How to send WooCommerce abandoned cart emails? A step-by-step guide

Sending WooCommerce abandoned cart emails is a successful and affordable way to recover abandoned carts.

Though many strategies exist to recover them, WooCommerce cart recovery emails boast a higher conversion potential than others.

These emails remind customers of what they left behind, address any doubts they might have, and provide the nudge they need to complete their purchase.

In this blog, we explain,

• When to send abandoned cart emails in WooCommerce?
• How to send WooCommerce abandoned cart emails?
• Examples of WooCommerce cart recovery emails

Why is WooCommerce abandoning cart emails the best recovery method?

To say that WooCommerce abandoned carts are prevalent is an understatement – nearly 70% of the carts are abandoned. The best cart recovery tool to combat this is WooCommerce abandoned cart emails.

The numbers say so, too.

• High Engagement Rate: Abandoned cart emails have an open rate of 45% – more than any typical marketing email. Out of that, 11% resulted in the recovery of the cart.
• High Conversion Rate: An effective abandoned cart email campaign can recover up to 15-20% of lost sales.

Related Reading: Explore 12 strategies to reduce cart abandonment in your ecommerce store with our detailed guide.

When to send abandoned cart emails in WooCommerce?

The timing of the WooCommerce abandoned cart emails plays a big role in increasing your cart recovery rate. It ensures you do not overwhelm the customer with repeated emails and prompts them to finish the purchase.

Also, sending multiple WooCommerce abandoned cart emails dramatically increases the cart recovery rate.

The best time to send WooCommerce abandoned cart emails are:

• Email 1: The Initial Reminder (After 1-3 hours of cart abandonment)
• Email 2: Offer an incentive (After 24 hours of cart abandonment).
• Email 3: Add a sense of urgency (After 48 hours of abandonment).
• Email 4: Social proof or asking for feedback (After 3 days of cart abandonment)
• Email 5: The last chance to grab the offer (After 5-7 days of cart abandonment)

How to send WooCommerce abandoned cart emails?

To send WooCommerce abandoned cart emails:

• Step 1: Install Retainful
• Step 2: Setup abandoned cart recovery workflow
  • Setting the triggers and entry rule
  • Setting the time delay for sending the email
• Step 3: Customize the abandoned cart email template
• Step 4: Setup abandoned cart email series
• Step 5: Test the email and go live.

Why Retainful is the best cart abandonment emails WooCommerce plugin?

• Has one-click cart recovery
• Boasts high cart recovery rate than any other tool in the market
• Effortless customization

Let’s see the steps to create a WooCommerce abandoned cart email series in Retainful.

Step 1: Install Retainful

From the WordPress plugin store, install Retainful and connect your WooCommerce store.

To send WooCommerce abandoned cart emails, log in to Retainful Dashboard, go to ‘Automation’ -> Create Workflow -> Choose ‘Abandoned Cart Recovery with dynamic coupon’.

Step 2: Setup abandoned cart recovery workflow

This WooCommerce abandoned cart plugin features an easy-to-setup email automation. It has only three elements that set the automation workflow in motion – triggers, wait time, and emails.

Triggers: The trigger lets you determine when a customer can enter the workflow. By default, the trigger is set to allow anyone who starts checkout at your store to enter into the workflow.

Wait time: The time delay after which you want to send the abandoned cart email once the cart is abandoned. Also, the time interval between the emails.

Email block: Lets you edit the subject line, preview text, and email content.

To set up WooCommerce abandoned cart email workflow,

• Under the Triggers section, configure the Entry Rule – to restrict customers from entering the workflows if they have entered the workflow previously.
• Select ‘Skip if the customer entered the workflow’ -> In the last -> Enter the days and click on ‘Add’.
• Set up the wait time to send the first abandoned cart email.

Step 3: Customize the abandoned cart email template

To customize the WooCommerce abandoned cart email template,

• Click on the email block
• Edit the abandoned cart email subject line and preview the text
• Click ‘Edit email content’ to edit every element and content of the abandoned cart email template.

Retainful has a beginner-friendly email editor and ready-made templates that allow you to send on-brand abandoned cart emails in WooCommerce, even if you are not a seasoned designer.

You can customize WooCommerce abandoned cart email elements like:

• Logo
• Background color
• Cart Summary
• Cart items
• CTA to the checkout page

The cart summary – images of the items, price, product title are included dynamically. You don’t have to worry about including them manually for every customer.

Retainful generates a unique cart recovery URL for each abandoned cart in WooCommerce.

The Call-to-Action (CTA) button in the default templates is already linked to the cart recovery URL.

Step 4: Setup abandoned cart email series

The WooCommerce abandoned cart email series in Retainful is:

• Email 1: A Gentle Reminder
• Email 2: Added incentive (with dynamic coupon)
• Email 3: Reminder about the coupon

For example, you can include a dynamic coupon in the second email of the WooCommerce abandoned cart email flow.

Step 5: Test the email and go live.

At the top of the email editor, click the ‘Send Test Email’ button to ensure all the WooCommerce cart abandonment email content displays as expected in your inbox.

Click ‘Start Workflow’ to set the workflow live. From hereon, the customers who abandoned the carts will enter this workflow automatically and receive the automated WooCommerce abandoned cart email flow.

Examples of WooCommerce cart recovery emails

1. A gentle reminder + upselling

This WooCommerce abandoned cart email example does everything right – a creative tagline, the image of the abandoned cart item, and the placement of the CTA below it.

Also, Rael used the remaining real-estate of the WooCommerce cart recovery email to upsell, reiterate its USP and address objections like shipping costs, customer support and more.

2. Evoking urgency

This WooCommerce abandoned cart email template is about alerting them that the items they are interested in are in limited supply and creating FOMO.

Instead of a typical CTA like “Checkout now”, they used “Check availability” to reiterate that the product is running out of stock in your WooCommerce abandoned cart email reminders.

3. Offer an incentive

Nothing motivates the customer to finish the purchase like an incentive.

This WooCommerce cart recovery email template utilized this – pitching the offer right away in the headline.

4. Social Proof

The customer didn’t budge for the incentive, too? Social proof is your next best option to include in your WooCommerce cart abandonment recovery email.

Pulp and Press does this beautifully, along with its strategies of urgency and incentives – they include three testimonials of the customer below the email.

5. Addressing objections

This WooCommerce abandoned cart email template addresses all the major objections the customer might possibly have had for abandoning the cart:

• Too big an investment. Provided pay later option.
• What if the product is not good? Reiterated the return policy
• Queries before buying. Provided customer support options.

Addressing the objections builds trust and prompts the customer to finish the purchase and recover WooCommerce abandoned cart.

Best Practices for Sending WooCommerce Cart Abandonment Emails

1. Personalize WooCommerce abandoned cart emails.

Customers are more likely to return and complete the purchase when the WooCommerce cart abandonment recovery email feels tailored to them.

Include the customer’s name and list the specific products left in the cart. Additionally, you can recommend related items to cross-sell or upsell.

2. Address objections

Addressing these objections directly in your cart abandonment emails can help alleviate doubts, build trust, and recover abandoned carts.

Common objections to address in WooCommerce cart recovery emails are:

• High costs
• Shipping costs and delivery time
• Doubts about product quality
• Unsure about return policy
• Technical issues or confusion

3. Use Social Proof

Including product reviews or testimonials in your WooCommerce cart abandonment email can increase customer confidence and encourage them to complete the purchase.

Highlight positive reviews of the abandoned products or include a testimonial that speaks to the quality or benefits of your store’s offerings.

4. Use Urgency and FOMO

Creating urgency with time-sensitive offers or highlighting limited stock can motivate customers to act quickly. The fear of missing out (FOMO) is a powerful psychological trigger.

Use phrases like “Your cart is waiting,” “Limited stock available,” or “Offer ends soon” to prompt immediate action.

5. Send Woocommerce follow-up emails for abandoned cart.

A single WooCommerce cart recovery email may not be enough to recover a lost sale. By sending automated WooCommerce abandoned cart email series, you increase the chances of conversion by reminding the customer several times.

Wrapping up!!

Once set up, WooCommerce abandoned cart emails work in the background, driving sales and engagement without any heavy lifting. It’s a low-effort, high-impact strategy that keeps your business moving forward, even when customers think twice about hitting “buy.”

By addressing customer hesitation, offering incentives, and keeping the checkout process top of mind, you turn “maybe” buyers into paying customers and recover abandoned carts in WooCommerce.