How to create an abandoned cart email automation

When you integrate your MailerLite account with WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Shoper, Wix or use our e-commerce API, you will find e-commerce automation triggers available in your workflow editor. One of these triggers is Abandoned cart.

When you select the Abandoned cart trigger, the workflow will trigger when a subscriber adds items to their cart but leaves before proceeding to checkout.

To create an abandoned cart email automation:

1. Navigate to the Automations page.

2. Click Create workflow.

3. In the left sidebar of your workflow editor, scroll down to the E-commerce triggers.

4. Select Abandoned cart.

5. Select the amount of time after cart abandonment before you want your workflow to trigger.

6. Drag and drop an Email to add an email step.

7. Edit your email name, subject, and sender information in the sidebar.

8. In the sidebar, click the Design email button.

9. Create your abandoned cart email from scratch, or choose a template from our template gallery.

10. Once you’ve finished designing your email, click Done editing.

11. Activate your workflow.

Your abandoned cart automation is active and ready to go! For further insight, check out these 10 amazing abandoned cart examples to increase sales.

When a shopper triggers an abandoned cart workflow, you can track the status of the cart in our Automation Activity.

Queued

• Subscriber - Subscriber who triggered email;

• Scheduled for - The next email to be sent (i.e. Abandoned cart message)

• Date/Time - Time when the next step will be initiated.

Completed

• Subscriber - Subscriber who triggered email;

• Date/Time - Time when subscriber completed the sequence.

Canceled

• Subscriber - Subscriber who triggered automation;

• Reason - Reason why the subscriber was canceled from the sequence;

• Step - Step on which the subscriber was canceled from the sequence;

• Date/Time - Time when the subscriber was canceled from the sequence.

Since your workflow might have more than one step, we check the status of the cart before each step in the workflow sequence. Don’t worry, your subscribers won’t get a recovery email if they proceeded to checkout or the purchase was completed.

If the subscriber proceeded to checkout, the subscriber will appear under the status Canceled. No further steps in the workflow are triggered.

If the user completes the sequence without proceeding to checkout, they will appear under the status Completed.

If your abandoned cart workflow isn’t triggering as expected, review the following checklist to identify potential issues.

✅ Basic setup requirements

• The e-commerce integration (WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Wix, Shoper, e-commerce API) must be fully set up before the cart is abandoned.

• The automation must be active when the cart is abandoned.

• The customer must be logged into their store account. Guest customers cannot trigger the automation, as they only enter their email at checkout.

📨 Marketing opt-in requirements

To comply with email marketing regulations, shoppers must give permission to receive marketing communications even for abandoned cart emails.

👤 Subscriber status and eligibility

• Only active subscribers on your MailerLite list can receive abandoned cart emails.

• Unsubscribed contacts cannot trigger automations.

• If a customer uses an email that’s already on your subscriber list, the automation can still trigger immediately.

• If a first-time buyer opts into marketing, they’ll be added to your subscriber list and become eligible for the workflow right away.

• If a customer does not log into their store account, they cannot trigger abandoned cart automation.
  
  

⚙️ Still not working?

• Confirm that your integration is synced and sending real-time updates to MailerLite.

• If you’re using double opt-in for integrations, ensure the subscriber confirmed their subscription before testing.

Check your subscriber against these common scenarios: