Why people leave in the first place
Before writing a single email, it helps to be honest about why carts get left behind. It is rarely because the customer changed their mind about the product. More often it is one of these:
- Something else needed their attention. The kettle boiled, the train arrived, a meeting started.
- They were comparing. Your tab was one of four.
- Delivery cost or timing surprised them at the last step.
- They weren't sure about size, fit, or whether it would actually work for them.
- Payday is Friday.
Every email in the flow should answer one of those. If it doesn't, it's just noise with a product photo on it.
Cart abandonment and checkout abandonment are not the same thing
A lot of brands run one flow for both. We always split them.
Someone who added to cart was browsing with intent. Someone who started checkout typed in their email, maybe their address, and got to within a click of paying. That second person is much warmer, and they usually left because of something specific on the checkout page: delivery price, payment options, or a surprise at the total.
So the checkout flow can be more direct and should deal with those friction points head on. The cart flow does more reassuring and more reminding. Run them as two separate flows, and make sure nobody gets both at once. If someone is in the checkout flow, they should drop out of the cart flow.
When to send
Timing matters more than clever copy. This is the rhythm we start most clients on, then tune from their data:
- Email one, 30 to 60 minutes after they leave. They are probably still thinking about it. A simple reminder does most of the work here.
- Email two, the next day. This is where you handle doubts: delivery, returns, reviews, sizing.
- Email three, two or three days later. Social proof, or genuine urgency if the stock really is running low.
- Email four, optional. A last nudge, and the only place an incentive might belong.
Four emails sounds like a lot until you remember they stop the moment someone buys. The people who get all four are the ones who needed all four.
What goes in each email
The reminder
Short. The product image, the name, the price, and one button that takes them straight back to their basket with everything still in it. No discount, no essay. A subject line like "Still thinking it over?" or simply the product name works better than anything clever.
The reassurance
Answer the questions that stop people buying. How long does delivery take? What happens if it doesn't fit? Is returning it a hassle? Pull in two or three real reviews for that product if you have them. This email tends to do surprisingly well because it deals with the actual reason people hesitate.
The proof
Show that other people bought it and were happy. If stock is genuinely low, say so. If it isn't, don't pretend. Fake scarcity gets noticed, and it costs you trust you'll need later.
The last nudge
Keep it light. "We'll keep your basket for a little longer" is enough. If you are going to offer something, this is the place for it, not email one.
Should you offer a discount?
Usually not straight away. If your first abandoned cart email always has 10% off, your regular customers learn that leaving a basket is how you get a code. You end up paying a discount on orders that would have happened anyway.
A few things that work better:
- Hold any incentive back until the third or fourth email.
- Only offer it to first time customers, and leave returning customers out.
- Try free delivery instead of money off. Delivery cost is one of the most common reasons people leave, so it answers the real problem.
- Scale it with basket value, so a small order doesn't get the same deal as a big one.
The technical bits people get wrong
- Check the tracking. On plenty of Shopify and Klaviyo setups, started checkout comes through by default but add to cart needs extra tracking turned on. If the event isn't firing, the flow never starts and nobody notices.
- Use a dynamic product block. The email should show the exact item they left, with the right image and price, not a generic "you left something behind" banner.
- Link back to a restored basket. Sending people to the homepage and making them find the product again loses sales.
- Exit people who buy. Add a filter so anyone who places an order since entering the flow stops getting emails. Getting "you forgot something" after you've paid is a bad look.
- Watch overlap. Make sure someone isn't getting a cart email, a browse abandonment email and a campaign on the same afternoon.
How to tell if it's working
Ignore open rates. Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates them, so they tell you very little now. Look at placed order rate and revenue per recipient for each email in the flow. If email three brings in almost nothing, cut it or rewrite it. If email one does most of the work, test sending it a little sooner.
Give any change at least a couple of weeks before you judge it. Abandoned cart volume swings with traffic, so one quiet weekend doesn't mean the new version is worse.
The short version
Split cart and checkout into two flows. Send the first email within an hour. Deal with the real reasons people hesitate before you reach for a discount. Make sure the tracking works and buyers drop out. Then judge it on orders, not opens.
Want this built for you?
We set up flows like this for eCommerce and B2B brands every week. Book a 30 minute call and we'll look at what you have running now and tell you where the money is slipping out. You'll leave with at least one fix, whether we work together or not.