# Abandoned Cart Recovery That Follows Up for You

> Abandoned cart recovery means following up with people who started to check out but did not pay. In a Vonza funnel, an automation emails a lead who reached your checkout and has not bought after a wait you choose, from 5 minutes to 7 days.

## What is abandoned cart recovery?

A cart or checkout is abandoned when someone gets as far as the payment page and leaves without paying. Abandoned cart recovery is the follow-up: a reminder, usually by email, that brings them back to finish the order.

The reminder works because the person has already shown they want the thing. Often they were interrupted, wanted to think, or hit a question the page did not answer. A short, friendly note at the right time is enough for some of them to come back.

On Vonza the follow-up is an automation. It notices the abandoned checkout for you, waits as long as you set, then sends what you wrote.

| Where | Trigger | Who it follows up | Wait |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Funnel checkout step | A lead leaves checkout without buying | Leads who gave their details on an opt-in step earlier in the funnel | 5 minutes to 7 days |
| Vonza’s new store | A checkout is left unpaid | Shoppers who entered their email at checkout | 15 minutes to 7 days |
| Standalone checkout pages | Not available | No abandoned-checkout follow-up yet | None |

[How Vonza sales funnels work](https://vonza.net/sales-funnel)

## How abandoned checkout recovery works in a funnel

Four parts, all set in the funnel’s Automations tab.

- **The trigger**: Pick “A lead leaves checkout without buying” and choose your funnel’s checkout step. Vonza checks every minute for leads who reached it and did not pay.
- **The wait**: Set “After how long without buying”, anywhere from 5 minutes to 7 days. A lead who buys in the meantime is never sent the reminder.
- **The follow-up**: Send an email, an SMS or both, with more waits in between. Add the lead to a list, move them to a stage, or get a note yourself.
- **The ready-made recipe**: The “Abandoned checkout” recipe sets it all up: one email an hour after checkout. It is created switched off, so you can edit the words first.

[Everything Vonza automations can do](https://vonza.net/automations)

[Email marketing on Vonza](https://vonza.net/email-marketing)

## Everything the follow-up can do

Up to 20 steps in one automation, in the order you choose.

- **Send email**: Your subject and message, with the lead’s first name and the funnel name filled in. Add a reply-to address and up to 5 images.
- **Send SMS**: A text to leads who gave a phone number. SMS depends on your plan and your SMS balance.
- **Wait**: Space the reminders out: a first email after an hour, a second one a day later.
- **Only continue if**: Check a tag, a stage or what the lead has bought before the next step, with an “If no” path.
- **Add to list or move to stage**: Tag the lead or move them along your pipeline so you can see who stalled at checkout.
- **Notify me**: Get a note in Vonza and by email when a lead leaves checkout, so you can reach out yourself.
- **Send a webhook**: Pass the lead to another tool you use.
- **Once per visit**: Each abandoned visit starts the automation once, and no email or text is ever sent twice.

## Good to know before you switch it on

What the automation does, and what it does not.

- **It follows up people you already know**: A reminder needs an address. The funnel automation follows up leads who filled in an opt-in form earlier in the funnel. A visitor who goes straight to checkout without opting in is not followed up.
- **It starts from when you switch it on**: Visits from before the automation was switched on are not followed up, and neither are visits more than 7 days old.
- **Discounts are up to you**: No discount code is created for you. If you want to offer one, create the coupon yourself and put it in your message.
- **Standalone checkout pages do not have it yet**: Checkout pages built in Checkouts have no abandoned-checkout follow-up today. To recover abandoned checkouts, sell through a funnel with a checkout step, or through Vonza’s new store.

### In Vonza’s store

Vonza’s new store can send an abandoned-cart email too. Its trigger is “A checkout is left unpaid”, and the “Nudge an abandoned cart after 1 h” template emails the shopper a link back to their cart. Like the funnel recipe, it is created switched off.

[Selling with a Vonza store](https://vonza.net/store)

## How to set up abandoned cart recovery in Vonza

Three steps in your funnel.

1. **Capture the lead first**: Put an opt-in step before your checkout step on the funnel’s Canvas, so Vonza knows who reached checkout.
2. **Use the Abandoned checkout recipe**: Open Automations, choose the “Abandoned checkout” recipe and pick your checkout step. Set the wait, from 5 minutes to 7 days.
3. **Write the email and switch it on**: Edit the subject and message, add a second reminder if you like, try it with a test run, then switch it on.

[Read: how to recover abandoned checkouts](https://vonza.net/blog/abandoned-checkout-recovery)

## Questions about abandoned cart recovery

### What is abandoned cart recovery?

It is the follow-up you send to someone who started to check out and left without paying, usually an email that reminds them of the order and brings them back to finish it.

### Does Vonza send abandoned cart emails?

Yes. In a funnel, the “A lead leaves checkout without buying” trigger starts an automation that emails the lead after the wait you choose. Vonza’s new store has its own abandoned-cart email as well.

### How long should I wait before the first reminder?

You choose, from 5 minutes to 7 days. The ready-made recipe waits one hour, which catches people while the order is still fresh. You can add a second reminder a day or two later.

### Who receives the reminder?

Leads who gave their details on an opt-in step in the funnel, reached the checkout step and did not buy within the wait. People who buy in the meantime are never sent it.

### Can I send an SMS as well as an email?

Yes, if SMS is included in your plan and you have SMS left. The text goes to leads who gave a phone number; leads without one are skipped.

### Will someone get the same reminder twice?

No. Each abandoned visit starts the automation once, and an email or text that has gone out is never sent again.

### Does it work on standalone checkout pages?

Not yet. Checkout pages built in Checkouts have no abandoned-checkout follow-up. Use a funnel with a checkout step, or Vonza’s new store, to recover abandoned checkouts.

### Can I include a discount code in the reminder?

Yes, by writing it into your message. Vonza does not create a code for you, so create the coupon first and paste it into the email.