Abandoned Checkout Reminders: Regulations for US shoppers

This information is not legal advice. While we do our best to provide useful information to use as a starting point, Yotpo SMS & Email advises all merchants to obtain professional legal advice to ensure that all marketing campaigns are sent in full compliance with all applicable laws.

What are Abandoned Checkout Reminders?

In SMS marketing, Abandoned Checkout Reminders are automated text messages sent by eCommerce merchants to shoppers who have left items in their online carts at checkout but haven’t completed their purchase.

Why are Abandoned Checkout Reminders super effective?

The average percentage of abandoned carts is over 80%, which means that 4 out of 5 shoppers will leave an online store without completing their order. Sending a timely and personalized reminder shortly after a shopper has left their cart has proven to be one of the most effective tools for eCommerce merchants to fight high churn rates and boost conversions.

How do Abandoned Checkout Reminders work?

Abandoned Checkout Reminders allow merchants to contact their subscribers via a text message for a certain period of time after they have left their shopping cart. Once they click on the link provided in the text message, shoppers will be taken back to the checkout page of the merchant, exactly where they left off, making it super easy and convenient for them to finish their purchase.

With Yotpo SMS & Email’s advanced features, merchants can also include in the abandoned cart message images of the products left behind in the shopping cart.

What are the legal requirements for merchants that want to send Abandoned Checkout Reminders via SMS to US shoppers?

According to industry guidelines provided by the CTIA and the mobile carriers, all merchants must comply with the following requirements when sending Abandoned Checkout Reminders to US shoppers:

1. Merchants must obtain applicable consent before sending Abandoned Checkout Reminders.
2. Merchants must disclose in their Privacy Policy how Abandoned Checkout Reminders will link, correlate, or identify the user’s phone number to the exact abandoned shopping cart (i.e., through the use of cookies, plugins, etc).
3. Merchants must limit their Abandoned Checkout Reminders to 1 per shopping event.
4. Merchants must send the Abandoned Checkout Reminder within 48 hours after the shopping cart was abandoned.
5. Merchants must include opt-out verbiage in every Abandoned Checkout Reminder (i.e., STOP to opt-out)

Abandoned Checkout Reminders: Best Practices

Our users can send Abandoned Checkout Reminders through automations or flows. We will now review how SMSBump ensures compliance with these reminders at all times.

When activating abandoned checkout automation or flow, you will get the following warning:

It serves as a reminder that in order to comply with the CTIA regulations, when sending an abandoned checkout reminder to US shoppers, merchants are allowed to send just 1 message within 48 hours of checkout, and it must include opt-out verbiage.

This was our quick tutorial on how to send Abandoned Checkout Reminders via SMS & Email in full compliance. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.