How It Works
When a customer enters their email at checkout and leaves without completing their order, CMS Max automatically detects the abandoned cart and begins sending them a sequence of reminder emails — each with a one-click link to restore their cart and pick up right where they left off.
Enabling the Feature
Abandoned Cart Recovery is off by default and must be turned on per store.
- 1 Go to Store Settings → Abandoned Cart in your admin panel.
- 2 Toggle Enable Abandoned Cart Recovery to on.
- 3 If you have no templates yet, click Add Default Templates to load a pre-built starter sequence.
- 4 Review your settings and email templates, then save.
Heads up: Emails only go out to customers who entered their email address at checkout. Customers who left before entering an email will not receive abandoned cart emails.
Configuring Settings
Found under Store Settings → Abandoned Cart → Settings.
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Recovery | Off | Master toggle for the entire feature. |
| Inactivity Delay | 15 min | How long after inactivity before the cart is flagged as abandoned. Max: 1,440 minutes (24 hours). |
| From Name | Store default | The sender name shown in the customer's inbox. Falls back to your store's mail settings if left blank. |
| Reply-To Address | Store default | Where customer replies will go. Falls back to your store's reply-to setting if left blank. |
| BCC Addresses | None | Optional — add one or more addresses to silently receive a copy of every abandoned cart email. |
| Recovery Window | 30 days | How long recovery links remain active. After this window the cart expires and links are invalidated. Max: 365 days. |
Email Templates
You can create multiple email templates that send in a timed sequence after a cart is abandoned. This lets you build a multi-touch follow-up strategy — for example, a gentle reminder at 15 minutes, a more urgent nudge at 24 hours, and a final follow-up at 3 days.
Managing Templates
Go to Store Settings → Abandoned Cart and scroll to the Email Templates section.
- →Add Default Templates — appears when you have no templates yet; creates a recommended starter sequence with one click.
- →Create a new template from scratch.
- →Edit the subject, body, and send timing for any existing template.
- →Delete templates you no longer want in the sequence.
Timing & Sequence
Each template has a Send Delay — the number of minutes after the cart was abandoned to send that email. Templates are ordered automatically by their delay, so the sequence number is always calculated for you.
Example Sequence (with 15 min inactivity delay)
Email Layout
Every abandoned cart email includes your store logo (or store name) in the header, your custom body content with template tags replaced, a centered "Complete Your Order" button, and a footer with your store link and an unsubscribe option.
Recovery Links
Each abandoned cart email contains a unique recovery link for that customer's cart. When clicked, it automatically restores their cart contents and redirects them to the cart page to complete the purchase.
What Happens When a Customer Clicks
If the link is valid: their cart is restored, marked as Recovered, and they're taken straight to the cart to finish checking out.
If the link is invalid, the customer is redirected to the cart page with one of these errors:
- "Invalid recovery link." — the token wasn't found.
- "This recovery link has expired." — the recovery window has passed.
- "Your cart has expired." — the cart items are no longer available.
Good to know: Recovery links continue to work even after a customer unsubscribes. Unsubscribing only stops future emails — it doesn't invalidate existing recovery links.
Unsubscribes
Every abandoned cart email includes an unsubscribe link in the footer. Unsubscribing is per-store — a customer who unsubscribes from your abandoned cart emails won't receive them from your store, but is unaffected by emails from other CMS Max stores.
What Happens When a Customer Unsubscribes
- •The cart they unsubscribed from is marked Unsubscribed.
- •Any other active abandoned carts for that email address are also stopped immediately.
- •Already-expired carts from previous sessions are left unchanged.
- •Converted orders are never affected.
One-click unsubscribe: Abandoned cart emails include standard List-Unsubscribe headers, so customers using Gmail, Apple Mail, or Outlook can unsubscribe directly from their inbox without opening the email.
Reports & Analytics
Go to Reports → Abandoned Carts to see a full breakdown of your recovery performance. Use the date range picker and status filter to drill into specific time periods or cart states.
KPI Cards
Attribution Tiers
When a converted order is linked to an abandoned cart, it falls into one of three attribution tiers:
Customer clicked the recovery link from one of your emails, then placed the order. The email directly drove the sale.
Customer received at least one email but returned on their own, without clicking the recovery link.
Customer completed the order before any email was sent — they came back on their own within your inactivity delay window.
Cart Statuses
Each abandoned cart moves through a lifecycle from creation to a terminal state.
| Status | Meaning | Final? |
|---|---|---|
| Pending | Cart was detected, waiting to send the first email. | No |
| Emailing | At least one email has been sent; the sequence is in progress. | No |
| Recovered | Customer clicked the recovery link and their cart was restored. They haven't placed the order yet but can still convert. | No |
| Converted | Order was placed. The cart value is updated to the actual order total. | Yes |
| Expired | The recovery window passed, or the cart items are no longer available. No more emails will be sent. | Yes |
| Unsubscribed | The customer unsubscribed from abandoned cart emails for your store. | Yes |
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this work for guest checkouts?
Yes — as long as the guest entered their email address at checkout. If a customer leaves before entering an email, no abandoned cart record is created and no email will be sent.
How many emails can I send in a sequence?
There's no hard cap. You can create as many emails in your sequence as you like, each with its own timing, subject, and body. Just make sure each template has a unique send delay so they go out in the right order.
What happens if a customer orders without clicking the recovery link?
The order is still tracked and the cart is marked Converted. In your reports it will appear as an Email-Reminded conversion (if emails were sent) or Organic (if they came back before any email went out).
Will emails stop automatically once a customer completes their order?
Yes. As soon as an order is placed, the cart is marked Converted and no further emails are sent. You won't accidentally follow up with a customer who already purchased.
Can I see which emails were sent in the admin?
Yes. Go to Settings → Email Logs and use the Email Type filter (visible when the feature is enabled) to view only abandoned cart emails. You can see delivery status, timestamps, and recipient details.
What does the cart value in reports represent?
For active, recovered, expired, and unsubscribed carts, it reflects the estimated cart total at abandonment. For Converted carts, it's updated to the actual order total after the purchase — so your recovered revenue figures are always accurate.
How long do recovery links stay active?
Recovery links are valid for the duration of your configured Recovery Window (default: 30 days). After that the link expires and the cart is cleaned up. You can adjust the window up to 365 days in your Abandoned Cart settings.