Hi there,
70% of all shoppers abandon their carts.
Most brands recover about 3% of them.
The brands doing it right recover up to 15%.
Here's the math on what that means for your brand.
The difference comes down to one thing. The strength of your abandoned cart flow.
Here's the 5-email framework we use across our clients to maximize your abandoned cart recovery.
Before Anything Else:
Most brands only have an abandoned checkout flow set up (when someone abandons your checkout page) and not an abandoned cart flow (when someone abandons your cart page). Both need to be running.
Here's why this is confusing. When you search for an abandoned cart flow in Klaviyo, the flow it shows you is actually triggered by "Checkout Started." That means it only fires when someone gets to the checkout page. Not when someone adds to cart. So what Klaviyo calls an abandoned cart flow is actually your abandoned checkout flow. Most brands don't realize this and think they're covered when they're not.
Here's how to check:
Find your abandoned cart flow in Klaviyo and check the trigger.
If it says "Checkout Started" that is your abandoned checkout flow. If it says "Added to Cart" that is your abandoned cart flow.
If you only have one, go to Flows, click Create Flow, and search for the one you're missing.
Both flows need to be running to maximize your abandoned cart recovery.
The 5-Email Framework:
Now that both flows are set up, here's exactly what each email should do.
Email 1
Timing: 1-2 hours after abandonment
Topic: Simple reminder
Incentive: None
Include: Dynamic product block above the fold, one clear CTA back to cart, optional rotating block at bottom showing free shipping, returns, and guarantees
Email 2
Timing: 24 hours after abandonment
Topic: FAQs
Incentive: First discount (10% off recommended)
Include: Obvious offer in the header, dynamic product block, discount code, answers to top 3-5 customer questions (shipping time, returns, money back guarantee, anything brand specific), soft CTA at bottom
Email 3
Timing: 48 hours after abandonment
Topic: Social proof
Incentive: Offer expiry (10% off expires soon)
Include: Customer reviews, UGC photos, star ratings, testimonials, urgency messaging around the expiring offer
Email 4
Timing: 72 hours after abandonment
Topic: Benefits
Incentive: Increased discount (bump to 15% off)
Include: What makes your product unique, what problem it solves, why it's better than the alternative, new discount code
Email 5
Timing: 5-7 days after abandonment
Topic: Final push
Incentive: Offer expiry (15% off expires tonight)
Include: Last chance messaging, cross-sell block showing other products or categories in case they're not sold on the original item
Once the framework is in place, how you design each email is just as important as what you say in it.
Design Best Practices:
Here's what we've found works best after setting this flow up across 100+ brands.
Always show the dynamic product block above the fold. The first thing they see when they open the email should be the product they left behind.
Stack your product block vertically, not horizontally. It looks less like a typical abandoned cart email and the image appears larger and more appealing.
Strong direct CTA at the top of every email. Softer CTA at the bottom ("Return to cart" vs "Shop now"). If they scroll all the way down without clicking, they're not 100% sure. Match that hesitation with a softer ask.
Keep emails short. Enough to get them back on site and feeling comfortable. Nothing more.
Design mobile first. Most of your customers are opening on their phone.
Once your design is dialed in, there are a few advanced strategies worth layering on top to squeeze even more revenue out of the flow.
Advanced Strategies:
Cart value segmentation.
If your free shipping threshold is $50, split the flow into two paths. Carts above $50 get an email highlighting they qualify for free shipping. Carts below $50 get the standard flow. Free shipping is one of the biggest motivators for completing a purchase.
New vs repeat customer segmentation.
New customers may need a higher discount to convert. Repeat customers already trust your brand and may not need as much of an incentive.
Abandoned cart pop-up.
Show a pop-up when someone tries to leave your site with items in their cart. Remind them what they left and give them an incentive to complete the purchase before they go.
Cross-channel retargeting.
Retarget cart abandoners on Meta or Google. The ROAS on this specific audience is very high because they already showed strong purchase intent.
Retention.com.
Captures emails of unidentified site visitors and enrolls them into your abandoned cart flow. Can improve flow revenue by 20-40%. Worth looking into if you're at scale.
Hope this helps.
Best,
Luca
Free Resources
Resources to help you scale
Use these resources to help improve your brand’s email marketing.
Abandoned Cart Flow Guide
A complete breakdown of how to structure your abandoned cart flow for maximum revenue recovery.
Get the Guide100 Abandoned Cart Email Designs (Swipe File)
A curated collection of high-converting abandoned cart emails you can model for your brand.
Get the Swipe FileEmail Marketing AI Assistant (Custom GPT)
A custom GPT trained on Grow Pronto's frameworks and content. Use it to generate campaign ideas, write email copy, or get answers to any email marketing question.
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Bonus: Watch the YouTube video below on this exact topic 👇
