[2026] How to Recover Shopify Abandoned Checkouts?

An abandoned checkout is a sale that almost happened. The shopper chose your products, started checkout, typed their email, and then left without paying. On Shopify, you can recover many of these shoppers. This guide covers two things in plain steps: how to recover an abandoned checkout after it happens, and how to reduce your checkout abandonment rate before it happens. I’m Charlie from the BOGOS team. I work with Shopify merchants on promotions and conversion, and abandoned checkouts come up in almost every store I look at.

TL;DR

• An abandoned checkout on Shopify is a shopper who entered their email at checkout but did not pay.
• About 70% of checkouts end this way across e-commerce, so this is normal, not a sign your store is broken.
• You fix it in two directions: recover checkouts after they happen, and reduce them before they happen.
• To recover, send reminder emails. These win back roughly 3% to 15% of lost checkouts, depending on how good your setup is.
• To reduce, remove the things that make people leave. The top reason is unexpected extra costs like shipping and tax.
• Showing costs early and offering a free shipping threshold gives you the biggest gain.
• Recovery saves some sales. Prevention saves more, because it removes the cause.

1. What an abandoned checkout means on Shopify

An abandoned checkout is a checkout that a shopper started but did not finish. Shopify records it only after the shopper has entered their email or contact details. Shopify marks a checkout as abandoned when it stays incomplete for about 10 minutes after the email is provided.

Shopify keeps these in your admin under “Orders”, then “Abandoned checkouts“, and stores them for the last 30 days.

This matters because the shopper left you their email. That single detail is what makes recovery possible. You cannot email an anonymous browser. You can email someone who started checkout.

2. Abandoned checkout vs abandoned cart: the difference that matters

An abandoned cart and an abandoned checkout are not the same thing, and the difference changes what you can do.

An abandoned cart is when a shopper adds a product to their cart and never starts checkout. You usually have no contact details, so you cannot send a direct reminder. An abandoned checkout is when a shopper starts checkout, enters their email, and does not pay. You have their email, so you can reach them.

On Shopify, the term in your admin is “abandoned checkout,” and it is the one tied to a recoverable email. The rest of this guide builds on that difference. Here is a side-by-side view:

3. Why shoppers abandon checkout

Before you fix abandonment, you need to know why it happens. Most abandonment is friction you can remove, not lost interest.

Baymard Institute asked shoppers why they abandon. Setting aside people who were only browsing and never meant to buy, here are the reasons that point to a checkout problem:

• 39% left because extra costs were too high, such as shipping, tax, and fees.
• 19% left because they did not trust the site with their card details.
• 19% left because the site forced them to create an account.
• 18% left because the checkout was too long or complicated.
• 14% left because they could not see the total cost up front.
• 10% left because there were not enough payment methods.
• 8% left because the card was declined.

Look at that list again. Almost every reason is a checkout problem you can fix with a change to your store. That is the key point of this whole guide. You can recover some lost checkouts, but you can prevent even more by removing these causes. If you want the full method behind diagnosing and fixing drop-off, see our pillar guide on Shopify conversion rate optimization.

4. How to recover an abandoned checkout when it happens

You recover an abandoned checkout by bringing the shopper back to finish paying. These shoppers already showed strong intent. They picked products and started checkout. A good reminder often is enough.

#1 The recovery flow and timing

Recovery emails are worth the setup. Klaviyo studied more than 143,000 abandoned cart flows and found they convert better than any other automated email, with a placed-order rate of 3.33% and the highest revenue per recipient of any flow type. So this is the one automation to get right first.

Speed is the most important part. Send your first reminder soon, while the product is still in the shopper’s mind. The widely used sequence is three emails sent within about 72 hours:

1. First email: about 1 hour after abandonment. This is a plain reminder. Many shoppers were just interrupted, and this brings them straight back.
2. Second email: about 24 hours after abandonment. This adds reassurance, such as reviews or a clear note about shipping and returns.
3. Third email: about 48 to 72 hours after abandonment. This is the final reminder. You can add a small incentive here if your margins allow it.

Recovery value sits in the first day or two and drops sharply after 48 to 72 hours. By then, the shopper has usually bought elsewhere or moved on. Shopify’s older default waited 10 hours before the first email. Sending the first reminder within the first hour or two, instead of waiting, captures more of that early intent.

#2 Set up Shopify’s built-in recovery email

Shopify includes a free recovery email, so you do not need an app to start. Shopify is moving this feature into its Messaging app. Here is how to turn it on:

• Step 1: Install Shopify Messaging App (Free) from the App Store

• Step 2: Click Automations.

• Step 3: Find the abandoned checkout automation and click to edit its settings.

• Step 4: Turn on automatic abandoned checkout emails.

• Step 5: Set who receives the email and how long to wait before sending. Choose a short wait, such as 1 hour.
• Step 6: Save, then customize the email content to match your brand.

One detail catches many merchants out. Shopify’s automation does not send to every abandoner. It skips shoppers who have never bought from you before and are not subscribed to your marketing. If you think recovery emails are not working, this rule is often why.

Note one more limit. Recovery emails work only for the Online Store and Buy Button sales channels. Checkouts on Shopify POS or other channels do not get these emails.

#3 Recover high-value checkouts manually

You can also send a recovery email by hand, and this is worth doing for large carts. A repeat customer who left a $400 order is worth 90 seconds of your time.

A manual email beats the automation in three cases:

• The automation would skip them. Shopify’s automatic email does not send to shoppers who have not bought before and are not subscribed to your marketing. A big cart from a new shopper may get no automatic email at all, so a manual send is the only way to reach them.
• A personal note works better for a big order. A short, human message feels different from a template, and that can recover a high-value sale the automation would miss.
• You spend time only where it pays. You pick which carts get the effort, so you focus on the orders worth the most instead of treating every cart the same.

Here is how to send one. Go to Orders, then Abandoned checkouts. Click the checkout you want to recover. Click the shopper’s email address, and Shopify opens a message that already contains a link back to their checkout. Send it. If they finish their order through that link, the status on the page changes to “recovered.”

#4 What to put in a recovery email

A recovery email works best when it removes doubt and makes finishing easy. Include these parts:

• A direct link back to the checkout, so the shopper does not start over.
• The products they left behind, with a photo, so they remember what they wanted.
• Trust signals, such as reviews or a clear returns note, to answer the most likely worry. Adding social proof here is one of the simplest ways to rebuild confidence.
• One clear button to complete the order.
• An incentive last, not first. Offer a discount only in your final email, and only if your margins allow it. Leading with a discount trains shoppers to abandon on purpose.

#5 When to go beyond the built-in email

Shopify’s single email is a fine start, but it is limited. It sends one message, and it does not segment by cart value or build multi-step sequences.

You need more when your store grows or when you want higher recovery. Tools like Klaviyo and Omnisend add multi-step email sequences, SMS reminders, and segmentation. You can also run retargeting ads with the Meta Pixel and Google Ads to reach shoppers who left no email.

Here is what recovery rates tend to look like. These are ranges reported by recovery-tool providers, and they vary by store, product, and traffic quality:

Recovery is real money, but notice the ceiling. Even an advanced setup brings back a minority of lost checkouts. That is why the next section matters more.

5. How to reduce checkout abandonment before it happens

Prevention beats recovery, and the reason is simple. A recovery email cannot fix the problem that caused the shopper to leave. A $12 surprise shipping fee that made someone abandon is still $12 when the reminder email arrives. Fix the cause, and the shopper never leaves in the first place.

Here is how to remove the top causes from the Baymard list above.

#1 Show every cost early, and use a free shipping threshold

Unexpected extra costs are the number one reason shoppers leave, at 39%. So show costs before the final step, not after.

Display your shipping cost and policy on the product page, not only at checkout. If a shopper sees the full price early, the total at checkout holds no surprise. This single change removes the most common cause of abandonment.

A free shipping threshold goes one step further. You set a cart total that unlocks free shipping, such as “Free shipping over $50.” This does two jobs at once. It removes the shipping fee that drives people away, and it gives shoppers a reason to add more to their cart. A cart progress bar showing “You are $8 away from free shipping” makes the goal clear and motivates the shopper to reach it.

This is where our app helps directly. The BOGOS Progress Bar shows shoppers how close they are to a free shipping reward and nudges them toward the threshold. We treat this as a conversion lever first, because removing the shipping surprise keeps shoppers in checkout, and a higher cart value is the bonus. You can read more about setting the number itself in our guide to the free shipping threshold.

#2 Keep guest checkout on

Forcing shoppers to create an account makes 19% of them leave. So let them check out as guests.

Shopify allows guest checkout by default, but some stores turn it off by accident. Check your setting. Go to Settings, then Checkout, then Customer accounts. Set accounts to optional, not required. A shopper who wants to buy should never be forced to make an account first. Our guide to Shopify guest checkout walks through this setting in full.

#3 Shorten and simplify the checkout

A long or complicated checkout makes 18% of shoppers leave. So cut your checkout down to the fields you truly need.

Baymard found that the average checkout shows 23.48 form elements, while an ideal checkout needs only 12 to 14. Every extra field is a chance for the shopper to stop. Remove fields you do not need to fulfill the order. Use a single name field instead of separate first and last name fields where you can. A one-page checkout also helps, because the shopper sees the whole task at once instead of clicking through steps. For the wider set of fixes, our conversion rate optimization guide covers checkout length in more depth.

#4 Build trust at the payment step

Doubt at the payment step drives shoppers away. 19% leave because they do not trust the site with their card, and 10% leave because their payment method is missing.

Add trust signals near the payment button. Show security badges so shoppers know the page is safe. Show a clear returns policy so the purchase feels low-risk. Offer enough payment options, including digital wallets and “buy now, pay later,” so shoppers can pay the way they prefer. Each of these removes one reason to stop.

#5 Give hesitant shoppers a reason to finish now

Some shoppers stall because they are unsure, not because of a fault in your store. A small, well-timed offer can move them to finish.

A gift with purchase or a bundle deal gives an undecided shopper a clear reason to buy now instead of later. Picture a shopper with $45 of skincare in their cart who is not sure they need it today. A “spend $50, get a free travel-size cleanser” offer often tips that decision into a completed order.

BOGOS lets you set free gift and bundle offers that appear at the right moment in the buying flow. Used well, an offer like this lifts both completed checkouts and average order value, and you can pair it with product bundles for a similar push.

6. Measure your abandonment and recovery rate

You cannot improve what you do not measure. So track two numbers: how many checkouts you lose, and how many you recover.

Calculate your checkout abandonment rate with this formula:

Abandonment rate = (started checkouts − completed checkouts) ÷ started checkouts × 100

For context, the documented average across e-commerce is 70.22%, based on Baymard’s review of 50 studies. So a rate near 70% is normal. Mobile shoppers abandon more often than desktop shoppers, so a mobile-heavy store often sits higher than average. If your rate is far above 70%, look for a specific problem in your checkout, such as a hidden fee or a broken step.

Then track your recovery rate, which is the share of abandoned checkouts that turn into orders after a reminder. Use Shopify’s abandoned checkouts report to see sends, recovered orders, and patterns over time. If your recovery rate sits under 5% with emails turned on, your setup likely needs work, such as faster timing or a better email. Better checkout design can lift conversion by as much as 35.26% according to Baymard, so the fixes in this guide pay back across your whole store, not only at recovery. For the broader picture of turning these fixes into revenue, see our guide on how to increase sales on Shopify.

Conclusion

An abandoned checkout is not a lost cause. It is a shopper who came close and needs a small push or a removed barrier. Recover the checkouts you can, mostly with fast, clear reminder emails. But put more effort into prevention, because that is where the bigger gain sits. Show your costs early, offer free shipping over a threshold, keep guest checkout on, shorten your forms, and build trust at payment. Do that, and fewer shoppers leave, more orders complete, and your recovery emails have less work to do. Start with the one cause that moves the most sales, which is unexpected costs, and build from there.

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