![\"Editorial](\"https:\/\/beyondclix.co.nz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2026-10-02-email-remarketing-nz-1-leaky-funnel.jpg\"\n)
Why most visitors leave without buying<\/h2>\n
It is not a sign something is broken on your site. The Baymard Institute, an independent research firm that has collected 50 studies on the topic, puts the average online shopping cart abandonment rate at 70.22%<\/a> (page updated September 2025). That is the share of shoppers who added something to a cart and then left. It is US-centred data, but the pattern holds for most online stores.<\/p>\n Baymard also asked shoppers why they left. The biggest fixable reasons were extra costs such as shipping and fees (40%), slow delivery (20%), not trusting the site with card details (19%) and being forced to create an account (18%). Many people were simply “just browsing”, and no email will change that.<\/p>\n Service businesses have the same leak with a different shape. Someone reads your electrical, legal or renovation page, thinks “I will do it later”, and later never comes.<\/p>\n You may know remarketing as the ads that seem to follow you around the internet. Email remarketing does the same job in the inbox, and it has one big advantage: it only works on people who have given you their email address. That makes the audience smaller but warmer.<\/p>\n The common triggers are:<\/p>\n Each trigger sets off an automatic message, so nobody has to remember to send it. You write and approve the emails once, and the system sends them when the situation happens.<\/p>\n Restraint beats volume. The setups that work are usually short, specific and easy to switch off.<\/p>\n A typical three-step sequence runs something like this. The first email goes out within hours and simply reminds the person what they left behind. The second, a day or two later, answers the likely worry: delivery times, returns, how the quote process works. The third, a few days on, may add a small incentive if your margins allow it. Many businesses do well with no discount at all if the second email removes the doubt.<\/p>\n Someone who looked at a specific product should see that product. Someone who abandoned a quote form should hear from a real person, not a promotion. A generic “we miss you” email is the weakest version of this.<\/p>\n If 40% of your leavers cite surprise shipping costs, no email sequence beats showing the total earlier in the checkout. Good email remarketing exposes these leaks, and a good agency tells you about them rather than papering over them with discounts.<\/p>\n Once someone buys or books, the sequence should stop. Sending “you forgot something” to a person who already paid is the quickest way to lose trust.<\/p>\n New Zealand has a specific law for marketing emails, the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007, enforced by the Department of Internal Affairs. The Department’s three-step summary<\/a> is worth reading in full. In short, every commercial message needs:<\/p>\n The DIA’s spam FAQ<\/a> adds detail that trips businesses up: the unsubscribe facility must be clear and conspicuous, free, and likely to keep working for at least 30 days after the message is sent. You must action unsubscribe requests within five working days.<\/p>\n The practical takeaway: do not buy email lists, do not email people who gave you their address for something unrelated, and make unsubscribing painless. If your agency is vague on any of that, find someone who is not. This is general information, not legal advice, so check your own situation with a lawyer if you are unsure.<\/p>\n If you also run Google Ads, your email list can do double duty. Google’s Customer Match feature lets you use your own customer data to reach people on Search, Shopping, Gmail, YouTube and Display<\/a>. Google says a list needs at least 100 members added or updated in the last 540 days to stay eligible, and members expire after that window. So a list that is current and consented is an asset in two channels, and a stale one is useless in both.<\/p>\n That is also why we treat email as part of a wider setup rather than a standalone trick. Visitors arrive through Google Ads or SEO, the enquiry and email address are captured, and the email sequence picks up the people who did not act at once.<\/p>\n Email remarketing is cheaper than most channels to run, because you are not paying for the click again. The main costs are the email platform (usually a monthly fee that grows with the size of your list), the one-off setup and copywriting, and your agency’s management time. Ask for these as separate lines so you can see what you are paying for. Our pricing plans<\/a> set out what is included at each level.<\/p>\n Setup typically takes a few weeks: connecting your website or CRM to the email platform, building the sequences, and testing them. You can expect to see the first recovered sales or revived leads in the first month or two, once there is enough traffic through the sequence to measure. If your site gets only a handful of visits a week, say so up front. There may not be enough volume yet, and traffic is the better place to spend first.<\/p>\n Ask for three numbers every month:<\/p>\n You do not need a complicated programme. Begin with one trigger, the one closest to the money: abandoned carts if you sell online, unfinished quote forms if you sell services. Get it running, measure it for a few weeks, then add the next. If you want a straight assessment of where your visitors are leaking and whether email is the right first fix, talk to us about email and CRM<\/a>. We will tell you honestly if something else should come first.<\/p>\n Automatic emails sent to people who showed interest in your business but did not buy or enquire, such as someone who left items in a cart or started a quote form.<\/p>\n Yes, if you follow the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007. You need consent, clear sender identification and a working unsubscribe in every commercial message.<\/p>\n Three well-spaced emails is a sensible starting point: a reminder, a message that answers common worries, and an optional final nudge. More than that risks annoying people.<\/p>\n Not necessarily. Many shoppers leave over delivery cost, trust or checkout friction, so fixing those can work better than discounting and protects your margin.<\/p>\n Retargeting ads reach anonymous visitors on other websites and apps. Email remarketing reaches people who have given you their address, so the audience is smaller but warmer.<\/p>\n Baymard’s figures are largely US shopper data, not New Zealand-specific.<\/em><\/p>\nWhat email remarketing actually is<\/h2>\n
\n
What a sensible setup looks like<\/h2>\n
![\"Editorial](\"https:\/\/beyondclix.co.nz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2026-10-02-email-remarketing-nz-2-three-emails.jpg\"\n)
1. Remind, then help, then offer<\/h3>\n
2. Match the message to what they did<\/h3>\n
3. Fix the cause, not just the symptom<\/h3>\n
4. Stop when they act<\/h3>\n
![\"Animated](\"https:\/\/media.giphy.com\/media\/jPAdK8Nfzzwt2\/giphy.gif\"\n)
The New Zealand rules you cannot skip<\/h2>\n
\n
![\"Editorial](\"https:\/\/beyondclix.co.nz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2026-10-02-email-remarketing-nz-3-consent.jpg\"\n)
How email works alongside your Google Ads<\/h2>\n
What it costs and how long it takes<\/h2>\n
How to know it is working<\/h2>\n
\n
![\"Editorial](\"https:\/\/beyondclix.co.nz\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2026-10-02-email-remarketing-nz-4-checklist.jpg\"\n)
Four questions to ask your agency<\/h2>\n
\n
Where to start<\/h2>\n
Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n
What is email remarketing?<\/h3>\n
Is email remarketing legal in New Zealand?<\/h3>\n
How many emails should an abandoned cart sequence have?<\/h3>\n
Do I need to offer a discount?<\/h3>\n
How is it different from retargeting ads?<\/h3>\n
Sources<\/h2>\n
\n