Available on the Free plan.
The Abandoned cart flow emails customers who added products to their cart and left your store before starting checkout. It reaches customers your Abandoned checkout flow can't, because they never got as far as checkout.
How it works
The Abandoned cart flow starts when a customer you already know by email adds products to their cart and leaves without starting checkout.
The flow sends 2 emails. These are the default delays, and you can change both:
Reminder — 4 hours after the cart last changed.
Last reminder — 20 hours after the Reminder.
If the customer changes their cart before the Reminder sends, the wait starts again.
Each email shows up to 4 products from the cart. The Complete your order button opens checkout with all the cart's products that are still for sale.
We skip an email if, by the time it's due, the customer has done any of the following:
Placed an order.
Started checkout.
Emptied their cart.
Started a newer cart.
You can't turn these off.
We also skip risky-looking emails for 24 hours after your store gets 5 hard bounces from likely bot-made addresses within 24 hours. This covers all of your abandoned flows together (checkout, cart, and browse), not just this one. Shoppers who've ordered from you before, or whose address already has a good sending history, keep getting their emails throughout. The skip reason shows as Likely bot contact.
To see what's in a customer's cart, the Abandoned cart flow adds a small tracker (a Shopify web pixel) to your storefront. This tracker is shared with the Browse abandoned flow: we add it when you enable the first of the two flows and remove it only after you disable both.
How cart tracking works
Cart tracking follows these rules:
Customers are only tracked after you know their email. We link a customer's browser when they sign up through your Judge.me Email sign-up popup or ask to be notified when a product is back in stock. Until then, the cart stays in the customer's browser and we don't receive it.
Customers must accept tracking. The tracker only runs for customers who accepted both analytics and marketing cookies in your store's cookie banner.
Only subscribed customers get emails. We never email a customer who isn't subscribed to email marketing.
Each browser has its own cart. A cart started on another device or browser is a separate cart that we can't see.
Data is deleted automatically. We delete cart data after 90 days. When a customer asks to be deleted, their cart data is deleted too.
You can see the tracker in your Shopify admin under Settings > Customer events.
Considerations
The sign-up popup matters. Most customers are identified through the popup. If your popup app embed is off, the flow has very few customers to email.
Cookie consent limits reach. In regions where your store asks for cookie consent, we only track customers who accept analytics and marketing cookies. If your store requires consent but shows no cookie banner, we track nobody in that region.
Logging in or reaching checkout doesn't identify a customer. Customers who reached checkout are covered by the Abandoned checkout flow instead.
A customer can't enter the flow again for 24 hours. This applies even if they start a new cart.
Old carts aren't recovered. Carts started before you activate the flow never enter it. After you reactivate the flow, nothing sends for the first few hours.
Prices shown are your catalog prices. Each product card shows the product's lowest price in your catalog, which can differ from the variant in the cart.
Products no longer for sale are left out. If a product is deleted or unpublished by the time an email sends, we leave it out of the email and the button. If no products are left, we skip the email.
Only 1 sender should send abandoned cart emails. If Shopify Messaging or another app also sends abandoned cart emails, turn theirs off so customers don't get duplicate emails.
The Abandoned checkout flow runs alongside this one. Once a customer starts checkout, their cart emails stop. If they then leave checkout after entering their email, the Abandoned checkout flow can email them instead.
Set up the Abandoned cart flow
Step 1: Enable the Sign-up popup app embed
The Sign-up popup app embed shows your Judge.me Email sign-up popup in your store. Most customers are identified through the popup, so without it the Abandoned cart flow has very few customers to email. If the Abandoned cart flow page shows a Your sign-up popup isn't showing on your storefront banner, the app embed is off.
To enable the Sign-up popup app embed:
From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes.
Find the theme that you want to edit, and then click Edit theme.
Click the App embeds icon (the third icon) on the top left.
In the search bar, enter "Judge.me Sign-up popup".
Turn on the Sign-up popup app embed toggle.
Click Save on the top right.
Step 2: Turn on the Abandoned cart flow
Available on the Free plan
The steps to turn on the Abandoned cart flow depend on whether your store has the flow builder, which is in early access and is available only to certain stores. Most stores don't have it yet.
To turn on the Abandoned cart flow (for most stores):
From your Judge.me Email app, go to Flows.
Click Abandoned cart.
Click Activate flow.
In the Activate "Abandoned cart" flow? window, click Activate flow.
If you don't see Activate flow at the top of the flow page, your store has the flow builder.
To turn on the Abandoned cart flow in the flow builder:
From your Judge.me Email app, go to Flows.
Click Abandoned cart.
If you have unsaved changes, click Save.
Click Turn on.
In the Activate "Abandoned cart" flow? window, click Activate flow.
Step 3: Allow cart tracking
To allow cart tracking for the Abandoned cart flow:
When Shopify asks for permission to add the tracker to your storefront, approve the request.
If you decline, the flow stays off. Click Activate flow again, or Turn on in the flow builder, and approve the request.
Step 4: Turn off other abandoned cart emails
Available on the Free plan
If the Abandoned cart flow page doesn't show a Turn off Shopify's abandoned cart email banner, skip this step.
To turn off Shopify's abandoned cart email for the Abandoned cart flow:
From your Shopify Messaging settings, turn off the abandoned cart email.
From your Judge.me Email app, on the Abandoned cart flow page, click I've turned it off.
Customize the Abandoned cart flow
Available on the Free plan
The steps to customize the Abandoned cart flow depend on whether your store has the flow builder, which is in early access and is available only to certain stores. Most stores don't have it yet. For everything else you can do in the flow builder, such as adding a split or moving emails, see Editing flows in the flow builder.
Change the delays
Each delay can be from 30 minutes to 14 days. The Reminder waits 4 hours after the cart last changed by default. The Last reminder waits 20 hours after the Reminder by default.
To change when an email in the Abandoned cart flow sends (for most stores):
From your Judge.me Email app, go to Flows.
Click Abandoned cart.
Click Edit delay on the email you want to change.
In the Delay field, enter the wait time.
If you don't see Edit delay, your store has the flow builder.
To change when an email in the Abandoned cart flow sends in the flow builder:
From your Judge.me Email app, go to Flows.
Click Abandoned cart.
Click the delay above the email you want to change.
In the Wait field, enter a number.
From the Unit dropdown, select minutes, hours or days.
Click Save.
In the flow builder, a delay can't be left empty on the Abandoned cart flow.
Edit the email content
You can edit the subject, text, button, and product cards like in any flow email. The Last reminder has a discount block. It's off by default.
To edit an email in the Abandoned cart flow (for most stores):
From your Judge.me Email app, go to Flows.
Click Abandoned cart.
Click the email you want to edit.
To edit an email in the Abandoned cart flow in the flow builder:
From your Judge.me Email app, go to Flows.
Click Abandoned cart.
Click the email you want to edit.
Click Edit email.
Add more emails
A new email starts with only the button and the cart products.
To add an email to the Abandoned cart flow (for most stores):
From your Judge.me Email app, go to Flows.
Click Abandoned cart.
Click + Add email.
For most stores, a flow can have up to 8 emails in total.
If you don't see + Add email, your store has the flow builder.
To add an email to the Abandoned cart flow in the flow builder:
From your Judge.me Email app, go to Flows.
Click Abandoned cart.
Click the + button where you want the email, and then select Email.
Click Save.
In the flow builder, a flow can have up to 100 steps, and each email, delay and split counts as a step. A new email gets a 1-day delay above it, unless a delay is already there.
Choose who enters the flow
To choose which customers enter the Abandoned cart flow (for most stores):
From your Judge.me Email app, go to Flows.
Click Abandoned cart.
Click Manage filters.
In the Entry filters section, add the filters you want.
Click Save.
If you don't see Manage filters, your store has the flow builder.
To choose which customers enter the Abandoned cart flow in the flow builder:
From your Judge.me Email app, go to Flows.
Click Abandoned cart.
Click the Trigger and conditions card at the top of the flow.
In the Entry filters section, click Edit.
Add the filters you want.
Click Done.
Click Save.
You can filter by any of the following:
Order count
Customer tags
Cart value
Cart contains product
Cart contains collection
Location
Stop emails with exit conditions
To stop emails in the Abandoned cart flow when a condition matches (for most stores):
From your Judge.me Email app, go to Flows.
Click Abandoned cart.
Click Manage filters.
In the Exit conditions section, add the conditions you want.
Click Save.
If you don't see Manage filters, your store has the flow builder.
To stop emails in the Abandoned cart flow when a condition matches in the flow builder:
From your Judge.me Email app, go to Flows.
Click Abandoned cart.
Click the Trigger and conditions card at the top of the flow.
In the Exit conditions section, click Edit.
Add the conditions you want.
Click Done.
Click Save.
We check exit conditions when each email is due to send. The always-on exits stay on, and you can't remove them.
Troubleshoot
A customer added to their cart but got no email
A customer added to their cart but got no email
The Abandoned cart flow only emails customers it can identify and who qualify. The customer may not be identified (no sign-up popup or back-in-stock sign-up in that browser), may not have accepted analytics and marketing cookies, may not be subscribed, or may have entered the flow in the last 24 hours. Carts started before you activated the flow never enter.
An email shows as skipped
An email shows as skipped
In the Abandoned cart flow, check the skip reason. Order placed, Checkout started, Cart emptied, Superseded by a newer cart, and Cart products unavailable mean the email was no longer needed or had nothing to show. Likely bot contact means your store had a burst of hard bounces (5 within 24 hours) across your abandoned flows, so Judge.me paused risky sends from your store for 24 hours to protect your sending reputation — known shoppers kept getting their emails during that time.
Delays won't save
Delays won't save
Each delay in the Abandoned cart flow must be between 30 minutes and 14 days. In the flow builder, a delay also can't be left empty.
The flow won't activate
The flow won't activate
Shopify's permission to add the tracker was declined. Click Activate flow again, or Turn on in the flow builder, and approve the request.
Customers got abandoned cart emails from more than 1 sender
Customers got abandoned cart emails from more than 1 sender
Turn off the abandoned cart email in your Shopify Messaging settings, or in the other app, so only the Abandoned cart flow sends.
Resources
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