a type of reminder email.

While the exact phrasing can vary, reminder-type recovery emails generally use the following style.

Support-type recovery email

The purpose of the support-type email is different from the reminder type. Rather than simply reminding customers that there are items in their carts, the goal is to increase purchase intent by addressing customer concerns related to the purchase.

Common causes of cart abandonment can include customer concerns about prices, shipping costs, and site usability. Support-type emails can help alleviate these concerns while guiding customers toward purchases.

When creating support-type recovery emails, use subject lines and body text similar to the following.

Key points for successful recovery emails

Here are some tips to enhance the effectiveness of recovery emails.

Timing

The timing of sending a recovery email is important. Sending it too early or too late can render it completely ineffective. For example, if you send a recovery email several months after a customer adds an item to their cart, the customer’s interest could have waned as time passed. They also could have purchased it from another store.

Conversely, if it’s been less than 30 minutes since the customer added an item to their cart and left the site, they are still likely to be interested in completing the purchase. Sending a recovery email at this point might not be effective.

One important point to keep in mind is that sending multiple recovery emails can annoy customers. Consider the timing before you send recovery emails, and keep the number of emails low. While results can vary for individual customers, the recommendation for sending recovery emails is typically three times: 1–2 hours after abandonment, 24 hours later, and 7 days later.

If the timing of recovery emails coincides with other events—such as sales or other promotions—customize the content appropriately for each scenario:

• Price drop: If the price for an item that the customer added to their cart later drops, include a line similar to this in the email: “Price drops on items in your cart!”
  
• Sale: If there is a sale after the item was added to the cart and the price is temporarily dropped, add a line such as: “All items are currently 20% off! Great deals on items in your cart!”
  
• Low stock: If stock is low for an item in the cart, you can include the following: “Items in your cart are selling fast!”
  

Design and impact

If the subject line of an email lacks impact, the likelihood of it being opened decreases. There is also a risk that it will be deleted before being opened. The email body should contain emojis or images and have a striking visual design, or it might be difficult to read and fail to increase the customer’s purchasing motivation. Therefore, clearly state the intent of the recovery email in the subject line. In the main body, focus on a visual approach. Prominently display product images, and arrange text and CTA buttons for easy visibility.

If you’re also including price reductions or sale information for the products, include this in the subject line as well.

Frequency

If a customer receives frequent, similar recovery emails, they could be blocked as spam or make the customer unsubscribe. Therefore, consider how often you send emails so you don’t accidentally decrease customers’ purchasing motivation.

To avoid a situation where the customer won’t accept future emails, it is important to plan carefully and prioritize the timing of the emails. You should also limit the number of emails sent to no more than three and provide a setting function that allows customers to change the email frequency.

Steps to implement recovery emails

Below, we provide the general process of implementing recovery emails:

• Set the target
  The “target” refers to the timing after cart abandonment occurs, such as two hours later or 24 hours later. The system sends an email at the target time, which is set in advance.
  
• Create an email template
  Create the email subject line and body text, and incorporate images and CTA buttons. At this stage, set up the design and layout of the email, and adopt the proper visual approach.
  
• Perform tests
  Before sending the completed email to customers, conduct tests to confirm that images and text display correctly. Click CTA buttons and product URLs during testing to confirm they navigate to the correct page without any problems.
  
• Set up automatic sending
  Configure the system to automatically send emails after a specified period of time to customers who have abandoned their carts.
  
• Measure effectiveness and improve
  Monitor the effectiveness of recovery emails—such as click-through rates and purchase rates—and make improvements as needed. This can include adjusting the timing of delivery or modifying the email subject line and body text.
  

How to create a payment environment that supports recovery emails

When implementing measures to prevent cart abandonment, it is important to fully understand the causes of cart abandonment and take the appropriate actions for each cause. Rather than only focusing on sending recovery emails, it’s also important to focus on the fundamentals of your ecommerce site and investigate how to get more customers. Among the causes of cart abandonment, the lack of options for payment methods is quite common.

For example, customers might abandon purchases at the checkout screen because they can’t find their preferred payment methods. Therefore, it is important to review the payment methods offered on your company’s ecommerce site. To ensure the site can be used by a wide range of customers, enhance the payment environment by incorporating diverse online payment methods, such as Konbini payments and credit card payments. For credit cards, it’s important to accept a broad range of card brands beyond Visa and Mastercard, such as JCB, American Express, UnionPay, and others. This can enhance the value of your site for your customers.

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