Earlier promotional reminders were associated with stronger engagement in a study of 1,074 customers, while later retargeting messages were linked to weaker stated purchase intention.
Researchers Tanu Jain and Ishani Patharia Chopra examined the content and timing of AI-generated messages directed at shoppers who had left items in an online cart. Their 2026 study considered click-through, website revisits and purchase intentions.
The results concern the people and messages studied. They do not establish a universal number of hours to wait before contacting a shopper, or prove that a reminder caused an extra purchase.
Different reminders make different requests
Retargeting is a way to reach people who have already interacted with a business. A cart reminder may show an item a visitor considered, present a promotional offer or draw attention to availability.
The researchers compared several forms of message, including promotional, scarcity-oriented, personalized and social-influence messages. Promotional and scarcity-oriented messages were linked to multiple responses, while other approaches had more specific relationships with the measures examined.
A promotion changes the price or another benefit. A scarcity message emphasizes limited availability. A personalized message can refer to information about the shopper or the item, while a social-influence message may refer to other people’s behavior.
These descriptions do not mean that every such claim is appropriate. A seller should be able to substantiate a limited-stock or limited-time claim and follow applicable advertising and privacy rules.
Clicks are not necessarily additional orders
Someone may click a reminder and purchase an item they already intended to buy. A platform can attribute that order to an ad even if the same purchase would have happened without it.
Our coverage of a mattress seller’s field experiment examined this question from a different angle. In that case, the researchers compared advertising strategies geographically to estimate their contribution to sales.
A retailer testing reminders can compare similar groups that receive different messages, including a group that receives none where feasible. It should track completed orders, margin after discounts and advertising costs, unsubscribes, complaints and repeat purchases.
How to interpret the findings
The Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services paper reports mixed-method analysis of 1,074 customers. It examined relationships among message type, timing and several behavioral measures, including stated purchase intention.
The accessible research summary does not provide a universal schedule or establish that a particular message will work in every product category. A store selling routine household goods may face a different purchase cycle from one selling expensive equipment.
For managers, the next decision is how to test content and timing against a comparable control, while checking whether the gain in completed, profitable orders justifies the contact.
