How it works
How to size your cart recovery opportunity
Pull your abandonment numbers
In Shopify: Reports > Customer behavior > Abandoned checkouts. In WooCommerce: install Abandoned Cart Lite. You need monthly cart starts that didn't convert.
Check your current recovery rate
Klaviyo, Omnisend, and Shopify Email all report this. Enter it as your current rate, then see the FAQ below for what a good rate looks like.
Set a realistic target
Aim for +5 to +10 percentage points over your current rate. Realistic targets come from adding reviews to emails, timing sequences better, and offering the right incentive.
What actually lifts cart recovery rates
The email copy, timing, and incentive matter more than the platform.
First email: 1 hour after abandonment
Longest lift comes from the first email sent within 60 minutes of abandonment, while the shopper is still in buying mode. 4-hour and 24-hour follow-ups still recover carts, but that first hour usually does the most.
Product reviews in the email
Adding 2-3 real customer reviews of the specific product they abandoned gives shoppers a reason to come back that a plain 'come back' email does not. Shoppers often abandon because they're not sure, reviews close that doubt.
Save the discount for email 3
Offering a coupon in email 1 trains shoppers to abandon for the discount. Email 1 and 2 should rely on reviews, social proof, and product details. Only email 3 (24+ hours later) should include an incentive.
Flow timing: 1 hour, 24 hours, 72 hours
A three-email sequence over 3 days covers most recoverable carts. Longer sequences have diminishing returns and annoy non-buyers. Keep the sequence tight.
SMS adds incremental lift
For customers who opted into SMS, adding a text 2-4 hours after abandonment lifts total recovery by 5-10 percentage points over email-only flows. Attentive, Postscript, and Klaviyo SMS all support this.
More free tools
All tools →FAQ
Questions, answered
10-15% is average for basic automated flows. 20-25% is achievable with well-tuned sequences (Klaviyo + reviews + proper timing). Above 25% is top-decile territory and usually involves SMS, dynamic product content, and 3+ email cadence.
Three is the sweet spot. First at 1 hour (reminder + product), second at 24 hours (reviews + urgency), third at 72 hours (discount). More than three has diminishing returns and annoys non-buyers who may block you.
Only in email 3 if at all. Offering in email 1 trains shoppers to abandon for the discount. If you never offer one, you lose some recoverable carts but protect full-price sales. Test both approaches for 30 days each and compare net revenue.
Klaviyo consistently outperforms Shopify Email and Mailchimp for abandoned cart flows. Reasons: dynamic product blocks, real-time split-testing, integration depth with Shopify. Cost is higher but ROI usually justifies it for stores with 500+ abandonments/month.
A session where the shopper added at least one item to cart but didn't complete checkout within a defined window (usually 1-24 hours). In Shopify, it's specifically tracked as 'abandoned checkouts' when they entered email at the checkout step. Anonymous cart adds (no email) can't be recovered via email.
Put real reviews in your cart recovery emails
Remind shoppers why they wanted the product. WiserReview makes your product reviews available to Klaviyo, Omnisend and other email platforms.
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