Abandoned Cart Recovery
Use this page to understand the automatic reminder email sent to storefront customers who reach checkout but leave without ordering, and to see which carts came back.
Quick steps
- Ask Brother POS support to switch abandoned cart recovery on for your store (it comes with the storefront Commerce tier).
- Once it's on, go to Storefront in the admin and click the Abandoned Carts card.
- Check Total Abandoned, Recovered and Recovery Rate at the top.
- Look down the list: Notified means the reminder went out, Recovered means the customer came back and ordered.
There's nothing to send by hand — about an hour after a customer leaves checkout, they get one email with a Complete Your Order button that puts their items back in the cart.
Common questions
Why wasn't a customer reminded? A cart is only saved once there's an email address — a signed-in customer, or a guest who submitted the checkout form. A guest who left before that can't be reminded.
How long does the link work? 7 days from when the cart was saved.
What if an item is no longer sold? Products that have been deactivated since are left out when the cart is restored.
More detail: how it works
How It Works
- Brother POS saves the customer's cart along with their email address:
- Signed-in customers: when they open the checkout page. The email comes from their storefront account.
- Guests: when they fill in their email on the checkout form and submit it. This works the same way on a storefront embedded in your own website.
- The customer leaves without finishing the order, for example at the payment step.
- About an hour after the cart was saved, Brother POS sends one recovery email. Carts are checked every 30 minutes, so it can take up to about an hour and a half.
- The customer clicks Complete Your Order in the email. Their cart is restored and they go straight to checkout.
A cart can only be saved once Brother POS has an email address to send the reminder to. A guest who leaves before submitting the checkout form can't be reminded.
A cart counts as recovered when the customer uses the recovery link, or when they place an order with the same email address. Because a guest's cart is saved when they submit the checkout form, a guest who goes on to finish paying shows as Recovered right away.
More detail: turning it on
Turning It On
Abandoned cart recovery is switched on for your store by Brother POS support. It isn't a setting you can change yourself, so contact support if you'd like it. It's available with the storefront Commerce tier.
More detail: the Abandoned Carts page
The Abandoned Carts Page
Once the feature is on, an Abandoned Carts card appears on your Storefront dashboard. Admins and managers can open it.
At the top, the page shows:
| Figure | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Total Abandoned | Every saved cart. |
| Recovered | How many of those were recovered. |
| Recovery Rate | Recovered carts as a percentage of the total. |
Below that is a list of your 100 most recent carts:
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| The customer's email address. | |
| Cart Total | The cart's value. |
| Items | The number of items. |
| Status | Pending (no email sent yet), Notified (email sent), Recovered, or Expired. |
| Created | When the cart was saved. |
| Notified | When the recovery email was sent. |
More detail: the recovery email
The Recovery Email
- Subject: "You left something behind — your store name"
- The number of items and the cart total.
- The name and quantity of each item.
- A Complete Your Order button that restores the cart. The link uses your storefront's custom domain once that domain is verified, and your standard storefront address otherwise.
- Your store phone number and address, if set.
The link works for 7 days after the cart was first saved. After that it shows "This recovery link has expired."
When the cart is restored, products that have since been deactivated are left out.
More detail: tips for better recovery
Tips for Improving Recovery Rates
- Ask for the email early. A cart can only be recovered once the customer has given an email address, either by signing in or by submitting the checkout form.
- Offer a promo code. Advertise a code in your storefront announcement bar, e.g. "Complete your order with code SAVE10".
- Keep checkout simple. The fewer steps, the fewer abandoned carts.
- Show clear pricing. Show delivery fees and tax early so the final total isn't a surprise.
What's Next?
- Promo Codes — Create discount codes to encourage purchases.
- Storefront — Storefront setup and configuration.
- Online Orders — Managing orders placed through the storefront.