Abandoned Cart Flow
An automated sequence triggered when someone adds items to cart but doesn't checkout.
1 min readLast updated Apr 2026
Quick Reference
CategoryEmail Marketing & Klaviyo
Related Terms2
An automated sequence triggered when someone adds items to cart but doesn't checkout.
Why It Matters
Abandoned cart flows recover revenue from the 70% of shoppers who add items but don't purchase. This is often the highest-revenue flow—recipients had clear purchase intent. Recovering just 5-10% of abandoned carts can add hundreds of thousands in annual revenue.
Practical Example
Scenario
A furniture brand sees 15,000 monthly cart abandonments with $450 average cart value. Their 3-email flow recovers 8% of carts.
Calculation
15,000 carts × 8% recovery × $450 AOV = $540,000 monthlyResult
Their abandoned cart flow generates $6.48M annually—making it their highest-value email automation. Each optimization point (going from 8% to 9%) adds $810K yearly.
Pro Tips
- 1Send the first email within 1-4 hours while intent is fresh
- 2Include the abandoned products with images, not just text
- 3Consider incentives strategically—test no discount vs small discount (don't train all customers to wait for discounts)
- 4Add urgency in later emails: 'Your cart expires soon' or 'Items selling fast'
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Waiting too long to send the first email—24+ hour delays kill recovery rates
Always offering discounts, training customers to abandon for savings
Not personalizing by cart value (high-value carts may warrant phone calls)