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Between 60% and 70% of carts get abandoned, and most checkout abandonment emails never reach the majority of those people. The reason is structural: standard abandonment emails only fire once a shopper has entered their email address during checkout, and most abandonment happens before that point.
Ben Jabbawy is the founder of Privy, the tool I use for email capture forms. We met randomly at Shopify Unite in 2016 through Ed Hallen of Klaviyo, and he has been a consistent resource for anything email related since.
Below is why standard abandonment emails miss most abandoners, how cart saver popups work, and how to tier your offers so you stop training customers to wait for discounts.
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Table of Contents
Key takeaways
- 60% to 70% of carts are abandoned, and price including shipping and tax is the leading stated reason.
- Checkout abandonment emails only reach people who already entered an email address at checkout, missing most abandoners.
- A cart saver popup triggered on exit intent at checkout can prevent roughly 10% of abandonments before the visitor leaves.
- Tier offers by cart value so low-value carts get nothing and high-value carts get an aggressive offer.
- Send the first email at one hour with no coupon, framed as answering questions.
- Keep offers out of subject lines to protect deliverability and avoid the promotions tab.
- Auto-apply coupon codes at checkout rather than making mobile users memorize them.
- Traffic roughly doubles over the holidays, which doubles the absolute number of abandoned carts.
Why carts get abandoned
Ben’s data across Privy merchants puts abandonment at 60% to 70%. You spend money driving traffic, the visitor gets far enough down the funnel to add a product, and seven in ten leave before completing.
Price is the leading stated reason, and specifically the all-in price. Shipping and tax appearing at checkout is what triggers it, since the product price was already visible when they added to cart.
Second is unanswered questions about the product: guarantees, reviews, how it actually functions.
A smaller share is technical, with payments declining or errors at checkout.
Ben’s honest caveat is that some abandonment is simply distraction and cannot be recovered. Attention spans are short and people wander off, which is a smaller share than price and questions.
Why checkout abandonment emails miss most abandoners
This is the part Ben calls the dirty little secret of checkout abandonment emails.
Shopify provides a free checkout abandonment email, and most email platforms piggyback on the same Shopify API. All of them require the shopper to have entered an email address during checkout before leaving.
A large share of abandonment happens earlier: on the cart page, or at checkout before the email field is filled in. Those people are invisible to the standard system.
How a form-capture tool closes that gap
If you already run an email capture popup converting roughly 10% of visitors, those people become known entities the moment they submit the form.
The tool then tracks their browsing and cart activity. Someone who filled in a form and added a red t-shirt to cart is identified by Privy, while Shopify and your email platform still do not know who they are.
If that person leaves, only the form tool has both proper opt-in and the ability to identify the address.
Ben’s practical note: if you adopt a third-party cart abandonment solution, turn off the Shopify checkout abandonment email so the two do not overlap.
How cart saver popups work
A cart saver fires on exit intent while the shopper is on the checkout page with value still in the cart, presenting a last-minute offer before they leave.
Ben’s claim is that a simple version offering 5% off, free shipping, or 10% prevents roughly 10% of carts that would otherwise have been abandoned.
His broader point is what surprised his own team before launching it: how comfortable merchants are letting everyone leave the site without attempting anything at all.
What exit intent actually detects
| Device | Signal | Recommended format |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop | Mouse accelerating toward the browser close button or URL bar | Full screen overlay |
| Mobile | Switching browser tabs, or the back button at checkout | Fly-out, ideally bottom third |
Moving your mouse quickly to another window should not trigger it, since the detection is based on location and pace toward specific targets.
On mobile, an alternative signal is time. Someone sitting on the checkout page with money in their cart for a minute or two is a reasonable trigger for a last-minute offer.
Ben is lukewarm on countdown timers. They work and feel gimmicky as a consumer, and he finds a cart saver produces a large impact without one.
One limitation he acknowledged: there is currently no way to distinguish a back button that returns someone to your own site from one that sends them to Facebook, which matters for stores where shoppers routinely bounce between cart and catalog.
How to tier offers by cart value
The obvious objection to cart saver discounts is that you train customers to abandon in order to get one. Ben’s answer is tiering.
If your average order value is $50, a cart below that gets nothing and you let them leave. A cart at three times AOV, say $150, justifies being more aggressive.
That way the discount reaches only the segment where the recovered margin outweighs the training risk.
A non-discount alternative for lower-value carts is a fly-out asking whether they had questions about the product, with an offer to respond.
Targeting by customer history
Beyond cart value, you can target based on how many orders someone has placed or how much they have spent historically.
That covers the case where a valuable repeat customer has a cart below your normal threshold but deserves different treatment.
Ben’s caution is that stacking targeting rules shrinks the matching audience quickly.
The abandoned cart email sequence
Ben recommends two to three emails, which is where recovery rates climb from the 3% to 4% he commonly sees.
The first goes at one hour, with no coupon. His framing for it is a soft reminder that leads with a question: we noticed you left something in your cart, did you have questions about how it fits or the sizing, and here is a link to complete checkout if not.
The second goes six to twelve hours later with more product information, and this is the appropriate point to consider a small coupon.
A third at 24 to 48 hours is optional. In my own store the third converts better than the second, which I cannot fully explain.
How to space the emails
Ben considers 24 hours too long for the first email given how people browse now.
Spacing the second and third depends on what else is running. If you are retargeting on Facebook, that person may see an ad the same day, so two emails in one day may be too much. Without retargeting, one hour and then six to twelve hours is reasonable.
Subject lines that work
Keep offers out of the subject line, which helps deliverability and avoids the promotions tab.
Ben’s recommendation is weaving your brand’s actual voice into something simple, since a plain reminder that you left something in your cart performs better than people expect when the tone matches what the customer expects from you.
For the second email, the subject can stay similar, noting the cart is expiring soon, while the body carries more information about your business and a reminder of what is in the cart. Both are things a shopper may genuinely have forgotten within 24 hours.
My own sequence
For reference, my three emails run without any offer. The first is a gentle reminder, the second says we still have your cart saved, and the third says the cart is expiring soon.
I am generally against coupons because of the training effect. After this conversation my plan was to build a separate sequence for carts over roughly $100 that does include a coupon, since our high-value customers tend to be event planners with real repeat buying power.
Ben’s response is that treating high and low value abandoners differently is exactly the right instinct, because they behave differently.
Delivering the coupon code
Always reveal the coupon on the site rather than emailing it, if the offer is the point of the signup.
There are two variants worth running. If you do not already have the email, use a form that reveals the code on submission. If you already know the address, skip the ask and reveal the code directly.
More sophisticated merchants branch between the two.
The other piece is auto-applying the code at checkout. Making a mobile user memorize a long code is a poor experience, and Privy’s script enters it automatically for both master and unique codes.
What to prioritize before the holidays
Ben’s data showed roughly 100% lift in traffic over the holiday season across Privy merchants. If 70% of carts normally abandon, doubling traffic doubles the absolute number of abandoned carts.
His two zero-budget priorities:
Set up a cart saver popup triggered on exit intent at checkout, targeted to carts above a value threshold. That should reduce abandonment by roughly 10% before anyone leaves.
Get at least one abandonment email running, whether that is Shopify’s free version or a paid tool that reaches the larger pool of abandoners.
If you have budget, his third priority is retargeting on Facebook or Instagram against people who left without purchasing. Those audiences are small, cheap, and sit at the very bottom of your funnel, and it keeps you present without sending six emails.
You can find Privy at Privy.com.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of carts get abandoned?
Between 60% and 70% across Privy’s merchant base. Price including shipping and tax at checkout is the leading stated reason, followed by unanswered questions about the product.
Why do checkout abandonment emails miss most abandoners?
Because they only fire once a shopper has entered an email address during checkout, and a large share of abandonment happens on the cart page or before that field is completed. Tools that capture the email earlier via a signup form can identify those visitors.
What is a cart saver popup?
A last-minute offer triggered by exit intent while a shopper is on the checkout page with value still in their cart. Ben Jabbawy reports it prevents roughly 10% of carts that would otherwise have been abandoned.
How does exit intent detection work?
On desktop it tracks mouse movement and acceleration toward the browser close button or URL bar. On mobile it detects tab switching or the back button, and a time threshold on the checkout page also works as a signal.
Should you offer a discount to recover an abandoned cart?
Tier it by cart value so you do not train customers to abandon. Carts below your average order value can be allowed to leave, while carts at two or three times AOV justify an aggressive offer.
When should you send abandoned cart emails?
The first at one hour with no coupon, framed as offering to answer questions. The second at six to twelve hours with more product detail and possibly a small coupon, with an optional third at 24 to 48 hours.
Should you put the offer in the subject line?
No. Keeping offers out of subject lines helps deliverability and reduces the chance of landing in the promotions tab, and a plain reminder in your brand’s voice performs better than expected.
Should coupon codes be auto-applied at checkout?
Yes. Making a shopper memorize and retype a long code, particularly on mobile, is a poor experience, and auto-application removes that friction entirely.
