When a contact adds items to their cart or starts checkout but doesn't complete the purchase, it's the perfect opportunity to remind them and recover lost revenue.
Omnisend offers Abandoned Cart and Abandoned Checkout automation presets that automatically detect when contacts leave items behind and send them personalized recovery emails or SMS. These workflows help you bring contacts back to complete their purchase without additional manual work.
Abandoned Cart targets contacts who add items to their cart but don't start checkout.
Abandoned Checkout targets contacts who begin checkout but don't complete the purchase.
If a contact proceeds to checkout, they will exit the Abandoned Cart workflow and only receive Abandoned Checkout emails. We recommend enabling both to cover different stages of purchase intent.
Before You Begin
⚠️ Important: Abandoned Cart and Abandoned Checkout automations only work for identified contacts – those Omnisend can recognize. Omnisend identifies contacts when they:
Click a link in an Omnisend email
Sign up via an Omnisend form (popup, flyout, landing page)
Enter their email at checkout
Place their first order (WooCommerce only)
Anonymous visitors who add items to the cart without any of these actions cannot receive abandoned cart emails. To maximize tracking, use signup forms and send newsletters regularly.
Additional requirements and limitations:
Frequency setting blocks re-triggering. By default, each contact can trigger an Abandoned Cart or Checkout automation only once every 24 hours. This prevents multiple emails during the same browsing session. When testing, use different email addresses or temporarily disable the frequency setting in Workflow Settings → Frequency. If contatcs abandon carts multiple times in one day, only the first abandonment will trigger the automation unless you adjust this setting.
Phone numbers sync after first order. For new contacts, Omnisend syncs phone numbers only after their first order is placed. This means first-time abandoned carts can only send Email, not SMS. After the first order, phone numbers become available, and SMS will be sent on future abandoned carts.
Avoid segment-based audience filters. If you use a segment as an audience filter (e.g., "Started checkout but didn't place order"), contacts must already be in that segment when the trigger fires. Segments update with a 1–2 minute delay after an event occurs. To avoid trigger failures, use trigger filters instead of audience filters, or add a split block with a short delay after the trigger.
Retrospective triggering not supported. These automations cannot be triggered retrospectively. This means:
Contacts who abandoned carts before you enabled the automation will not receive emails.
The automation only captures abandonments that occur after it is activated.
Removed items still appear in emails. Omnisend doesn't track the "product removed from cart" event. Abandoned cart emails will display the products that were in the cart when the contact last added items or started checkout, even if they later removed some items.
Exit conditions apply only after a contact enters. If a contact changes email addresses mid-session (e.g., starts checkout with email #1, completes order with email #2) or has multiple tabs/sessions open, the original workflow may still send emails after order completion. This is a known limitation.
Disable native platform abandoned cart emails. If you use Shopify or BigCommerce, disable their native abandoned cart reminders to avoid overwhelming contacts with duplicate emails. Enabling Omnisend's automation does not automatically disable your platform's workflow – you must do this manually.
💬 New to Omnisend automations? Read our automation settings guide.
Abandoned Cart
Setup Process
To create the Abandoned Cart workflow, go to Automation → Create workflow. You will see a list of pre-built workflows.
Check the box next to Cart Abandonment → Pick Abandoned Cart preset → Customize workflow.
If this is your first time creating an Abandoned Cart workflow, start with one of the presets. All settings are already configured – after customizing your email content, your emails are ready to go.
Automation Trigger Settings
Abandoned Cart automation is triggered when the contact adds products to the cart and leaves your store before completing the purchase. To fulfill both conditions, Omnisend sets the Trigger and Exit Conditions:
Trigger – Added products to cart;
Exit Condition – Placed Order or Started Checkout.
Note: For Omnisend to track and send to a contact, they must be identified before they add items to their cart. See Before You Begin for the full list of identification methods.
All identified contacts will enter your workflow as soon as they leave an unattended cart in your store, but will exit if the exit condition is met (if they place an order or proceed to checkout). A contact who completes their order will exit the sequence at whichever step they have reached in the automation.
Note: Omnisend syncs phone numbers for Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce contacts only after their first order is placed. If a new contact enters their information at checkout but then leaves their cart, Omnisend can only send them an email – not an SMS. After their first order, phone numbers become available and SMS will be sent on future abandoned carts.
With the default settings, your Abandoned Cart sequence will be sent to all contacts. You can also add trigger filters and audience filters to target specific groups.
Abandoned Checkout
Setup Process
To create the Abandoned Checkout workflow, proceed to the Automations → click Create workflow → You will see a list of pre-built workflows.
All highlighted presets are dedicated to Abandoned Checkout. They differ only in the number of messages included. The first highlighted preset has three emails; the other has three emails and one SMS. Select the preset that works best for you.
Automation Trigger Settings
The Abandoned Checkout automation triggers when a contact adds products to the cart, proceeds to checkout, and leaves your store before completing the purchase. The preset trigger and exit conditions are:
Trigger – Started Checkout;
Exit Condition – Placed Order.
Trigger Filters
Under trigger filters, you can limit the automation to trigger only for contacts who match a specific condition.
All trigger filter events sync from your ecommerce store data, so you can limit the trigger based on accurate order data. For example, to send Abandoned Checkout automation only to contacts with more than two products in their cart: select the Product Quantity trigger filter → select the operator more than → type the number of products. The automation will only trigger for contacts with more than two products abandoned in their cart.
You can combine multiple trigger filters in a single automation. Use the AND operator if you want contacts to match all rules, or the OR operator if the automation should trigger for contacts who match any one of the rules.
Trigger Inactivity Time
The Trigger Inactivity Time setting defines how long a shopper must remain inactive in the store before Omnisend considers them to have finished shopping and triggers the automation. This helps ensure that emails reflect the shopper’s complete cart, not just the first item added.
Example: A shopper adds one product, leaves, then returns several minutes later to add more items. Without inactivity tracking, the email might trigger too soon and include only the first product.
Setting an inactivity period (for example, 1 hour) lets Omnisend wait until the shopper has been inactive for that time, capturing their full cart.
Adjust the inactivity period based on how your shoppers typically browse – use a shorter delay for quick sessions and a longer one if shoppers often return after a period of time.
Abandoned Checkout Value Split
The Abandoned Checkout Value Split preset helps you re-engage contacts who started checkout but didn’t complete their purchase. It automatically splits based on order value, so you can tailor messages to different contact groups.
Benefits
Increased Conversion Rates. Timely reminders and personalized offers can incentivize contacts to return and complete their purchase.
Contact Re-Engagement. This preset reconnects with contacts who showed purchase intent and creates a sense of urgency to return.
Customizability. The automation workflow is fully customizable – adjust the content, timing, and discounts to match your business needs.
Setup Process
Go to Automations → New Workflow → type: Cart Abandonment → Select the Abandoned Checkout Engagement Split preset → Customize Workflow.
Automation Triggers
The automation triggers for contacts who have initiated the checkout process but did not place an order. The exit condition is Placed order. The main difference from the general Abandoned Checkout preset is the split condition for sending tailored messages.
In the split settings, you can customize the split rule. The default rule is based on order total – you can edit the order value threshold or change it to a different split rule entirely.
After the split, messages are tailored according to the rule: contacts with a higher order value receive emails that include a discount, while others receive emails without one. The preset contains three emails spaced out with delays, but you can adjust both the timing and the content as needed.
Messages Sequence and Channels
In the Abandoned sequences, you can add all types of messages — Email, SMS, and Push notifications. To add any of these blocks to the Automation sequence, you must drag and drop them into the workflow.
You can personalize subject lines for your emails and SMS using custom properties synced from your store. The data is populated based on each contact's information collected at cart or checkout.
Note: In SMS, you can add the cart recovery link to direct contacts back to their checkout page.
Use the personalization variable [[event.raw.abandoned_checkout_url]] in your SMS message body. Omnisend shortens the URL automatically for SMS delivery. This variable works for both Abandoned Cart and Abandoned Checkout SMS steps.
The SMS will have the link populated once contacts trigger the automation.
Abandoned Cart Products in Emails
Sending a simple reminder might not be sufficient for your contacts to change their decision.
To edit the content of your email, click on the email block you created or the preset one and click Edit content.
To capture your contacts' attention, Omnisend pulls the products they abandoned and adds a CTA button leading to the checkout page. While the cart recovery link can be added to all messages (Email, SMS, and Push), the Abandoned Products block can only display products in email messages.
The Abandoned Products item brings the products your contacts were browsing into the email content. If you used the Abandoned Cart preset or set the automation trigger to Abandoned Cart, you will see this block in your email content or be able to add it from the content items panel.
Once your email is sent, it will be populated with the abandoned products' images, descriptions, titles, and links.
Note: The "Shop Now" button inside the Abandoned Products block links to the individual product page, not to the contact's full cart. To send contacts back to their cart with all abandoned items, add a separate button to your email and set its link to the personalization variable [[event.raw.abandoned_checkout_url]].
Best practice is to use both: the Abandoned Products block to display the items and a separate "Complete your purchase" button with the cart recovery link.
Cart Recovery Link
Apart from the Abandoned Products block, you can add a button with the cart recovery link. The link can be added via personalization, as shown in the screenshot below. This button leads each contact to their personalized checkout page with the products they abandoned. It is added to abandoned cart automation email presets by default.
Note: Test emails sent from the email editor will not populate this link, as no event data exists for test sends. To verify the link works correctly, trigger the automation by adding products to your cart in your store and abandoning the session.
You can also add this link to other block settings – for example, to the Redeem Discount button on the Discount Content block.
⚠️ Important: If you send a test email, the Abandoned Cart Products block will not be populated with products or store links, as it is a test email with no event data. The best way to test the flow is to trigger the sequence from your store.
Advanced Targeting Settings
You can further tailor your automation by targeting messages to specific contacts. There are two ways to do this: using audience filters in the trigger block or a separate split block.
Audience Filters
Audience filters are checked at the same time the contact triggers your automation. If you want to filter out contacts at the first stage, this is the best option. You can filter contacts based on their personal data, including tags, segments, and more.
Note: If contacts do not meet the audience filters at the time the automation is triggered, they will not enter the automation. If you'd like to filter contacts at later stages – for example, after a message is sent or once contacts enter a segment – use a split block instead, as you can delay when the filter is checked.
Conditional Split
The split condition can be verified with a delay at any stage of the automation. You may want to use a split after an email is already sent to everyone who entered the automation. With a split, you can divide contacts who match the selected rule and those who don't into different paths with different journeys.
To add a split, drag and drop it into the automation sequence:
With splits, you can target contacts based on:
Trigger and trigger filters (cart value, products, quantity, variants, etc.)
Contact properties (segments, tags, country, and custom properties)
Message engagement (opened and clicked message)
💬 Check the dedicated instructions for more information on each of these block settings:
Improve Performance with A/B Testing
After you turn on the automation, we recommend measuring its performance. A/B testing is the best way to identify how your contacts respond to every variation in your sequence content.
When adding an A/B test, decide what you'd like to test. For example, if you want to find the subject line that generates the most sales, you can send two different emails with different subject lines to see which one drives more revenue. In the following example, the best send time is being tested by sending the same message with two different delays.
💡 Tip: If your open rate is high but the conversion rate is low, test new content items for your emails. Try adding personalization (like the contact's name or product recommendations), making your call-to-action clearer, and offering incentives such as discounts, free shipping, or limited-time deals.
Testing Abandoned Cart or Checkout Automations
If you only want to check the message's layout in the email editor, you can preview your email with a test contact.
If you'd like to check the email in your inbox, please note that you need to trigger a real email. Test emails do not populate the abandoned cart block as they're sent to a test contact with no event data.
To test with a real email, go to your store → add products to your cart to trigger the Abandoned Cart flow, or proceed to checkout to trigger the Abandoned Checkout flow. To speed up the process, reduce the trigger inactivity time. Add an Audience Filter to the automation trigger settings to ensure the workflow doesn't trigger for your real contacts during testing.
Note: Due to the Frequency setting, each contact can trigger only one Abandoned Cart or Checkout workflow within 24 hours. This prevents the workflow from triggering multiple times in the same browsing session. To test repeatedly, either disable this setting in Workflow Settings → Frequency or use a different email address for each test. Remember to re-enable the frequency setting before going live.
We recommend starting a new session each time you test the workflow. The best way to do this is to open your store in an incognito browser window.
Native Abandoned Cart Workflows
Using abandoned cart reminders in both Omnisend and your store platform (applicable for Shopify and BigCommerce) is not recommended. When these two features overlap, they will overwhelm your contacts. Before enabling the Abandoned Cart flow in Omnisend, ensure your cart abandonment workflow is disabled on your store platform.
⚠️ Important: Enabling the Abandoned Cart flow in Omnisend does not automatically disable your store platform's flow. You must disable it manually.
FAQ
What is the difference between Abandoned Cart and Abandoned Checkout? Abandoned Cart triggers when a contact adds items to their cart but leaves before starting checkout. Abandoned Checkout triggers when a contact begins checkout but does not complete the purchase. Run both at the same time – when a contact moves from cart to checkout, they automatically exit the Abandoned Cart workflow and enter the Abandoned Checkout workflow, so they will not receive duplicate emails.
Why isn't my abandoned cart automation sending emails?
Check the following in order: (1) Is the contact identified? Omnisend can only track contacts with a cookie placed by a previous email click, form submission, or checkout email entry. Anonymous visitors cannot be tracked. (2) Did the contact start checkout? This exits them from the Abandoned Cart workflow. (3) Is the 24-hour frequency limit blocking a retest? Use a different email address or temporarily disable the frequency setting. (4) Is the automation set to Active?
Which variable should I use for the cart recovery button in my email or SMS?
Use [[event.raw.abandoned_checkout_url]]. This variable works in both Abandoned Cart and Abandoned Checkout emails and SMS messages. Despite the word "checkout" in the name, it populates with the correct recovery link for whichever workflow sends the message. It will not populate in test emails – trigger the automation from your store to verify.
Why does the "Shop Now" button take contacts to a product page instead of their cart?
The Abandoned Products block's built-in "Shop Now" button links to the individual product page by design. To send contacts back to their full cart, add a separate button and set its link to [[event.raw.abandoned_checkout_url]].
Why did a contact receive an abandoned cart email after placing an order?
If a contact triggers "Added product to cart" more than once in a short period, each event creates a separate workflow instance. An order placed between those events exits one instance but may not cancel the other in time. To reduce this risk, add a delay of at least 30 minutes before your first message to give the order event time to sync and trigger the exit condition.
I added a new email to my sequence, but contacts already in the workflow aren't receiving it. Why?
Contacts who entered the workflow before you made the edit follow the original sequence. Only contacts who enter after the change is saved will go through the updated version.
Will the Abandoned Cart sequence be sent to non-subscribed contacts?
Yes, but you can manage contact statuses under the workflow channel settings, where you decide who can enter your automation: subscribers, non-subscribers, and/or unsubscribers.
Is it possible to not show a specific product in the Abandoned Cart email? Choosing which products can or cannot be shown in the Abandoned Products content block is not possible. You can only decide not to trigger the workflow for specific products.
💬 Reach out anytime! Our support team is available 24/7 via in-app chat or at [email protected].