In this lesson, you’ll create and implement a workflow that contains a cart recovery funnel via an email sequence.
An abandoned cart recovery strategy will help you close incomplete purchases and improve your ecommerce conversion rate. Use our knowledge to create a sequence of personalized emails, which remind contacts of the latest products added to their cart with the aim of recovering their incomplete purchases and increasing your sales.
Objective: Conversion.
Elements used: Email.
Implementation time: 3 hours.
We recommend following all the steps and implementing this strategy from scratch in your account. However, if you need a shortcut, you can use the Abandoned cart funnel template in the Workflows Templates Directory.
Lesson summary
In this lesson, you’ll learn about:
- The "On cart abandonment" node, to react when a contact leaves the purchase process with products in their cart.
- The "Wait" node, to activate waiting periods in your workflows.
- The "Has purchased" node, to check the purchases a contact has made in a given period.
- The catalog synchronization in Connectif, to understand how and when the products are updated.
At the end of the lesson, you will have created in your account:
An abandoned cart recovery strategy, whereby you’ll send your contacts who are subscribed to the newsletter a sequence of emails encouraging them to complete their purchase. These emails will be personalized with the products in their cart. The workflow includes waiting periods and checks to prevent sending emails if the contact makes a purchase before finishing the sequence.
Preliminary considerations
As seen in the image, this strategy contains two paths, based on whether the cart has a single type of product (which we’ll call Branch 1) or if it has two or more (which we’ll call Branch 2).
Both branches have the same nodes – the only thing that changes is the content of the emails. For that reason, we’ll carry out the steps in parallel, specifying each configuration if necessary.
Workflow configuration
STEP 0. Workflow creation
How to create the workflow for this strategy
1. In your Connectif account, click "Workflows > Create new workflow" and then Create blank workflow.
2. Click (Edit) and name it "Abandoned cart funnel".
3. Click Apply to save the new name of your workflow.
STEP 1. "Start" node
How to configure the "Start" node for this strategy
(This node will establish the target audience for the workflow).
4. Click (Edit node settings) for the “Start” node.
5. In Select limitation, check "All my list" and select the option “Contacts with email” from the drop-down menu.
6. Under Select data source, check "All existing and new".
7. Click Update.
In this step, we have told Connectif to activate the workflow for all contacts with an email address, both new and existing.
STEP 2. The “On cart abandonment” node
How the "On cart abandonment" node works
This node is used to react when a contact abandons their cart. In the node interface, you can configure the characteristics of the carts that will trigger it, if you want to specify these.
How to configure the "On cart abandonment" node for this strategy
(This node will detect when a contact abandons a cart with products in it, to activate the funnel sequence).
8. In the node selection menu, go to "Triggers > Ecommerce", and drag the "On cart abandonment" node into the editor so that it connects to the "Start" node.
9. Click (Edit node settings) in the “On cart abandonment”.
10. Click Add Filter. In the first dropdown, select “Total price”, in the second dropdown choose “Is greater than” and, in the last field, add “0 ”.
11. Click Limitations and uncheck the"Deactivate after triggering".
12. In Keep inactive after event, add a limitation of “3 ” Days.
13. Click Update.
In this step we have told Connectif that when a contact leaves the purchase process with an initiated cart whose value is greater than 0, the next workflow action should be activated. In addition, with the time limitation, we indicate that the flow cannot start until after three days, even if the contact abandons another cart in that period of time.
STEP 3. First “Check value” node
How to configure the "Check value" node for this strategy
(This node will identify if the number of product types is equal to 1, to continue the flow through Branch 1).
14. In the node selection menu, go to "Conditions > System" and drag the "Check value" node into the editor, so that it connects to the "On cart abandonment" node.
15. Click (Edit node settings) of the “Check value”.
16. Drag the "Number of different products" field from "On cart abandonment" to the block on the left.
17. Under Operator, select "Is equal to".
18. Drag the "Literal" field to the block on the right and set it to "1", to indicate that the cart must contain only one product for contacts to continue through Branch 1.
19. Click Update.
In this step we have told Connectif to check if the contact's abandoned cart contains exactly one product, to send them via Branch 1 if so. If not, it will move to the second "Check value" node.
STEP 4. Second “Check value” node
How to configure the "Check value" node for this strategy
(This node will check if the number of products is greater than one, to continue the flow through Branch 2. If this number is less than one, the contact will not continue through any of the workflow branches).
20. In the node selection menu, go to "Conditions > System" and drag the "Check value" node into the editor, so that it connects to the previous "Check value" node.
21. At the junction of this node with the previous one, click on the circle until "No" appears.
22. Click (Edit node settings) of the “Check value” node.
23. Drag the "Number of different products" field from "On cart abandonment" to the block on the left.
24. Under Operator, select "Greater than or equal to".
25. Drag the "Literal" field to the block on the right and set a value of "2".
26. Click Update.
In this step we have told Connectif to check if the contact's abandoned cart contains two or more products before sending them through Branch 2. If it does not contain any products, the strategy will stop for this contact.
STEP 5 Branch 1. First “Send email” node
How to configure the email for this strategy
(In this step you’ll create the first abandoned cart email for Branch 1, which will include dynamic content with the product in the contact's cart).
27. In the node selection menu, go to "Actions > Email" and drag the "Send email" node into the editor so that it connects to the "Check value" node.
28. At the junction of this node with the previous one, click on the circle until "Yes" appears. Contacts who have a product in their cart will now continue the journey.
29. Click (Edit node settings) in the “Send email” node. Click Create new content to create a new email.
30. In the Toolbox panel, click the General tab to edit the overall appearance of your email.
31. On the Components tab, set up the layout and add the elements you want to your email by clicking and dragging them into the editor.
If you need them, all the steps to create an email are available in this lesson.
32. Once you have configured the text and images of your email, add a Dynamic content.
33. Click Edit element above the Dynamic content element.
34. Under Template, select Basic product.
35. Under Structure, enter "1" in both rows and columns and keep the Show incomplete rows check box active.
36. Add a Buttonn element and edit it to point to the cart page:
- Edit the text and layout as you wish.
- In Button link, you have two options: you can add your cart URL as shown in the image or create a cart variable to set the URL in the variable mapping (as we’ll see in point 43).
37. Click Save and Back to content list to finish configuring the node.
How to configure the "Send email" node for this strategy
(This node is going to send the first abandoned cart email for Branch 1).
38. Select the email you just created and click Next .
39. In the Send to section, select "Contact".
40. Indicate the "Transactional" type of email. The emails in this strategy have been marked as transactional because they respond to an action carried out by the contact, without any type of promotion or additional consideration.
41. Configure the Parameters section of "Send to contact".
42. Under Google Analytics, click "Enable Google Analytics" then Next .
43. Link the Connectif fields (left column) with your email variables (right column) to customize contact and product information:
- Drag the Literal field to match the {{cartUrl}} variable and enter the URL of your ecommerce cart in it. This variable will now include the address of your cart page (this value is fixed and will be the same for all contacts).
- Drag the Name field to match the {{name}} variable. The name of the contact registered in your file will now appear in the email.
- Drag the product information that you find available to the Dynamic content area. This information is collected by Connectif in the "On cart abandonment" node and updates it in the file of each product in your account, so that you can personalize your email with the product information contained in each contact’s cart.
- Drag the Name field to match the {{title}} variable. The name of the product that the contact has added to their cart will now appear in the email.
- Drag the Image Url product field to match the {{imageURL}} variable. The image that appears on the product sheet will now appear in the email.
- Drag the Unit price field to match the {{price}} variable. The price included in the product file will now appear in the email.
44. Click Finish .
In this step we have sent an email to contacts who have left a product in their cart. This email will be personalized with said item, as well as including a link to the cart. This URL is generic and cannot be customized but as we have seen in the configuration, it must be entered in the email variables.
STEP 5 Branch 2. First “Send email” node
How to configure the email for this strategy
(In this step you’ll create the first abandoned cart email for Branch 2, which will include dynamic content featuring the products contained in the contact's cart).
45. In the node selection menu, go to "Actions > Email" and drag the "Send email" node into the editor so that it connects to the "Check value" node.
46. At the junction of this node with the previous one, click on the circle until "Yes" appears.
47. Click (Edit node settings) in the “Send email” node and then Create new content.
48. In the Toolbox panel, click the General tab to edit the parameters of the general appearance of your email, and in the Components tab, configure the layout and add the elements you want to your email by clicking and dragging them into the editor.
If you need them, all the steps to create an email are available in this lesson.
49. Once you have configured the text and images of your email, add a Dynamic content element
50. Click Edit element above the Dynamic content.
51. Under Template, select Basic product.
52. Under Structure, choose the number of rows and columns to display and check the Show incomplete rows.
53. Add a Button element and edit it to point to the cart page:
- Edit the text and layout as you wish.
- In Button link, you have two options: you can add your cart URL as shown in the image or create a cart variable to set the URL in the variable mapping (as we will see in point 60).
54. Click Save and Back to content list to finish configuring the node.
How to configure the "Send email" node for this strategy
(This node will send the first abandoned cart email for Branch 2).
55. Select the email you just created and click Next .
56. In the Send to , select "Contact".
57. Indica el tipo de email "Transaccional".
58. Configure the Parameters section of "Send to contact".
59. Under Google Analytics, click "Enable Google Analytics" then Next .
60. Link the Connectif fields (left column) with your email variables (right column) to customize contact and product information:
- Drag the Literal field to match the {{cartUrl}} variable and enter the URL of your ecommerce cart in it. This variable will now include the address of your cart page (this is a fixed value and will be the same for all contacts).
- Drag the Name field to match the {{name}} variable. The name of the contact registered in your file will now appear in the email.
- Drag the product information that you find available to the Dynamic content area. This information is collected by Connectif in the "On cart abandonment" node and updates it in the file of each product in your account, so that you can personalize your email with the product information contained in each contact’s cart.
- Drag the Name field to match the {{title}} variable. The name of the product that the contact has added to their cart will now appear in the email.
- Drag the Image Url product field to match {{imageURL}}. The image that appears on the product sheet will now appear in the email.
- Drag the Unit price field to match the {{price}} variable. The price that appears in the product sheet will now appear in the email.
61. Click Finish .
In this step we have sent an email to contacts who have left two or more products in their cart. This email will be personalized with those items as well as a link to the cart.
STEP 6. First "Wait" node
How the "Start" node works
This node is used to activate a certain wait time between the nodes that precede and follow it. In the node interface, you can configure the parameters that determine the wait:
- A period of time. For example: 1 day and 15 hours.
- Until a specific date and time. For example: until July 23, 2023 at 2 p.m.
- Until the date of imported data. For example: Three days after the last purchase made.
How to configure the "Wait" node for this strategy
(This node will initiate a waiting period before the contact continues through the workflow). You need to add and configure this node for both Branch 1 and Branch 2).
62. In the node selection menu, go to "Actions > System" and drag the "Wait" node into the editor so that it connects to the "Send email" node.
63. Click (Edit node settings) for the “Wait” node.
64. Under Set the time delay, select "A period of time" and enter "1" in the Days field.
65. Click Update.
In this step we have told Connectif to wait one day before continuing the flow.
STEP 7. First "Has purchased" node
How the "Has purchased" node works
This node is used to check if the contact has made a recent purchase as well as any purchases the contact has made so far.
In the node interface, you can configure the number of purchases, specific dates and intervals, and the necessary attributes of the purchases, which will serve as the conditions for distributing contacts.
How to configure the "Has purchased" node for this strategy
(This node will identify if the contact has made a purchase during the waiting period). You need to add and configure this node for both Branch 1 and Branch 2).
66. In the node selection menu, go to "Conditions > Ecommerce" and drag the "Has purchased" node into the editor so that it connects to the first "Wait" node.
67. Click (Edit node settings) for the “Has purchased” node.
68. In The number of purchases made, select "Greater than" and enter "0" purchases, to detect contacts who have made at least one purchase.
69. Under Configure conditions to define a specific set of purchases, click the dropdown and select In the last time interval. In the configuration options, enter "1" in the Days field, to detect that the contact's purchases have been made in the last day.
70. Click Update.
In this step we have told Connectif to check if the contact has made a purchase in the last day. If this condition is met, the flow will stop, and if the contact hasn’t made a purchase, it will continue.
STEP 8 Branch 1. Second “Send email” node
How to configure the email for this strategy
(In this step you’ll create the second email of the abandoned cart sequence for Branch 1, which will include dynamic content featuring the products in the contact's cart).
71. In the node selection menu, go to "Actions > Email" and drag the "Send email" node into the editor so that it connects to the "Has purchased" node.
72. At the junction of this node with the previous one, click on the circle until "No" appears.
73. Click (Edit node settings) in the “Send email” node and then Create new content.
74. In the Toolbox panel, click the General tab to edit the parameters of the general appearance of your email, and in the Components tab, configure the layout and add the elements you want to your email by clicking and dragging them into the editor.
If you need them, all the steps to create an email are available in this lesson.
75. Once you have configured the text and images of your email, add a Dynamic content element and edit it as you did in Step 5 Branch 1.
76. When you've finished creating your email with dynamic product content, click Save and Back to content list.
How to configure the "Send email" node for this strategy
(This node will send the second email of the abandoned cart sequence for Branch 1).
77. Select the email you just created and click Next .
78. In the Send to section, select "Contact".
79. Indicate the "Transactional" type of email.
80. Configure the Parameters section of "Send to contact".
81. Under Google Analytics, click "Enable Google Analytics" then Next .
82. Link the Connectif fields (left column) with your email variables (right column) to customize the contact and product information, just as you did in Step 5 Branch 1. You can also see the association in the image:
83. Click Finish .
In this step we have sent a second email to contacts who have left a product in their cart. This email will be personalized with that item as well as a link to the cart.
STEP 8 Branch 2. Second “Send email” node
How to configure the email for this strategy
(In this step you’ll create the second email of the abandoned cart sequence for Branch 2, which will include dynamic content featuring the products contained in the contact's cart).
84. In the node selection menu, go to "Actions > Email" and drag the "Send email" node into the editor so that it connects to the "Has purchased" node.
85. At the junction of this node with the previous one, click on the circle until "No" appears.
86. Click (Edit node settings) in the “Send email” node and then en Create new content.
87. In the Toolbox panel, click the General tab to edit the overall appearance of your email.
88. On the Components tab, set up the layout and add the elements you want to your email by clicking and dragging them into the editor.
If you need them, all the steps to create an email are available in this lesson.
89. Once you have configured the text and images of your email, add a Dynamic content element and edit it as you did in Step 5 Branch 2.
90. When you've finished creating your email with dynamic product content, click, Save and Back to content list.
How to configure the "Send email" node for this strategy
(This node will send the second email of the abandoned cart sequence for Branch 2).
91. Select the email you just created and click Next .
92. In the Send to section, select "Contact".
93. Indicate the "Transactional" type of email.
94. Configure the Parameters section of "Send to contact".
95. Under Google Analytics, click "Enable Google Analytics" then Next .
96. Link the Connectif fields (left column) with your email variables (right column) to customize the contact and product information, just as you did in Step 5 Branch 2. You can also see the association in the image:
97. Click Finish .
In this step we have sent a second email to contacts who have left two or more products in their cart. This email will be personalized with those items as well as a link to the cart.
STEP 9. Second "Wait" node
How to configure the "Wait" node for this strategy
(This node will initiate a waiting period before continuing the workflow). You need to add and configure this node for both Branch 1 and Branch 2).
98. In the node selection menu, go to "Actions > System" and drag the "Wait" node into the editor so that it connects to the "Send email" node.
99. Click (Edit node settings) for the “Wait” node.
100. Under Set the time delay, select "A period of time" and enter "2" Days.
101. Click Update.
In this step we have told Connectif to wait two days before continuing the flow.
STEP 10. Second "Has purchased" node
How to configure the "Has purchased" node for this strategy
(This node will identify if the contact has made a purchase during the waiting period). You need to add and configure this node for both Branch 1 and Branch 2).
102. In the node selection menu, go to "Conditions > Ecommerce" and drag the "Has purchased" node into the editor so that it connects to the second "Wait" node.
103. Click (Edit node settings) for the “Has purchased” node.
104. In The number of purchases made, select "Greater than" and enter "0" purchases, to detect contacts who have made at least one purchase.
105. Under Configure conditions to define a specific set of purchases, click the dropdown and select In the last time interval. In the configuration options, set "2" in the Days field, to detect that the contact's purchases have occurred in that period of time.
106. Click Update.
In this step we have told Connectif to check if the contact has made a purchase in the last two days, to stop the flow if a purchase has been completed or continue it to recover the abandoned cart.
STEP 11 Branch 1. Third “Send email” node
How to configure the email for this strategy
(In this step you’ll create the third email of the abandoned cart sequence for Branch 1, which will include dynamic content featuring the products contained in the contact's cart).
107. In the node selection menu, go to "Actions > Email" and drag the "Send email" node into the editor so that it connects to the "Has purchased" node.
108. At the junction of this node with the previous one, click on the circle until "No" appears.
109. Click (Edit node settings) in the “Send email” node and then Create new content.
110. In the Toolbox panel, click the General tab to edit the overall appearance of your email.
111. On the Components tab, set up the layout and add the elements you want to your email by clicking and dragging them into the editor.
If you need them, all the steps to create an email are available in this lesson.
112. Once you have configured the text and images of your email, add a Dynamic content element and edit it as you did in Step 5 Branch 1.
113. When you've finished creating your email with dynamic product content, click Save and Back to content list.
How to configure the "Send email" node for this strategy
(This node will send the third email of the abandoned cart sequence for Branch 1).
114. Select the email you just created and click Next .
115. In the Send to section, select "Contact".
116. Indicate the "Transactional" type of email.
117. Configure the Parameters section of "Send to contact".
118. Under Google Analytics, click "Enable Google Analytics" then Next .
119. Link the Connectif fields with your email variables to customize the contact and product information, just as you did in Step 5 Branch 1.
120. Click Finish .
In this step we’ll send a third email to contacts who have left a product in their cart. This email will be personalized with that item as well as a link to the cart.
STEP 11 Branch 2. Third “Send email” node
How to configure the email for this strategy
(In this step you’ll create the third email of the abandoned cart sequence for Branch 2, which will include dynamic content featuring the products contained in the contact's cart).
121. In the node selection menu, go to "Actions > Email" and drag the "Send email" node into the editor so that it connects to the "Has purchased" node.
122. At the junction of this node with the previous one, click on the circle until "No" appears.
123. Click (Edit node settings) in the “Send email” node and then Create new content.
124. In the Toolbox panel, click the General tab to edit the overall appearance of your email.
125. On the Components tab, set up the layout and add the elements you want to your email by clicking and dragging them into the editor.
If you need them, all the steps to create an email are available in this lesson.
126. Once you have configured the text and images of your email, add a Dynamic content element and edit it as you did in Step 5 Branch 2.
127. When you've finished creating your email with dynamic product content, click Save and Back to content list.
How to configure the "Send email" node for this strategy
(This node will send the third email of the abandoned cart sequence for Branch 2).
128. Select the email you just created and click Next .
129. In the Send to section, select "Contact".
130. Indicate the "Transactional" type of email.
131. Configure the Parameters section of "Send to contact".
132. Under Google Analytics, click "Enable Google Analytics" then Next .
133. Link the Connectif fields (left column) with your email variables (right column) to customize the contact and product information, just as you did in Step 5 Branch 2.
134. Click Finish .
In this step we’ll send a third email to contacts who have left two or more products in their cart. This email will be personalized with those items as well as a link to the cart.
Result
After completing the steps, you will have created your abandoned cart funnel and a sequence of emails to recover unfinished purchases.
Continue your tour
Now that you've completed this lesson, move on to the next one, in which you’ll add a recommender inline to your product listings.
Congratulations!
You’ve reached the end of the tutorial.
Back to course
Access the complete course index and explanation of each lesson here.
Related reading
If you want to dive deeper into any of the topics covered in this lesson, you can access the guide documentation:
- Types of A/B/X tests and configuration, to learn how to use nodes to create an A/B/X test for evaluating strategies with different flows, like the one you have just implemented.
- Product sync and verification, to understand how Connectif automatically and securely syncs and verifies your products to update and provide recommendations, purchase and cart details, and product display.