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Abandoned carts questionnaire guide
Abandoned carts questionnaire guide

Before you can install the new abandoned cart functionality on your own site, we require you to fill out a questionnaire.

Gareth Burroughes avatar
Written by Gareth Burroughes
Updated over a week ago

Dotdigital for Adobe Commerce (Magento) or Shopify connector user?

If so, abandoned cart functionality is configured and implemented differently - and the information below does not apply. Please instead read the Dotdigital for Adobe Commerce or Shopify connector articles.

The questionnaire allows us to rule out certain issues that may arise during the installation process.

The first page of questions details issues that can't be overcome and therefore would mean we couldn't proceed with the installation.

Providing you answer 'Yes' to all of the first page's questions, then the second page of questions detail minor issues that can usually be overcome.


First page: critical considerations

  • Do you have a developer/organisation who can make modifications to your website?
    Installation requires that you make some modifications to your website. If you can't do so, the abandoned cart module can't be installed.

  • Can your ecommerce site generate a JSON object based on the example given in 'Setting up abandoned carts'?
    We require that your site sends over a JSON object, in the structure given, to our own servers. Without the ability to do this, the abandoned carts module cannot function.

  • Can this JSON object be presented on every page of the site after the card is created?
    When your site firsts sends over the JSON object, the clock starts. A certain amount of time later (say, 20 minutes), we will send out an email to your customer asking why they have abandoned their cart.
    Each time your customer navigates on your site, you will need to resend this JSON object. This will do two things: update their stored cart on our servers and reset the clock.
    These actions indicate that your customer is still browsing your site, and therefore hasn't yet abandoned their cart.

  • On completion, are you able to send the complete cart, with a code to say it completed?
    Once your customer has completed their cart (paid for their items), your site will need to send a message through to our site to say that the cart has been completed.
    This action will stop the clock, preventing us from sending a 'you have abandoned your cart' email.


Second page: secondary considerations

  • Is it possible to access an abandoned cart from a single URL?
    When we send through the email to your customer, stating that they have abandoned their cart, it will include an action of some kind, inviting them to continue, and complete their order.
    That action will be a link (URL) that should take them back to your website. And, ideally, when they arrive back at your site, the items that they had previously placed in their cart should still be present.
    See 'Abandoned cart - link to cart URL' for more information on how that could be achieved.

  • Is it possible to test the payment process (i.e., with a fake promo code or credit card number?
    Once you have completed the installation of the abandoned cart module on your own site, we will test the process. It would be handy (but not essential) if we can test your site without having to use a real credit card, or, at least, not be charged.

  • Is the client’s site a single-page app, or are full-page refreshes infrequent?
    Most sites are built so that every action the customer does returns to the server, and the entire page is refreshed. Therefore, any scripts on the page (such as our abandoned cart script) is run every time that happens, which is usually pretty often.
    Some more modern sites (frequently called 'single-page' apps) don't require the entire page to be posted back every single time a user clicks an action.
    This is not a problem, but it will require a little more work from your developers to make sure our scripts are executed often enough. Failure to do so could result in the abandoned cart email being sent prematurely.

  • Is the domain of the commerce site the same as the domain for the checkout?
    Our scripts that run on your website use cookies to track an individual user. If the domain of your checkout process is different to your commerce site, this can present a problem as the checkout domain will not have the same tracking cookies.

  • Is a different domain used for the mobile site and is this domain different to the checkout?
    Again, for the same reasons as above, having different domains will make it harder to track your customer's progress.

  • Are the checkout/payment options done through a third party?
    For example, if you navigate away from your site, to PayPal, for payment, we lose the ability to track the user properly.
    This isn't always a problem, but it can be. The issues arise if the very final 'thank you for your order' action is also done on the payment provider's site.
    With PayPal, for example, the final step can be done by PayPal themselves, and the user never returns to your own site. In this case, your site can't send through the order_complete message, and therefore our servers will not know that this has happened. We will then send out the abandoned cart email, even though the cart was not abandoned.
    In the case of PayPal, however, it is possible to configure their system to navigate back to your own site upon completion of payment, meaning that you can send through the order_complete message to our servers.
    It is highly unlikely that you can run custom scripts, such as our abandoned cart module, on third party payment provider's websites. This part of the process will most likely have to be done on your own site.

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