Abandoned Carts

The abandoned cart recovery feature helps you recover lost sales by automatically sending reminder emails to customers who add items to their cart but don't complete their purchase.

Overview

When enabled, the system:

1. Tracks cart activity - Records cart contents when customers add items
2. Detects abandonment - Identifies carts that remain unpurchased
3. Sends email reminders - Automatically sends up to 3 reminder emails at configurable intervals
4. Tracks recovery - Monitors click-through and recovery rates

Enable Abandoned Cart Tracking

Navigate to Ecommerce -> Settings -> Abandoned Carts in the admin panel.

Toggle Enable abandoned cart tracking to activate the feature.

WARNING

This feature requires a properly configured cronjob to work. Ensure your cronjob is set up before enabling. See Setup Cronjob for instructions.

Configuration Options

Email Reminders

When Send email reminders is enabled, the system sends up to 3 automated emails:

Email	Default Delay	Purpose
Email #1	1 hour	Friendly reminder
Email #2	24 hours	Follow-up nudge
Email #3	72 hours	Last chance / urgency

You can configure:

• Maximum reminder emails (1-3) - How many emails to send per abandoned cart
• Email timing - Hours after abandonment for each email

Cleanup Settings

• Cleanup old carts after - Days to keep abandoned cart records (default: 30 days)

Email Templates

The system includes 3 distinct email templates with different tones:

1. Reminder #1 (Blue theme) - Friendly "Did you forget something?" message
2. Reminder #2 (Yellow theme) - "Your items are waiting" follow-up
3. Reminder #3 (Red theme) - "Last chance" urgency message

Customizing Email Templates

To customize the email templates:

1. Go to Settings -> Email
2. Find the Ecommerce section
3. Look for templates starting with abandoned_cart_reminder_

Each template supports these variables:

Variable	Description
	Customer's name or "Guest"
	HTML table of cart items
	Formatted total amount
	Link to restore the cart
	Opt-out link

Cart Recovery Flow

When a customer clicks the recovery link in an email:

1. Their previous cart is restored automatically
2. They're redirected to the cart page
3. A success message confirms restoration
4. The click is tracked for analytics

Unsubscribe Handling

Each email includes an unsubscribe link. When clicked:

• Customer is shown a confirmation page
• No further abandoned cart emails are sent to that email address
• Existing customers can also opt-out via account settings

Analytics & Statistics

The abandoned carts table shows key metrics:

• Total abandoned carts - All tracked carts
• Recovery rate - Percentage of carts that completed purchase
• Click rate - Percentage of emails that received clicks
• Revenue recovered - Total value of recovered orders

Cronjob Command

The abandoned cart system uses this command:

php artisan cms:check-abandoned-carts

This command:

• Checks for carts needing reminder emails
• Sends emails according to the configured sequence
• Respects opt-out preferences

To cleanup old carts:

php artisan cms:check-abandoned-carts --cleanup

Or with custom retention days:

php artisan cms:check-abandoned-carts --cleanup --cleanup-days=60

Troubleshooting

Emails not being sent

1. Check cronjob status - The settings page shows if cronjob is running
2. Verify email configuration - Test email sending in Settings -> Email
3. Check email templates - Ensure templates are enabled in email settings
4. Review cart data - Carts need an email address to receive reminders

Cart not being tracked

• Ensure Enable abandoned cart tracking is ON
• Customer must add items to cart (empty carts aren't tracked)
• Guest customers are tracked by session; logged-in customers by account

Recovery link not working

• Links expire after 30 days
• Already-recovered carts won't restore again
• Products must still be in stock

Best Practices

1. Set appropriate delays - Email #1 at 1 hour catches fresh abandonment; Email #3 at 72 hours creates urgency

2. Keep templates concise - Focus on the cart contents and a clear call-to-action

3. Monitor metrics - Track recovery rate to optimize timing and messaging

4. Respect opt-outs - The unsubscribe system is automatic; don't manually re-add customers

5. Clean up regularly - The cleanup command prevents database bloat from old records