Shopify Abandoned Cart vs Checkout: Recover Both (2026)

A Shopify abandoned cart is a cart with products in it that never reached checkout. The list in your admin, Orders > Abandoned checkouts, shows only abandoned checkouts: the shopper entered an email at checkout and did not pay within ten minutes. You recover both, plus shoppers who only looked at products, with three automations in the Shopify Messaging app; the checkout one can reach shoppers who never subscribed, and its emails never count toward your free monthly allowance.

Rules and settings below come from the Shopify Help Center pages on Shopify Messaging automations, email pricing and abandoned checkouts (read October 23, 2026).

Cart, checkout, browse: three different moments

The audience row explains why cart and browse emails reach fewer people than you might expect: by default marketing automations go only to subscribers, and only the checkout one lets you change that. A first-time visitor who fills a cart and leaves, without ever subscribing, gets nothing from the cart automation. The same visitor who reaches checkout and types an email can get the checkout email even without subscribing, if you set it to All customers.

Abandoned checkout recovery works for the Online Store and Buy Button channels only; POS and third-party channels do not get recovery emails. Abandoned checkouts older than three months are deleted from the admin.

Turn on the three recovery automations

1. Go to Apps > Messaging and click Automations.
2. Click Create automation and choose Recover abandoned checkout.
3. Select Email as the channel (or SMS if you set up SMS marketing).
4. Click Edit email if you want to change the text or add a discount you created in the admin, then Send test to your own inbox.
5. Click Turn on automation, or Turn on if you edited the email.
6. Repeat with Recover abandoned cart, then Convert abandoned product browse.

In the checkout email, decide on the audience. Leaving it on subscribers keeps you inside the consent shoppers gave; switching To: to All customers reaches every shopper who typed an email. Shopify offers the option, and Shopify’s contact-information page asks you to send promotional content only to people who agreed to it, so read the consent rules for the countries you sell to before you widen it. If your store still runs the legacy Abandoned checkout emails by Shopify automation, its Send to and Send after settings live under Edit settings on that automation.

If you plan to use all three, turn on checkout first, since its emails cost nothing and it catches the shoppers closest to buying, then cart, then browse. For Shopify’s legacy abandoned checkout emails, the Help Center lists cases where no email is sent, such as a customer who ordered in the meantime or a checkout with nothing left in stock; our Shopify abandoned checkout guide lists all of them and explains the abandoned checkouts page.

Editing a workflow (for example the wait before the first email) needs a desktop browser: open the automation, click Edit workflow, then Apply changes. The mobile app can create these three automations but cannot edit them.

What to put in the email

• The products. Check in Send test that the image and name of what the shopper left show near the top on a phone screen.
• One link back. A single button to the cart or checkout, so the email has one job.
• A discount only if your margin can carry it. A code in every first reminder also goes to shoppers who would have paid full price; a small code in the last email of a series costs less.
• Short copy. Say the items are still waiting and answer the likely question in one line each: shipping cost, delivery time, returns.

Examples of subject lines and a timing plan are in abandoned cart email examples.

Grow the list your cart emails can reach

Because cart and browse automations go to subscribers by default, every new subscriber widens what they can recover. Two places to collect consent:

1. Checkout. In Settings > Checkout > Marketing opt-in, select Email and choose the regions where the checkbox is preselected. If you send abandoned cart reminders, Shopify asks you to change the text next to the checkbox, which by default only promises news and offers.
2. A signup form. Shopify Forms or a theme newsletter section; signups land in the Email subscribers segment.

A separate option is a discount popup that asks for an email before the visitor leaves; our Pop Up Discount app, for example, adds the visitor as a Shopify customer and sends the code through Shopify Flow.

Find out why checkouts are abandoned

Shopify’s Help Center suggests reviewing the abandoned checkouts list for patterns that might suggest why customers do not finish. Open Orders > Abandoned checkouts and look at:

• Open a checkout and read its Timeline. Each payment attempt is listed, and the Message field of a failed attempt gives the reason, which you can pass to a customer who contacts you.
• Check the Blocked view. Checkouts that Shopify Payments blocked as high risk sit there; if you know the customer, send a draft order invoice instead.
• Compare the Email status and Recovery status columns to see which emails went out and which checkouts came back.

If many attempts fail with the same message, ask your payment provider about it. If you want a dedicated app instead of Shopify Messaging, see our roundup of abandoned cart apps. The Shopify email marketing hub links the rest.

FAQ

Does Shopify send abandoned cart emails automatically? Shopify sends them once you turn on the recovery automations in the Shopify Messaging app. There are three: browse, cart and checkout, each available by email or SMS.

Can I see abandoned carts in Shopify? The admin list under Orders > Abandoned checkouts shows abandoned checkouts. For carts that never reached checkout, Shopify’s tool is the Recover abandoned cart automation in Shopify Messaging.

Are abandoned cart emails free? Abandoned checkout emails are always free. Cart and browse emails count toward the 10,000 free emails a month, then cost $1 per 1,000.

Can I send abandoned cart reminders by SMS? All three recovery automations can send SMS instead of email. You pick the channel when you create the automation, after setting up SMS in Shopify Messaging.