Recover abandoned carts

What it does and when to use it

Most people who put products in a cart leave without paying. A short reminder, sent while they still remember what they wanted, brings a part of them back. Azimea notices when a cart has been left, sends the reminder with the products in it and a button that puts the cart back, and stops as soon as the person orders, so nobody is reminded of something they already bought.

Use it in every shop: it is the flow that usually earns the most per email.

How it works

The cart is followed from the first product. Your shop’s Azimea plugin (or the platform’s own data, on Shopify and MerchantPro) reports every change to the cart, even before the visitor is known.
The person becomes known when they type their email at checkout. From now on the cart has an address.
The cart is declared abandoned when it has not changed for 30 minutes, has products, has an address and has not become an order.
The flow starts. The ready-made “Abandoned cart” flow waits 60 minutes and sends the reminder. You can add a second reminder a day later.
The order closes the cart. When the person orders, the cart becomes Recovered and the flow stops before its next email. The order is matched by the cart itself, or by the same email address within 7 days on platforms that do not say which cart an order came from.

The “See my cart” button rebuilds the same cart in any browser or device and lands on the checkout. The link is signed, expires after 30 days, and carries products only: never an address or a login.

What each status means and what to do

Cart statuses

Status or reason	What it means	What you do
`Open`	Someone is filling the cart, or left it less than 30 minutes ago.	Nothing.
`Abandoned`	Left with products and an address for 30 minutes without becoming an order. The abandoned-cart flow starts here.	Make sure the Abandoned cart flow is published.
`Recovered`	It became an order. It counts in your recovered revenue and stops the reminders.	Nothing.
`Cleared`	The person emptied it.	Nothing: nobody is reminded of an empty cart.

When a reminder is not sent

The email is stopped by the sending gate, and the flow’s history says why. For a cart reminder, only these reasons apply (all of them are in why an email was not sent):

Status or reason	What it means	What you do
`sending.gate_bounced`	The person's address does not work any more.	Nothing: the address is no longer used.
`sending.gate_complained`	The person marked one of your emails as spam.	Nothing: they are never written to again.
`sending.gate_unsubscribed`	The person unsubscribed from your marketing emails.	Nothing: they said no. Service emails still reach them.

When the cart is ordered before the reminder is due, the run ends with cart_closed (see flow runs): not a refusal, the flow working as intended.

A cart reminder does not need a newsletter subscription: someone who typed their address while ordering may be reminded of that order. It is the only marketing-like email they can receive until they subscribe.

Events involved

Event	When it happens	Who sends it	What it does here
`cart.updated`	A product is added, removed or changed.	Your shop’s plugin, the storefront script, or Azimea reading Shopify and MerchantPro	Keeps the cart and its products current.
`contact.identified`	The visitor types their email at checkout.	Your shop’s plugin or storefront script	Gives the cart an address; adds the person as `CheckoutStarted`.
`cart.cleared`	The cart is emptied.	Your shop’s plugin or storefront script	Marks the cart `Cleared`.
`cart.abandoned`	30 minutes without change, with products and an address.	Azimea itself	Starts the “Abandoned cart” flow.
`order.placed`	An order is placed.	Your shop	Marks the cart `Recovered` and stops the flow.

Set it up in the dashboard

Connect your shop in Integrations and install the Azimea plugin or app (the page of each platform has the steps).
In Flows, open Abandoned cart and press Publish. Until it is published, carts are followed but nobody is reminded.
Optional: edit the email (subject, words, colours). The products and the “See my cart” button are filled in for each person.
Optional: add a second reminder after the first one, with a wait of a day.

Do it from your code

Shops built on another platform can send the same events through the API. The event contract, the restore link and the signatures are described for developers in Build with Azimea.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Carts appear but stay `Open` forever	They have no email address: the visitor never reached the email field.	Expected: an anonymous cart cannot be reminded.
Carts become `Abandoned` but nobody gets an email	The flow is not published.	Flows › Abandoned cart › Publish.
The flow history says “Email not sent”	The sending gate stopped it; the reason is shown next to it.	See the table above.
A customer was reminded after ordering	The order was placed with a different email than the one typed in the cart, on a platform that does not report the cart.	Nothing to fix on your side; it is rare.