Cart Abandonment Recovery Playbook for Shopify

Why Cart Abandonment Happens (and How to Fix It)

Across Shopify stores, the average cart abandonment rate is:

69.8% of shoppers leave without buying.

Most don’t abandon because they don’t want the product — they abandon because:

• Shipping costs surprise them
• Checkout takes too long
• They’re distracted or not ready… yet
• They need one small nudge to convert

Your job?
👉 Recover as many of those high-intent shoppers as possible.

And this playbook shows you exactly how using Privy.

A winning recovery strategy includes:

The 3-Stage Cart Recovery Engine

Pre-Abandonment: Onsite popups + reminders

Post-Abandonment: Email automation

High-Intent Follow-up: SMS Reminders

Let's break it down to build your full machine!

Stage 1: Stop Shoppers From Leaving

Trigger exit-intent popups in the cart and checkout funnel:

Best-Practice Popup Configuration

Example Copy:
Wait! Don’t forget your 15% off code 🤫
Complete your order now and save.

✅ No new discounting needed
✅ Just reminding them of value already offered

Free Shipping Threshold Popup

H3

If shoppers are close to free shipping, remind them:

Message:
You’re $12 away from FREE shipping 🚚 💨

📈 This drives instant AOV lift + completion rate

Timer Popups During Live Sales

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“Sale ends in 01:51:22 ⏱️
Your discount expires soon!”

Urgency = conversions.

Stage 2: Recover Carts With Email Automation

Once someone exits with items in their cart…

Privy automatically triggers a recovery flow.

Recommended 3-Email Sequence

30 Minutes:

• Header: Did something go wrong? 👀

4 Hours:

• Header: Your cart missed you

24 Hours:

• Header: Take another look + last chance 👇

Swipeable Email Copy

H3

Email #1:
Hey {{first_name}},
Something interrupted checkout — want to finish?

[SEE MY CART]

Email #2:
Still thinking it over?
Here’s a quick reminder — we saved your cart for you 👇

[ACTION BUTTON]

Email #3:
Last call!
Your items might sell out — grab them while they’re still here 🔥

[CTA: Complete My Order]

These emails consistently recover 10–20% of abandoned checkouts

Stage 3: Use SMS to Recover High-Intent Buyers

SMS has 4x higher conversion than email alone — because they see it instantly.

2-Message Sequence

45 Minutes:

• Copy: Hey {{first_name}} — you left something behind 👉 <cart link>

22 Hours:

• Copy: Last chance to save your cart before it’s gone! <cart link>

✅ Perfect for high-value carts
✅ Works best with FOMO messaging

Privy + Emotive manage compliance + opt-in best practices automatically.

What “Good” Cart Recovery Looks Like

Cart abandonment rate

• Good performance: Under 65%

Email recovery rate:

• Good performance: 12-18%

SMS recovery rate:

• Good performance: 18–35%

Revenue from recovery:

• 5–10% of monthly revenue

The Complete Shopify Cart Recovery Stack (Copy/Paste Setup)

H2

✅ Cart exit popup
✅ Free shipping reminder popup
✅ 3-email recovery flow
✅ SMS reminders for high-value carts
✅ A/B testing turned on

All built and automated in Privy ✅

Complex → simplified
Lost revenue → found revenue 💰