Make them curious, make them play: improving customer response to cart recovery emails

Purpose Improving customer responses to abandoned cart recovery emails (REs) can improve the revenue of online retailers. Hence, we test the effectiveness of utilitarian, low-engagement (ULE) appeals, namely price discounts, against hedonic, high-engagement (HHE) appeals, namely, curiosity and gamification, on customer attitudes and responses to REs. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through a scenario-based online experiment (n = 620) employing a 4 × 1 single-factor between-subjects design. Robustness was assessed (n = 347). Findings The study reveals that gamification is the most effective in enhancing customer attitudes and increasing the likelihood of cart recovery, followed by curiosity, which is more effective than price discounts. Most significantly, HHE appeals that made the reward-pursuing process affect-rich improved preferences for uncertain rewards or incentives, including delayed gratification. Research limitations/implications This study provides evidence that combining a HHE appeal with uncertain incentives and delayed gratification improves customer response. This contributes to existing knowledge on the drivers of the positive effects of uncertainty and expands our understanding of the motivating-uncertainty effect. Practical implications The findings offer online retailers more effective strategies than reminder messages or price discounts for recovering abandoned shopping carts. Originality/value The combination of (hedonic and utilitarian) appeals, (certain and uncertain) incentives and (immediate and delayed) gratification as tested in the present study has not yet been investigated. By suggesting that HHE appeals improve preferences for uncertain incentives and delayed gratification, this study highlights their significance in a world where ULE content, such as price discounts, is often paired with certain and immediate gratifications.