I was eating lunch with my wife earlier, trying to have a halfway decent conversation while baby Nora babbled away in her bassinet.
Between bites, my wife hit me with an interrogation:
“Why didn’t you tell them about Schiphol?”
“What? Watch your language in front of Nora,” I said, feigning offense. “And what are you even talking about?”
She gave me the look.
“Schiphol, the airport in Amsterdam. That would’ve been a great story for your email yesterday.”
Ah. That Schiphol.
How We Almost Missed a Flight by Taking the Wrong Exit
Schiphol is Amsterdam’s main airport, and last year, we were flying out of there after a trip to Paris and Brussels.
We got to the airport hours early, grabbed some food, and parked ourselves near the gate. No rush, right?
Except we nearly missed the flight.
See, Schiphol has two tracks for departures:
- One track goes straight to the gates with minimal waiting—this is for flights to the EU, US, Canada, etc.
- The other track is for flights that require extra passport control and security checks.
That day, we took the wrong track.
What followed was an hour of standing in endless lines, technically “leaving” the EU, being told we needed to re-enter the EU, sprinting through the terminal, and getting to the gate with seconds to spare.
All because we missed a single, blindingly obvious sign:
“Connecting flights within EU keep left.”
We’d walked past it at least ten times.
Distracted Shoppers
I mentioned in a recent post that when customers visit your website, their IQ drops by half.
Happens in real life, too.
Sometimes, people aren’t dumb—they’re just distracted.
This is exactly why cart abandonment happens in e-commerce.
Think about it: The majority of customers who add something to their cart but don’t buy aren’t doing it because they changed their minds.
Most of the time, they:
- Got distracted.
- Weren’t 100% sure what to do next.
- Assumed they’d come back later.
Just like us at Schiphol.
Luckily, the fix for e-commerce is a lot easier than sprinting through an airport.
Usually, all it takes is one simple email sequence.
How to Recover Lost Sales with One Simple Fix
A well-timed cart abandonment email does exactly what Schiphol’s sign failed to do: It gets people back on track.
It reminds them:
- “Hey, you left this in your cart.”
- “Still interested? Here’s a special offer.”
- “Time’s running out—grab it before it’s gone.”
It’s one of the easiest and highest-ROI marketing plays you can run.
And I can write it for you.
Don’t Let Customers Get Lost
If you don’t have a cart abandonment sequence, you’re losing money every day—just like we nearly lost our flight.
Want me to fix that for you? Join my email list.
I’ll send you no-BS strategies that make your messaging so clear, customers can’t help but take action.
📩 Sign up here
