By Stanislaus Martins, Founder – Drinkmata.ng | Former VP, Growth Marketing – Jumia Nigeria
Cart abandonment is one of the major silent killers when you talk about e-commerce. It’s that annoying moment when a customer adds products/services to their shopping cart, gets your hopes pumped up, and then just as fast, disappears. As someone who’s lived e-commerce growth at the highest level with Jumia Nigeria, and now on a more intimate level with my passion project Drinkmata.ng, I have learned a few things about how to win at that last-mile conversion battle.
As VP for Growth Marketing at Jumia Nigeria (Actually, I was also Head of Partnerships, Advertising and Performance during my time there 😇), I managed cross-functional teams across Onsite, Paid Media, SEO and CRM. Each of these channels played a key role in reducing cart abandonment and driving actual conversions.
Onsite/Website Optimization
We made it our mission to reduce friction across the purchase journey.
- Introduced what I would call smart nudges (like “Only 2 left”) on product pages to create a sense of urgency
- Deployed exit-intent popups with limited-time discounts. This proved to be one of the top performers. With this, we typically A/B tested different offers here based on the user’s shopping habit or current cart.
- We also played around with gamifying the checkout page and return some mixed results – Spin the wheel to get an extra 5% off as an example
- A/B tested everything from button colors to CTA copy. With e-commerce, you should be always experimenting, A/B testing as habits changes and what worked today might not work in a month’s time.
These micro-improvements helped us reduce drop-off rates by double digits in high-traffic categories.
CRM Retargeting
We built out automated cart abandonment flows using personalized email and push notifications.
- A shopper leaves a ₦12,000 tech accessory in their cart? 2 hours later, they get a message like:
“Still thinking about that power bank? It’s selling fast!” - If they don’t convert in 24 hours, a limited offer coupon kicks in.
This re-engagement flow led to a 20% uplift in recoveries for high-margin SKUs. - If you don’t have CRM integrated at this level in your e-commerce store, the truth is that you haven’t really started e-commerce yet. The Fact that this a channel you already own, with users already in your database makes this priceless. CRM retargeting drives one of the most cost effective conversions available. While we had a more complex system while at Jumia, you can create very complex flows with solutions like Klaviyo like I am doing with my passion project drinkmata.ng
Paid Reinforcement
With the Paid team, we ran dynamic product ads via Facebook and Google targeting abandoned cart audiences with the exact products they left behind. While there are tools like Criteo that claim to do this much better, we did fine with native tools from Meta and Google
- We also scaled WhatsApp click-to-cart campaigns with personalized agent follow-up for high-value customers.
- Combined with CRM, this multichannel approach proved to be a game-changer.
Fast forward to today, I am taking those big-league lessons and applying them to my own venture project — Drinkmata.ng, a Nigerian e-commerce store offering curated drink combos and quick delivery. In only a few months, we are already working closely with some of the biggest players in the drinks space in Nigeria
Even as a smaller business, I’m seeing real traction using similar strategies:
- Cart recovery emails are now native to our stack. Short, witty, and hyper-localized copy resonates better. We are optimizing this every time.
- Gamified coupons (e.g., “Spin to get 5–10% off your order”) for those who stall at checkout.
- Onsite urgency elements, like flash countdown timers and low-stock indicators, have driven quick impulse buys.
- And of course, targeted retargeting across Instagram, Google, CRM, WhatsApp is delivering solid ROAS.
Still early days at Drinkmata.ng but we keep pushing
Reducing cart abandonment is about removing doubt, reinforcing trust, increasing desire, and shortening the distance between “I want this” and “I’m buying this.” Whether you’re Jumia or Drinkmata, the principles are the same. What changes is your ability to stay agile, test, learn, and adapt – and do it all over again.
Stanislaus Martins is a seasoned marketing, e-commerce and technology leader. He is the founder of Drinkmata.ng. He previously served as VP of Growth Marketing at Jumia Nigeria, where he led the Onsite, Paid Media, and CRM teams.
