Abandoned cart recovery
How Qpushly knows a cart was abandoned, how the sequence works, and how recovery stops it.
Fires when: a cart has sat untouched for ten minutes.
This is the automation most stores install Qpushly for. It reaches a shopper who never gave you an email address, on the device they were shopping on, where the cart is one tap away.
How Qpushly knows
The theme app embed sends a snapshot of the cart — items, value, currency — whenever the cart changes. If ten minutes pass with no further change and the visitor is a subscriber, the cart is marked abandoned and your first reminder is queued.
The sequence
Up to three reminders, each with its own delay measured from the moment the cart was marked abandoned.
A starting point that works for most stores:
| Reminder | Delay | Job |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30 min | Nudge — they may still be deciding |
| 2 | 4–6 hours | Reason to come back — shipping, returns, stock |
| 3 | 24 hours | Last call, if you use one at all |
Recovery stops the rest
When the cart is recovered, the sequence stops — remaining reminders are not sent. The cart is marked recovered and linked to the order, which is what puts it in the Revenue column.
So a shopper who buys after reminder 1 never receives 2 and 3. You do not need to build that logic yourself.
What to write
Reminder 1 should not sell. They were there a moment ago; they know what it is. Short, name the item, one button to the cart.
Title: Still thinking it over? Message: Your Alder Wool Overshirt is waiting in your cart. Button: Back to cart →
/cart
Reminder 2 needs a reason, not more urgency. Whatever the actual objection is — shipping cost, returns risk, whether it will arrive in time — answer it.
Title: Free returns for 30 days Message: Your cart’s still here. Returns are free and we ship same-day before 2pm. Button: Complete your order →
/cart
Things to know
- Ten minutes is fixed. The abandonment threshold is not configurable; your control is the reminder delay on top of it.
- The sweep runs every ten minutes. A 30-minute reminder arrives somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes.
- A cart that changes resets the clock. Adding another item counts as activity.
- One sequence per cart, not per item.
If it is not sending
Most often the cart snapshots are not arriving, which means the theme embed is not on your live theme. Check Subscribers first: if that list is empty or stale, fix the embed before looking at the automation. Full checklist in Troubleshooting.