Email Marketing
Abandoned Cart Emails: What to Send, When and What to Say
Abandoned cart emails for small ecommerce brands: how many to send, the best timing, what each email should say and when to offer a discount.
· Updated · 5 min read
Key takeaways
- Two or three emails is enough for most stores: a helpful reminder, a reassurance email and, optionally, an incentive.
- The first email should feel like service, not sales. Invite questions, show the product and make returning easy.
- Save incentives for the later emails, and prefer free delivery over a percentage discount where margins are tight.
- Always exclude people who have already bought, and avoid training customers to abandon carts for a code.
An abandoned cart email flow is usually the first automation an ecommerce store should build, and one of the easiest to get wrong. Most stores either send nothing, or switch on their platform's default template: "You left something behind! Complete your purchase now!"
That default is better than nothing. But with a little thought about timing and tone, the same flow can recover noticeably more orders without annoying the customers who were always going to come back anyway.
Why do people abandon carts?
Before writing a single email, it helps to know what you're responding to. People leave a checkout for a handful of common reasons:
- Unexpected costs. Delivery, taxes or fees appeared at checkout and changed the maths.
- Just browsing. They were saving items to compare or think about later.
- Doubt. About sizing, quality, delivery time or returns.
- Friction. A forced account creation, a slow payment page, a declined card.
- Distraction. The phone rang, the bus arrived, the baby woke up.
Your emails can't fix all of these, but each one points to a different message. Distraction needs a reminder. Doubt needs reassurance. Cost needs, sometimes, an incentive.
How many emails, and when?
For most small stores, a two- or three-email flow is the right balance:
| Timing after checkout started | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 hour | Helpful reminder |
| 2 | 24 hours | Reassurance and proof |
| 3 (optional) | 48–72 hours | Incentive or last chance |
Why one hour for the first email? Soon enough that the shopper still remembers what they were doing, late enough not to feel like surveillance. Some stores send at 30 minutes, some at four hours; test it if you have the volume, but one hour is a sensible default.
Why stop at three? Beyond that, you're mostly emailing people who've decided not to buy, and every extra email is a chance to be unsubscribed.
Abandoned cart email 1: the helpful reminder
The first email should feel like a shop assistant saying "I've put that aside for you", not a salesperson chasing you out of the door.
What to include:
- A clear image of the product(s) left in the cart, with names and prices
- One button back to the cart, pre-filled
- An invitation to reply with questions
Subject line ideas:
- You left something in your cart
- Still thinking about the [product name]?
- We saved your cart for you
Example body:
Hi Sam,
Looks like you were halfway through an order. No rush, we've saved your cart:
[Product block]
[Return to my cart]
If anything stopped you, whether it's a question about sizing, delivery or returns, just reply to this email. It comes straight to our team.
That last line matters. Replies turn some abandoned carts into conversations, and they tell you why people are leaving, which is valuable information for fixing your product pages.
Email 2: Reassurance and proof
If the first email didn't bring them back, the reason is more likely doubt than distraction. The second email should address the questions people hesitate over.
What to include:
- The product again, briefly
- Two or three short, genuine customer reviews
- Your delivery time and returns policy, stated plainly
- The same button back to the cart
Subject line ideas:
- What other customers say about the [product name]
- Free returns, 30 days, no questions
- Here when you're ready
Keep it short. A reassurance email that turns into a brand essay loses the thread.
Email 3: The incentive (or not)
This is where most stores reach for a discount code. Sometimes that's right, but think it through first.
Arguments against an automatic discount:
- Customers who would have bought anyway now pay less.
- Regular shoppers learn that abandoning a cart earns a code, and some will do it deliberately.
- A percentage discount on a low-margin product can wipe out the profit on the order.
Alternatives that often work just as well:
- Free delivery on this order. It removes the most common unexpected cost, and it's often cheaper for you than a percentage off.
- A small gift with the order (a sample, an accessory).
- A genuine deadline. "Your cart is saved until Sunday" is enough if stock or pricing really does change.
If you do offer a discount, consider showing it only to first-time customers, or only above a certain cart value. Most email platforms, including Klaviyo, let you split the flow on these conditions.
Settings that matter as much as the copy
- Exit condition: placed order. Nobody who has already bought should get the next email. Check this is switched on.
- Don't double up with your welcome flow. A new subscriber who abandons a cart can end up with a welcome discount and a cart discount on the same day. Add a filter to skip the incentive if they received a code in the last week.
- Smart sending. Use your platform's setting that prevents someone receiving several emails from you within a few hours.
- Browse abandonment is a separate flow. Someone who only viewed a product didn't start a checkout; they need a softer, lighter-touch message.
A note on tone
The best-performing cart emails tend to sound like the brand, not like the platform's template. If your website is warm and chatty, your cart emails should be too. If you sell to professionals, keep them crisp. The words "Complete your purchase now!" appear in thousands of inboxes every day; a sentence that sounds like a real person running a real shop will stand out.
Quick checklist
- Two or three emails, starting about an hour after checkout begins
- First email is helpful, with an invitation to reply
- Second email handles doubts: reviews, delivery, returns
- Incentive (if any) saved for the last email, with conditions
- Buyers excluded; welcome and cart flows don't overlap
- Copy sounds like your brand, not a template
Frequently asked questions
How soon should the first abandoned cart email go out?
Within a few hours is common; many stores send it one to four hours after the cart is abandoned, while the purchase is still fresh in the shopper's mind.
Should every abandoned cart email include a discount?
No. Offering a discount in the first email trains customers to abandon carts on purpose. Lead with help and reassurance, and keep any incentive for the final email.
Do abandoned cart emails annoy customers?
Not if they're helpful, well-timed and stop once someone buys. Two or three emails over a few days is enough for most stores.
What's the difference between abandoned cart and browse abandonment emails?
Abandoned cart emails go to people who added a product to their cart; browse abandonment emails go to people who only viewed products. Cart abandoners are closer to buying. Both fit into the core ecommerce email flows.
Getting your flow written
For a worked example of a complete flow, see the ecommerce welcome and abandoned cart sample in the portfolio, or the Klaviyo email copywriting service if you'd like one written for your store.