Create an Abandoned Cart Marketing Automation Flow

When contacts leave items in their shopping cart, invite them to complete their purchase with an automated email or SMS using a marketing automation flow.

Use an abandoned cart trigger in your customized automation flow, or use a flow template to send emails or text messages to contacts who don’t complete the checkout process in your e-commerce store. Add additional steps to your flow to create a personalized path for your contacts.

In this article, you'll learn how to use a marketing automation flow to create an abandoned cart email or SMS workflow.

Before you start

Here are some things to know before you begin this process.

• To learn more about marketing automation flows, how they work, and your pricing plan’s capabilities, check out About Marketing Automation Flows.
• To send abandoned cart emails or text messages, you must have a connected and supported e-commerce store or custom API 3.0 integration. To find out if your store supports these triggers, visit the Integrations page, click the name of your integration, and check for Abandoned cart email in the Features list.
• Automation flow with SMS Marketing functionality require an approved SMS Marketing program.
• Abandoned cart text messages are available to new SMS Marketing customers who indicate interest in sending abandoned cart text messages on their application.
• An abandoned cart trigger can’t be combined with other trigger in an automation flow.
• Any contact who abandons their cart can receive an abandoned cart email or SMS. If you add additional Send email or Send SMS steps to your flow, only subscribed contacts will receive those. Unsubscribed or non-subscribed contacts will continue through their flow, but they won't receive any emails or SMS along the way. To learn more about your contacts and the marketing they can receive, check out About Your Contacts.

Create an abandoned cart automation flow from scratch

Choose to create your abandoned cart automation flow with a flow template, or you can start from scratch.

To use a flow template to encourage contacts to complete their purchases, check out Use Marketing Flow Templates. To learn more about how to create a flow template with AI, check out Use Intuit Assist with Automation Flow Templates.

To create an abandoned cart automation flow from scratch, follow these steps.

1. Click Automations, then click All flows.
2. Click Build from scratch.
3. Enter a name for your flow, then choose an audience from the drop-down.
4. Click Choose a trigger.
5. Click Shopping Activity, then choose Abandons cart or Abandons cart with specific products.
6. Click the Store name drop-down and choose the e-commerce store you want to connect to your flow.
7. In the Customer Cart Contains drop-down, choose Any Products or Specific Products. If you choose Specific Products, click Include specific products or Exclude specific products, then use the drop-down to choose the specific products you want to target.
8. In the Abandoned Cart Wait Time section, use the Wait for drop-down to set the number of hours, days, or weeks you’d like to wait until an eligible contact enters your flow. To choose a specific segment of your audience to send to, click Filter who can enter this flow. Choose up to 5 segment conditions, then click Use segment.
9. When you’re ready, click Save Trigger.

Add an abandoned cart email to your flow

Once you’ve saved your abandoned cart trigger, add a Send email step and select your abandoned cart email template. This email will include a link to your contact’s cart so they can complete the checkout process.

1. In your flow, click and drag the Send email action into your flow map from the side panel. Or, use the plus icon (+), then select the Send email action.
2. In the Send email pop-up modal, click Rename to edit your email name, then click Edit next to the To & From, Subject, Schedule, and Tracking sections to set up your abandoned cart email.
3. Click Select a Template.
4. Use the email builder to design your abandoned cart email. An abandoned cart email must include the contact’s cart information from your connected e-commerce store. To take care of this, we automatically add a Cart content block to your email. We also automatically add a Button block that links to your contact’s abandoned cart.
5. Add, edit, or remove any content blocks in your abandoned cart email. To learn more about how to design an email, check out Design an Email with the New Builder or add additional steps to your flow as needed.
6. When you’re ready, click Save and return to flow.
7. To activate your abandoned cart email flow, click Continue, then click Turn On.

Nice work! Contacts will begin this abandoned cart automation flow when they abandon their cart at checkout and meet the trigger conditions you’ve set.

Create an abandoned cart SMS flow template

Like abandoned cart emails, abandoned cart SMS requires you to connect a supported e-commerce store or custom API 3.0 integration. You can only send 1 SMS per abandoned cart, and it must be sent within 48 hours after a contact enters the flow.

In addition, there are specific requirements you must meet before you can create an abandoned cart SMS flow.

• New SMS Marketing users must indicate interest in sending abandoned cart text messages on their application. Do this by clicking Yes in the Are you interested in sending abandoned cart text messages? section on the Sender Information step.
• Existing SMS Marketing users who want to create an abandoned cart SMS flows must contact our Support team for assistance.
• Double opt-in must be enabled for your connected audience. After you indicate abandoned cart interest on your SMS Marketing application, we automatically turn double opt-in on for you. Update this as needed from the SMS settings page. If you disable double opt-in while you have an active abandoned cart SMS flow, sending will be paused and disclosures on your signup forms and landing pages will be removed.
• You must update your SMS Marketing program’s terms and conditions to include abandoned cart text messaging. If you indicate interest in sending abandoned cart text messages on your SMS Marketing application, and you use the Mailchimp template to create your terms and conditions, we do this for you.
• You must update your SMS Marketing program’s privacy policy to include abandoned cart text messaging.

To create an abandoned cart SMS flow template, follow these steps.

1. Click SMS.
2. In the Enable abandoned cart message section, review Step 1: Update forms, Step 2: Turn on double opt-in, and Step 3: Connect your store. After you indicate abandoned cart interest on your SMS Marketing application, step 1 and step 2 are automatically completed for you. If you have already connected an approved e-commerce store, step 3 will also be marked as completed. If not, you’ll need to connect your store with your Mailchimp account.
3. In the Enable abandoned cart message section, click Step 4: Setup abandoned cart automation.
4. In the Recover abandoned cart for SMS section, click Use this flow. If you want to create an abandoned cart flow template with SMS and email steps, click Use this flow in the Recover abandoned cart for SMS and Email section.
5. Review the flow template details, then click Use this flow.
6. Click Continue. The audience you selected on the SMS Marketing application is automatically connected to your flow template.
7. Click the trigger, click the Store name drop-down, then choose the e-commerce store you want to connect to your flow.
8. In the Customer Cart Contains drop-down, choose Any Products or Specific Products. If you choose Specific Products, click Include specific products or Exclude specific products, then use the drop-down to choose the specific products you want to target.
9. In the Abandoned Cart Wait Time section, use the Wait for drop-downs to set the number of hours, days, or weeks you’d like to wait until an eligible contact enters your flow. To choose a specific segment of your audience to send to, click Filter who can enter this flow. Choose up to 5 segment conditions, then click Use segment.
10. When you’re ready, click Save trigger.
11. From your flow, click the Send SMS action.
12. Click Edit name to name your abandoned cart text message, then click Edit content to create your abandoned cart text message in the SMS builder. Opt-out instructions are required.
13. Click the Add merge tag(s) icon, then click Abandoned Cart URL to add a link to your contact’s abandoned cart.
14. Click Save and continue, then click Save.
15. Add, edit, or remove any steps in your flow template. You can only send 1 SMS per abandoned cart.
16. When you’re ready to start sending abandoned cart text messages, click Turn On.

Great job! Contacts will begin this abandoned cart automation flow when they abandon their cart at checkout and meet the trigger conditions you’ve set. Manage your program’s abandoned cart opt-in consent for SMS in the Abandoned Cart Opt-in section of the SMS settings page.