Remind shoppers who left checkout
Send a reminder email to a shopper who gave their email at your shop checkout and didn't pay: setup, who it never reaches, and where the numbers are.
- automations
- checkout
- shop
- products
When someone starts buying a product from your shop and doesn't pay, you can send them a reminder email that brings them back to it. Reminders run as an automation, so they need the Creator plan or higher.
How it works
Every shop checkout asks for the shopper's email before the payment form opens, on every plan and in every country. A member who is signed in isn't asked, because we already have their address, and neither is someone who comes through a form set to charge on submit. Free products have their own claim form and aren't part of this. If 30 minutes pass and they haven't paid, they count as having left the checkout. A switched-on reminder journey can then email them.
Start from the template
Go to Emails, then Automations, then New automation, and pick Bring back a checkout. It sets up the trigger and one email for you, and opens as a draft: nothing is sent until you turn it on. The Send them a reminder button on the Orders tab opens Automations too.
To build your own instead, click the trigger and choose Leaves checkout without paying in the Shop group.
Choose the product (optional)
Which product (optional) limits the journey to one product. Leave it empty to cover every product. A free product can't be picked, because nobody checks out of one.
Each person is reminded once per product. If you run a journey for one product and another for any product, the one-product journey gets first claim on that product's checkouts. Someone who left two different products can be reminded about each, but never more than one email a day.
Add a discount (optional, owner only)
Offer to include (optional) attaches one of your product offers. Make a Product offer first under Offers (see Run an offer). Give it a code if your email shows
{offerCode}, and an end date if it shows{offerEnds}. An end date and a limit on uses are a good idea either way. Everyone who gets the email gets the same offer, and the same code if it has one, and the link back brings the offer along. An email that shows the offer is skipped if the offer has ended or run out by the time it would go. Only the community owner can choose the offer.Write the email
In the email editor, these merge tags fill in what each person left behind. They work only in an email sent by a journey that starts when someone leaves checkout.
{productTitle}is the product's name (under From the purchase).{productPrice}is its full price (under From the checkout).{checkoutLink}is a link back to the product's page in your shop, carrying the offer when there is one (under From the checkout). Use it as the button's destination.{offerCode}is the offer's code (under From the checkout).{offerPrice}and{offerEnds}(under From the offer) show the discounted price and the day it ends. All three fill in only when the trigger names an offer.
A product block has a Show choice. Pick Their item and the card shows the product each person left, with the offer's price when the trigger names one. Keep it short: what they left, and the way back.
Add a wait (optional)
The trigger fires 30 minutes after they left. Add a Wait step if you want a longer delay before the email.
Turn it on
It only picks up checkouts started after you switch it on. Older checkouts are never reminded. If the product has been taken off sale or is free, or the offer has ended, Turn on tells you which and won't go live.
What we never do
Remind the same person twice about the same product.
Remind anyone who has bought it. That includes buyers who were later refunded or disputed the charge, and buyers who paid with a different spelling of the same address or from the same account.
Send any address more than one reminder email a day from your community. A second one that day is skipped.
Resend a reminder that failed to send hours later. It is dropped, because by then they may have paid.
Remind somebody at an address they rejected. Pressing Change on the checkout drops that address.
Where you're based matters
If your community is based in the EU, EEA, UK or Canada, the checkout shows the Email me occasional updates box (it reads "Email me occasional updates from" and your community's name). That same box decides reminders. It starts ticked: a shopper who leaves it ticked can be reminded, and a shopper who unticks it never is. There is no second box. Anywhere else, no box is shown, and a reminder can go to anyone who gave their email, didn't pay and hasn't unsubscribed from you.
What it covers
Products in your shop only. Payment links, event tickets, paid bookings and free products aren't covered.
Your numbers
The Orders tab shows Abandoned checkouts, last 30 days: how many shoppers left without paying, how many got a reminder, and how many came back and bought. Each number is part of the one before it, and it shows counts only, never who. The line is on every plan, so you can read it before you turn a reminder on. See Orders and delivery.
If you would rather have your assistant build it, see Set up checkout reminders with your assistant.
Common questions
Does a reminder count toward my monthly emails?
Yes, like every journey email. If your emails run out, reminders pause with the rest of your journeys until your allowance resets. See Your send allowance.
Does someone who left checkout join my email list?
Not by leaving. Once a reminder journey takes them they become a contact, shown as "started a checkout", but they aren't opted in to your broadcasts. Someone who was already a contact keeps the status they had. The reminder journey is what emails them, and an unsubscribe stops that too. See Where your signups go.
Can a journey send more than one reminder?
You can build a journey with more than one email, and the template starts you with one. An address gets at most one reminder email a day from your community, so a second email the same day is skipped. See Send a follow-up sequence after someone signs up for how journeys are built.
I turned it on and nothing has gone out.
Check these: did anyone start a checkout after you switched it on? Has it been at least 30 minutes, plus any wait you added? Did the shopper untick the updates box (EU, EEA, UK and Canada only)? Has the offer the email shows ended? Had they already bought it, or already had a reminder today? The journey's Activity page names the reason an email was skipped, such as Reminded today, They bought it or Offer not in effect.
What happens if I downgrade below Creator?
The journey switches back to a draft, like every automation. Shoppers are still asked for their email at checkout, and the Orders tab keeps counting abandoned checkouts.