The usual way to do this would be to capture the user's details at registration and then detect the user via a cookie when they return to the site at a later date and retrieve their details from the database. If they abandon their basket, you can then contact them via email.

It certainly might be considered a bit intrusive if you capture their email early in the process and get them to opt-in and then target them via email if they don't complete the purchase process.

One alternative solution would be to use re-marketing with display advertising. Google and Criteo both offer this service. Basically, you'd add a snippet of code to the first step and one to the completion page and then bucket the users who start the purchase process but fail to complete.

You can then show branded ads to them on a huge range of other sites, which will hopefully jog their memory and get some of them to return to the site and complete the purchase.

Criteo allows you to put product images into its ads, so you can get the re-marketing very precise. I notice this in use on quite a lot of sites now, and it's almost becoming hard to escape the ads of some companies using the technique, so presumably it must work fairly well.

Hi, RedEye work with brands such as Haven, Butlins, OnTheBeach, DirectLine Holiday, Warner Breaks, MacDonalds Hotels... all of whom we run basket abandonment emails and behavioural programmes for. You can have a look at the case studies for all of these on our website, www.RedEye.com. If you want to discuss in more detail, how to etc, contact me direct. Free advice, no sell. Matthew

By coincidence, I noticed one of our competitors doing this the other day. I entered my email address but did not submit the form. Thirty minutes later an email arrived asking me whether I'd experienced a problem.

It was quite well written, but did seem a bit intrusive to me, particularly as the email was sent asynchronously and I didn't submit it to them.

While they might be measuring the number of people they convert through this form of remarketing, I wonder whether they're also measuring the number of people who they frighten off entirely.

The software being used was a third-party one, but I'm afraid the name escapes me...

Sorry, I didn't explain that very well, Ashley. I partially entered some details into the form, including my email, but did not press submit. The data was submitted to the third-party asynchronously via Ajax.

The first time it happened I thought I must have been mistaken, so went back and tried it again with another email address, before eventually having a poke around in their code to see how they were doing it.

Clever, but seems too intrusive to me.

Janet - hi

I have just come across this thread - this is somethine that we have recently done for a financial services client. If this is something that you still require please feel free to get in contact.

www.pilotbean.com