Recovering abandoned carts is just the beginning. How do you win back a customer at the “thinking about it” stage?
Seven out of ten shoppers add a product to their cart and disappear. But the real customer churn happens earlier – at a stage in the marketing funnel we call consideration: someone visits the website, browses products, reads descriptions, maybe returns tomorrow, maybe checks out the competition, and then disappears. They don’t leave an abandoned cart, they leave almost nothing, which is why they’re invisible in most reports.
This article is about how to stop this invisible escape.
Purchase funnel
Before we get to tools and tactics, it’s worth staying there for a moment.
The classic purchasing funnel model is:
Awarness -> the customer finds out that the brand/product exists.
Consideration -> the client considers, compares, collects information.
Decision -> the customer makes a decision and buys.
In marketing we focus on the top (traffic) and the bottom (conversion, basket recovery).
What about the middle ground, i.e. consideration?
We usually leave it as is because this phase is long and difficult to measure. Without marketing automation, you’re unlikely to find out what’s going on.
Data
70% of abandoned carts sounds alarming, but another statistic is important: 43% abandon their cart because they are not ready to buy (Baymard). So almost half of the abandonments are actually customer behavior at the consideration stage.
Someone who adds a product to their cart to save it and compare it with others isn’t a customer who’s almost made a purchase. They’re a customer in the consideration phase who hasn’t made a decision yet. They shouldn’t be treated as someone who just needs a reminder about their cart.
Also, remember that only a fraction of visitors reach the shopping cart stage. Most customers leave the site at earlier stages, for example, after reading a product description or browsing categories. These people don’t generate abandonment in the traditional sense and are absent from standard e-commerce reports.
Take a look at customer behavior research: they spend only 17% of their entire shopping time in direct contact with the supplier (Gartner). The rest happens without the brand’s involvement, on forums and price comparison sites.
In our opinion, the problem is not the shopping cart – says iPresso expert Jakub Wyciślik – but that brands do not know who someone is who browsed the offer for half an hour and then left without leaving any data.
Who is the customer at the “I’m wondering” stage?
The answer to this question determines the communication strategy.
A customer in the consideration phase doesn’t yet know if they want to buy from you right now. They’re almost certainly interested since they’re on your website, but they’re missing a few elements:
- certainty that this is the right product
- confidence that the price is fair
- trust in the brand (especially if it is the first contact)
- the right moment (maybe I’m getting ready to buy, but only in two weeks)
- the final impulse or excuse for action
In regular remarketing, we try to respond to this by showing the same product again, which makes sense, but it is not enough; someone looking for trust will not change their mind because they see the same advertising banner for the sixth time.
So what works here? Communication sequences that address questions and concerns, so that’s where marketing automation comes in.
How Marketing Automation Helps at the Consideration Stage
Don’t think of marketing automation as sending a newsletter with a coupon, but as a system that identifies customer behavior and at the same time understands what stage of the purchasing decision they are at.
Now I’ll show you some specific tools and approaches.
Lead nurturing: building relationships before the client is ready
Lead nurturing is a series of planned messages designed to guide a customer through the funnel stages without exerting pressure, but consistently delivering value.
In e-commerce, for example, it’s a sequence of emails triggered after a customer leaves their data (e.g., by signing up for a newsletter) but doesn’t make a purchase. Marketing automation doesn’t bombard the customer with a “buy now” message, but rather builds knowledge through a series of messages, demonstrates product applications, and answers frequently asked questions.
When to use-> when you want to convert customers who are interested but not yet ready to buy. Effective for products that take longer to decide on: furniture, electronics, subscriptions.
Why it works-> shortens the distance between initial contact and purchasing decision through regular and targeted messaging. Customers return to the brand because it has built trust, rather than persistently trying to persuade them to buy.
Lead scoring
Lead scoring is a mechanism for assigning points to customer behavior, allowing you to assess their readiness to make a purchase. Each interaction with a brand can be scored; for example, visiting a category subpage earns 2 points, opening an email earns 3 points, and adding to cart earns 20 points.
When a customer exceeds the score threshold you set, the marketing automation system will change the communication scenario itself – for example, it will switch them to a more aggressive sales funnel or display a dedicated offer on the website. Without your involvement; you don’t have to monitor anything.
When to use-> in e-commerce with a large contact database, where manual engagement tracking is impossible. Scoring focuses energy and budget on customers who are close to conversion.
Why it works-> eliminates attempts to convert cold leads with intense messages that discourage them, while not leaving out those who are ready to buy.
Dynamic content
They change the displayed elements (items, not the entire page) depending on who’s viewing it. This means a new visitor sees different things than someone who’s been to the site three times. Additionally, someone who’s previously browsed the mattresses category sees recommendations for those products, not, for example, pillows.
This is important in the context of the consideration stage, because a customer returning to the website after a few days should receive a message continuing their history, and not starting everything from scratch.
When to use-> with high return traffic and a wide product offering. Dynamic content works particularly well on homepages, recommendation boxes, and promotional banners.
Why it works-> reduces friction between intentions and actions. Customers don’t have to search for what they were interested in again, because the website “remembers” and shortens the path.
Behavioral retargeting
Regular retargeting shows the customer the product they viewed. Behavioral retargeting segments customers by depth of commitment and so adapts the message.
Examples:
- The customer was on the website for 30 seconds and left without interacting. They don’t need a special offer, just a reminder of the brand and building awareness.
- The customer read product descriptions for five minutes and then returned to the website. They’re close to making a decision and can now be presented with a concrete value proposition.
- The customer abandoned the cart without making a purchase. A classic recipient of cart-saving communication.
When to use-> when you want to use your budget efficiently. Behavioral segmentation allows you to better price your bids and avoid wasting money on people who won’t be reached by your ad.
Why it works-> communication is more effective. Customers see advertising relevant to their decision-making stage.
Email sequences
Planned series of emails spread over time build communication that matures with the customer.
Example sequence for a customer who was on the product page but did not add it to the cart:
Day 1-> email with educational content.
Day 3-> email with customer reviews and case studies.
Day 7-> email with value proposition and comparison of options.
Day 14-> email with an offer or invitation to contact.
When to use-> always if you have a contact database with assigned behaviors. Sequences require a good marketing automation system capable of triggering messages based on events (visit, click, inactivity for X days).
Why it works-> regular contact shortens the distance between interest and decision and builds the habit of returning to a specific brand.
Web push
Some customers won’t provide you with their email address. Web push notifications allow you to stay in touch with those who have opted in to browser notifications.
During the consideration stage, web push is good as a non-intrusive reminder channel, for example, about price drops or the availability of favorite products. Remember that moderation is key; if you send push notifications too frequently, you risk unsubscribing.
SMS
SMS has one of the highest open rates among marketing channels (up to 98%). It’s a good choice as a “last chance channel,” for example, when a promotion ends today.
But be careful, if a customer starts receiving text messages too often or at odd hours (middle of the night), they will perceive it as an invasion of privacy, not help.
Treat SMS as part of a broader customer communication strategy. A good marketing automation system allows you to properly schedule SMS messages to prevent them from becoming annoying spam.
Personalization: What Does It Even Mean in Practice?
A popular slogan these days – but what does effective personalization of communication at the consideration stage really mean?
It’s not about starting an email with “Hi, Marta!” That’s personalization from the 2000s.
The point is that:
- Contents corresponded to real interest (you were looking at office chairs → we are writing about chairs, not the entire range)
- moment of shipment was linked to behavior (you returned to the site after a week → it means you are still interested)
- channel was tailored to preferences (some customers never open emails, some do not like push notifications)
- Offer take into account the history (someone who has been to the site five times deserves more than someone who has been there once)
Marketing automation makes this scalable. Without automation, each of these elements requires manual work – which is impossible with thousands of monthly visitors.
Traps
Finally, a few errors that occur when trying to win back customers at the consideration stage.
Excessive sales pressure
A user in the “thinking” stage doesn’t need four emails a week saying “Buy Now.” That will scare them away, not convince them. Communication at this stage should be helpful, not rushing.
No segmentation
Sending the same message to someone who was on your site once for a minute and to someone who came back five times in a week is a waste of budget and an irritant for the recipient.
Thinking only about the basket
If the entire customer recovery process begins and ends with an abandoned cart email, then the company is only responding to the last few feet of a long journey. It’s worth taking a step back and looking at what happens beforehand.
Lack of patience
The consideration phase can last days, weeks, or, for more expensive products, months. A sequence of three emails spread over two days is often insufficient. Good automation accommodates long decision-making cycles.
iPresso: A platform that supports the entire funnel – not just the end
The tactics described above require a platform that can track user behavior, segment it in real time, and respond with appropriate messages across various channels. Not all tools offer this capability.
iPresso, as a marketing automation platform, allows you to implement a coherent communication system from the first website visit – through lead scoring, email sequences, dynamic content, web push, and SMS – all the way to purchase completion and post-sales support. In other words, it covers the entire consideration stage, not just the final step.
If you want to see what this might look like in the context of your store or website, fill out the brief on the iPresso website – it’s a good starting point for a conversation about a specific business scenario:
👉 Fill out the brief and see how iPresso can help you
FAQ – Frequently asked questions about customer recovery through marketing automation
What is the difference between winning back customers at the consideration stage and rescuing abandoned carts?
Rescuing an abandoned cart involves a user who was very close to making a purchase – they added a product, perhaps checked out, but didn’t complete the transaction. Recovering customers during the consideration stage involves working with users who showed interest (browsed products, read descriptions, returned to the site) but never completed the cart. This is an earlier, longer stage of the shopping funnel, requiring a different type of communication – less transactional, more educational, and trust-building. Marketing automation allows for both stages, but with different scenarios and sequences.
Which marketing automation tools are most effective in winning back customers who didn’t buy?
The most effective approach combines several channels and mechanisms: email lead nurturing (message sequences that build value and trust), lead scoring (identifying users close to making a decision), behavioral retargeting (ads tailored to the engagement stage), dynamic on-site content (personalization of the view based on history), and on-site messaging (proactive communication during the visit). None of these elements works optimally in isolation – combining them in a coherent marketing automation system yields the best results.
How long should the sequence that concerns the client at the consideration stage last?
This depends on the product and the typical decision-making cycle in a given category. For impulse products (low price, easy to use), the sequence may last several days. For more expensive products (electronics, furniture, subscription services), the decision-making cycle can be several weeks, and the sequence should reflect this. A good practice is to spread communications over two to four weeks, with decreasing frequency and increasing specificity of the message. The final email in the sequence should be a clear call to action or invitation to contact.
Isn’t behavioral retargeting too intrusive on users’ privacy?
Behavioral retargeting, based on first-party data (first-party cookies and data from the marketing automation platform), is GDPR-compliant if the user has provided the appropriate consent. Privacy concerns arise with retargeting based on third-party data – this model is increasingly restricted by browsers and regulations. This is why marketing automation focused on first-party data is gaining importance: it allows you to personalize communications based on the actual behavior of a specific user on your website, without relying on external data sets.
How can you measure the effectiveness of your actions at the consideration stage when conversion can occur much later?
This is one of the most difficult questions in marketing analytics. Several approaches help. First, tracking micro-conversions—newsletter signups, downloads, clicks in an email sequence, returning to the website after a nurturing campaign. Second, analyzing time to conversion—how many days passed from the initial visit to the purchase for customers who ultimately bought. Third, comparing conversion rates for groups that completed the nurturing sequences and those that did not. Marketing automation provides access to this data—it’s important to measure not just “how many emails were sent,” but “how many users from sequence X made a purchase within 30 days.”
