Recover abandoned Shopify checkouts.
Start with what happened.

Written by Admoji. Shopify guidance below is based on its published documentation; Admoji is one option discussed where a separate platform may fit.

What counts as an abandoned checkout?

An abandoned cart and an abandoned checkout describe different points in the purchase journey. A shopper can leave after adding a product without starting checkout or giving you contact details. Shopify’s legacy documentation describes an abandoned checkout as remaining incomplete for more than ten minutes after the customer provides an email address. Do not treat the abandoned-checkout list as a count of every lost cart. Shopify’s legacy checkout definition.

Baymard reports roughly 70% average cart abandonment across the studies it tracks. That is broad ecommerce context, not a Shopify-specific checkout benchmark or a prediction of recoverable revenue for your store. Some shoppers are browsing rather than ready to purchase. Baymard cart abandonment statistics.

Find the checkout and inspect what happened.

1. Open Orders → Abandoned checkouts in Shopify admin.
2. Select an entry to review its items and available customer details.
3. Inspect Timeline payment events when a customer attempted payment. Separate a technical failure, a decline and a high-risk block before deciding how to help.
4. Use the customer email action when you need to send a recovery link manually. Send the link only to that customer.
5. Review patterns across entries: unavailable products, delivery issues and payment errors need different fixes.

The current documentation says abandoned checkouts older than three months are automatically deleted from admin. It also explains that suspected bot/card-testing attempts are excluded and high-risk blocked checkouts appear in a separate view. A recovery link allows its recipient to continue checkout, so handle it as customer-specific information. Current abandoned checkout documentation.

Set up the current Shopify recovery automation.

Shopify documents both a legacy recovery experience and a newer Shopify Messaging automation. Use the instructions for the version your store has. For the new flow, go to Apps → Messaging → Automations, open View templates, choose Abandoned checkout, review the email and workflow, then turn on the automation.

Migration carries over previous settings. Shopify specifically says that a second abandoned-checkout automation defaults to a ten-hour wait and marketing subscribers; it is not a universal delay for every store. The workflow is editable using Shopify Flow. Setup and workflow instructions.

Review recipients and delivery results. The new automation lists several reasons an email may not send, including unavailable products, an entirely free checkout, Shop checkout, a high-risk blocked payment or a newer abandonment. Its eligibility list is different from the legacy email list: do not assume every ordinary payment error automatically disqualifies recovery.

Design follow-up around the customer’s situation.

A useful starting point is a clear reminder with a return-to-checkout link. If you add later messages, give each one a purpose: clarify delivery, answer a common product question or explain a relevant offer. There is no universal best one-hour or three-day schedule; evaluate timing against completed orders, unsubscribes and customer experience.

Shopify Flow supports workflows using triggers, conditions and actions, and Shopify Messaging supports email and SMS automations. The default abandoned-checkout email should not be mistaken for a limit on all of Shopify’s automation capabilities. Channel eligibility, consent settings and message costs still need review. Shopify Flow · Shopify Messaging.

Stop or suppress recovery when the customer completes a purchase. Use only appropriately opted-in audiences for marketing messages and follow the requirements that apply to your business. A discount should be a margin-aware test, not an automatic response to every abandoned cart.

Fix the cause as well as the follow-up.

Look for avoidable surprises in the journey: shipping costs disclosed late, unavailable variants, unclear delivery expectations, difficult form fields or errors with a common payment method. Test with a phone and representative products. Make changes based on the point of failure rather than assuming every abandonment is a design problem.

Admoji is an option when checkout, customer management and follow-up integrations all need evaluation. Its published platform includes Shopify integration, CRM, reporting and checkout tools. Confirm the actual abandonment trigger, supported automation, consent handling and payment-retry behavior for your setup. No system can recover every lost checkout. Admoji platform overview.

Admoji Launch starts at $79/month plus 0.35% of approved sales for stores up to $250,000 monthly GMV. Include your retained Shopify subscription, messaging costs, processing and implementation when comparing options. Full Admoji pricing.

Common questions.