Abandoned Cart Email Examples for WooCommerce (With Templates)

A shopper adds a $64 jacket to the cart, reaches checkout, types an email address and then closes the tab. It happens all day. The Baymard Institute puts the average documented cart abandonment rate at about 70% (Baymard Institute). If your store gets 100 carts a week, roughly 70 of them never turn into orders. A short, well-timed email is the cheapest way to win some of those back. This guide gives you ten original abandoned cart email examples you can copy, with subject lines, preview text, body copy and button text. You will also learn when each one fits, when it does not, how to time the sequence, and how to keep the emails out of the spam folder and on the right side of privacy rules.

What makes a good abandoned cart email?

A good abandoned cart email is short, personal and useful. It reminds the shopper what they left, shows the product, answers the likely reason they stopped, and gives one button that restores the exact cart. It does not shout, guilt or bribe. Its job is to remove friction, not to pressure.

Every template below follows the same skeleton:

• Subject line under about 45 characters, so it is not cut off on a phone.
• Preview text that adds information instead of repeating the subject.
• Body of 40 to 120 words, with the product name, image and price pulled from the cart.
• One button that links straight back to the filled cart, not to the home page.
• A real reply address, so a shopper with a question can just hit reply.

Abandoned cart email examples: 10 templates you can copy

Placeholders in curly brackets, like {first_name} or {product_name}, are filled by your email tool. If the first name is unknown, write the line so it still reads well without it.

1. The first reminder (plain and friendly)

Why it works: many abandons are interruptions, not decisions. A calm note with the cart and a working link is often all that is needed. When not to use it: do not send it if the order was already placed through another device or a phone order. Make sure your tool stops the flow once an order is paid.

2. The help or question email

Why it works: it tackles the real reasons people stop, such as surprise costs, delivery time and return worries, without guessing which one applied. When not to use it: skip it if you cannot actually answer replies within a day. An unanswered help email is worse than none.

3. The honest low stock email

Why it works: real scarcity is useful information. When not to use it: only send it when the stock number is true and pulled live. Fake urgency breaks trust, and in the EU and UK, false scarcity claims can breach consumer protection law.

4. The free shipping threshold email

Why it works: unexpected shipping cost is one of the most common reasons shoppers give for leaving checkout. This turns that cost into a goal. When not to use it: if the gap is large, say $40 on a $20 cart, the email feels like an upsell. Use it only when the gap is small compared with the cart.

5. The discount offer, sent by the owner

Why it works: for a price-sensitive shopper, a small, personal and expiring code can tip the decision. When not to use it: do not put this in an automatic flow. More on that in the timing section below.

6. The month-start reminder

Why it works: many people shop around payday or the start of a month. A single, low-pressure note at that moment can catch carts the short reminders missed. When not to use it: if the product has changed price or gone out of stock, update the email or skip it.

7. The B2B or wholesale cart

Why it works: business buyers often stop because someone else has to approve the spend. Offering a quote or invoice solves that. When not to use it: do not send a retail tone or a discount code to a buyer who negotiates terms. Talk to them directly instead.

8. The high-value cart

Why it works: big purchases carry more risk for the buyer, so a personal touch matters more than a formula. When not to use it: do not promise a same-day reply you cannot keep.

9. The second automatic reminder

Why it works: it adds new information instead of repeating the first email, and it tells the shopper the reminders stop here. When not to use it: do not send it if the shopper clicked the first email and is clearly still browsing.

10. The abandoned checkout email (payment failed or pending)

Why it works: an abandoned checkout with a pending order is different from an abandoned cart. The shopper already decided to buy. When not to use it: never ask for card details by email. Link only to your own checkout.

How should you time an abandoned cart email flow?

A sensible abandoned cart email flow is two automatic reminders, the first a few hours after the cart is left and the second about a day later. Any discount comes later, sent by hand, only for carts you choose. An optional month-start note can follow for carts that are still open.

Why only two automatic emails? Each extra message adds unsubscribes and spam complaints, and spam complaints hurt the delivery of every email you send, including order confirmations.

Why automatic discounts train shoppers to abandon

This is an opinion, but the reasoning is simple. If every abandoned cart gets 10% off within a day, shoppers learn the pattern. Some will add items, leave and wait for the code. You then pay the discount on orders that would have happened anyway.

Here is a worked example. Say 100 shoppers abandon carts averaging $80. Without a discount, your two reminders bring back 8 orders, which is $640. You add an automatic 10% code and recovery rises to 11 orders. That is $880 minus $88 in discounts, so $792. Looks better. But if, over time, 20 shoppers who would have paid full price now leave on purpose to get the code, you lose $160 on them. Your net gain shrinks to almost nothing, and your margin on every order drops. These numbers are illustrative, not measured. Run them with your own figures.

A better approach: look at your open carts once or twice a week and send a unique, single-use, expiring code only to carts that make sense, such as a high-value cart or a returning customer.

Which abandoned cart subject lines work best?

The best abandoned cart subject lines are short, specific and honest. Name the product or the benefit, keep it under about 45 characters, and avoid all caps, multiple exclamation marks and fake "Re:" prefixes. The subject should tell the truth about what is inside.

Five formulas you can reuse:

1. The product: "{product_name} is waiting for you"
2. The question: "Any questions about your order?"
3. The benefit: "You are {amount} away from free shipping"
4. The fact: "Only {stock_count} left in {variant}"
5. The person: "A quick note from {owner_name}"

Preview text is the second subject line. Most inboxes show it right after the subject. If you leave it empty, the inbox shows whatever text comes first, which is often "View in browser". Write it every time.

Should you use plain text or designed emails?

Use a light design: your logo, the product image, the price and one button, with mostly plain text around it. Heavy, image-only designs load slowly, break in some inboxes and look like ads. Pure plain text feels personal but cannot show the product.

Mobile layout checklist

• Single column, about 600 pixels wide, so it scales down cleanly.
• Body text at 16 pixels or larger.
• A button at least 44 pixels tall, with space around it for a thumb.
• Alt text on product images, because some inboxes block images by default.

How do you keep abandoned cart emails out of spam?

Send from your own domain, authenticate it with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, include a one-click unsubscribe, and keep complaints low. Since February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo require these steps from bulk senders, and following them helps smaller stores too.

• SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a DNS record listing the servers allowed to send mail for your domain.
• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) adds a signature so inboxes can confirm the email was not changed.
• DMARC tells inboxes what to do when SPF or DKIM fails and sends you reports. Start with a policy of "none" and tighten it later.
• Your own domain: send from an address like hello@yourstore.com, not a free Gmail address.
• One-click unsubscribe: Google's sender guidelines ask bulk senders, those sending around 5,000 or more messages a day to Gmail, to support one-click unsubscribe headers (List-Unsubscribe and List-Unsubscribe-Post) and to keep spam complaint rates low. See Google's email sender guidelines and Yahoo's sender best practices.

WordPress sends mail through PHP by default, which many hosts handle poorly. Use an SMTP plugin with a transactional email service, or your host's authenticated mail, so the records above actually apply. Your host or email provider will show you the exact DNS records to add.

Do you need consent to send abandoned cart emails?

It depends on where you and your shoppers are. In the EU and UK, some stores rely on legitimate interest for a short reminder, while others ask for consent at checkout. In the US, CAN-SPAM requires a working unsubscribe and a physical address. Check with a qualified advisor for your case.

This is general information, not legal advice. Points worth discussing with your advisor:

• GDPR: legitimate interest needs a balancing test and an easy opt-out. Consent needs a clear, unticked choice. A reminder is easier to justify than a marketing sequence.
• ePrivacy and UK PECR: rules on electronic marketing may apply on top of GDPR.
• CAN-SPAM: include an unsubscribe link, honor it promptly, use honest subject lines and show your postal address. See the FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide.
• Privacy policy: say that you save carts and may send reminders.
• Capturing email: saving an address typed at checkout before the order is placed is the part most worth checking.

How do you set up a WooCommerce abandoned cart email?

WooCommerce does not send abandoned cart emails on its own. You need a plugin that saves carts, captures the email, sends timed reminders with a cart restore link, and stops when the order is paid. Then you add your copy, test it and switch it on.

1. Choose a plugin that works with your checkout type. The block checkout and the classic checkout capture email differently, so confirm support for the one you use.
2. Fix your sending first: SMTP, your own domain, SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
3. Set the timing: two reminders, at about 3 hours and 24 hours.
4. Paste in your templates. Start with template 1 and template 9 from this page.
5. Set the from name and reply-to to a real inbox someone checks.
6. Test the cart link on a phone in a private window. The cart must refill.
7. Check the stop rule: place a test order and confirm no reminder goes out.
8. Review weekly: look at open carts and decide if any deserve a personal note or a code.

As one option, the Pro plan of StorePinger's abandoned cart recovery saves carts as soon as something is added and sends 2 automatic reminders, by default at 3 and 24 hours, with a one-click link back to the cart. It adds a month-start reminder and a "save your cart" email box for shoppers who are leaving. Discounts are never sent automatically. The owner picks the carts and the discount, and each shopper gets a unique one-time coupon that expires. Recovered orders count only once paid. You can see the full list on the features page and plans on the pricing page.

What are the most common abandoned cart email mistakes?

The usual mistakes are a broken cart link, too many emails, automatic discounts, generic copy, no preview text and sending from an unauthenticated address. Each one is easy to fix once you know to look.

• Cart link opens empty. Test across devices.
• Reminders after purchase. Make sure paid orders stop the flow.
• Five or more reminders. Complaints rise and your domain reputation drops.
• No-reply address. You lose the questions that would have closed the sale.
• Fixing the email instead of the checkout. Emails recover some carts. A clearer checkout prevents many more. Our guide on how to reduce cart abandonment covers that side.

How do you measure abandoned cart emails?

Track recovered revenue from paid orders, not opens. Opens are unreliable because some mail apps preload images. Watch clicks, paid orders from the cart link, unsubscribes and complaints, and compare against your total abandoned cart value.

A simple worked example: if 200 carts worth $16,000 were abandoned this month and reminders led to 14 paid orders worth $1,120, your recovery rate by value is 1,120 divided by 16,000, which is 7%. Track that number monthly and change one thing at a time, such as a subject line or the second email's timing.

It also helps to see where carts are abandoned. A conversion funnel and session recordings can show whether shoppers stop at shipping costs or at a form error, which tells you which template to lead with.

Conclusion: put these abandoned cart email examples to work

You do not need a ten-step sequence. Pick the first reminder and the second reminder from these abandoned cart email examples, adapt the words to your store, and get the basics right: a cart link that works, authenticated sending, one-click unsubscribe and a real reply address. Keep discounts as a decision you make, not a rule the software applies. Then add the situational templates, such as free shipping, low stock or B2B, when your store has those cases. If you want reminders, owner-sent coupons and a save-your-cart box in one WooCommerce plugin, take a look at abandoned cart recovery in StorePinger. More guides are on the StorePinger blog, and you can contact us with questions, or try the live demo.