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Abandoned Cart Template

Recover abandoned carts with automated emails

Abandoned Cart Template

Cart abandonment is one of the biggest revenue leaks in e-commerce. The Abandoned Cart template in Mailnaptic automatically sends reminder emails to shoppers who add items to their cart but leave without completing the purchase.

What the template includes

  1. Trigger: Site event — cart_abandoned event received from your website.
  2. Delay: Wait 1 hour (gives the shopper time to return on their own).
  3. Condition: Did the contact complete a purchase? (Check for a purchase_completed event.)
  4. Yes branch: End automation — no action needed.
  5. No branch: Send cart reminder email.
  6. Delay: Wait 24 hours.
  7. Condition: Did the contact complete a purchase?
  8. Yes branch: End automation.
  9. No branch: Send follow-up email with incentive (discount or free shipping).

Prerequisites

The abandoned cart automation requires site tracking to be installed on your website. The tracking snippet must send the following events:

  • cart_abandoned — Fired when a contact adds items to cart and leaves without purchasing.
  • purchase_completed — Fired when a purchase is completed, so the automation can check whether the cart was recovered.

See the Installing the Tracking Script article for setup instructions.

Customizing the emails

Email 1: Cart reminder

Send a friendly reminder that includes:

  • A clear subject line (e.g., "You left something behind").
  • An image or description of the abandoned items (if your event data includes product details).
  • A prominent "Complete your purchase" button linking back to the cart.
  • No discount in the first email — many shoppers will convert with just a reminder.

Email 2: Follow-up with incentive

For shoppers who did not respond to the first reminder:

  • Acknowledge that they may have been busy or undecided.
  • Offer a small incentive: 10% discount, free shipping, or a bonus item.
  • Create urgency: "This offer expires in 48 hours."
  • Include the same "Complete your purchase" CTA.

Timing adjustments

The default timing is 1 hour for the first email and 24 hours for the second. Depending on your products and audience:

  • Low-price impulse products: Shorten the first delay to 30 minutes.
  • High-consideration products: Extend the first delay to 4-6 hours and the second to 2-3 days.
  • Luxury or high-ticket items: Consider adding a third email at the 5-7 day mark with a personal touch.

Tracking recovery revenue

Monitor the automation's performance by tracking how many contacts complete a purchase after receiving an abandoned cart email. The automation run details show which step each contact reached, and you can correlate this with purchase events in your analytics.

Best practices

  • Always check for purchase completion before sending — nobody wants a cart reminder after they have already bought.
  • Limit the incentive to the second or third email to avoid training customers to always wait for a discount.
  • Use product images when possible — visual reminders are more effective than text alone.
  • Keep the emails short and action-oriented with a single clear CTA.

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