Learn to set up abandoned carts for your Shopify store using Dotdigital.
Overview
The Shopify abandoned cart module combines some of the platform's most powerful features to help you convert your uncompleted orders and drive up your revenue. These features include:
- Web Behavior Tracking
- CartInsight
- Automated programs
Before you start
Things you’ll need to know:
- Abandoned cart differs from abandoned checkout. If you are using the abandoned checkout feature for Shopify you can find more information about this in the Abandoned checkout for Shopify article.
Install the abandoned cart module
An abandoned cart is an event that is triggered when:
- Subscribers who click through from a Dotdigital email campaign add items to their cart and then leave the store without completing an order.
- Visitors submit their email addresses in the footer, add items to their cart, and then leave the store without completing the order.
- Logged-in customers or new account creators add items to their cart and then leave the store without completing an order.
When an abandoned cart is triggered, the details of the cart are stored as a record in the contact's CartInsight data collection in Dotdigital. This CartInsight data includes items such as the URL of the cart, the products in the cart, and the total price of the cart. All of these items are included in the abandoned cart block, which is used to create an abandoned cart email. Implementing the abandoned cart module to your Shopify store requires scripts to be inserted into the theme.
For newer installations of the Shopify for Dotdigital connector, the scripts which power the abandoned cart module can be automatically added to your store by the installation wizard.
If you want to install the scripts manually, check out the Install abandoned cart scripts for Shopify article. We suggest having your agency or development team insert these scripts.
Abandoned cart email campaign
Abandoned cart functionality uses triggered campaigns that are added to a program. The email should contain the latest contents of a visitor’s cart. This is done by using the abandoned cart building block.
For newer installations of the Shopify for Dotdigital connector, the design of an abandoned cart campaign can be configured through the installation wizard.
To learn more about how to edit or create an abandoned cart campaign, you can follow the Create an abandoned cart email article.
Abandoned cart program
For newer installations of the Dotdigital for Shopify connector, an Abandoned cart program (as well as a Welcome program) is created for you automatically by the installation wizard.
Contacts are enrolled into an abandoned cart program when they abandon items in their shopping cart while browsing your site. Enrolment begins when the cartDelay parameter set in the cartInsight script is met. So, for example, a cartDelay set to 30 would enrol contacts into your program half an hour after they abandon the cart.
To see more about the scripts that power abandoned cart you can check out the Install abandoned cart scripts for Shopify article.
To find out how to select the correct program that you want your contacts to be enrolled in, see the Map program enrolments section of this article.
To learn more about how to edit or create an abandoned cart program, you can follow the Create an abandoned cart program article.
Map program enrolments
Once you have created an abandoned cart program, you can map this in your store settings so that customers who start but do not complete a purchase are enrolled on to your program automatically.
- In Dotdigital, go to Settings > Shopify > Store.
- Under the heading Abandoned cart you will see a drop-down menu for Enrol abandoned carts to. Expand the Enrol abandoned carts to drop-down menu, then select the abandoned cart program you created.
- Expand the drop-down menu for Enrol abandoned carts after to set your
cartDelay. This is the amount of time that we will wait after a cart is abandoned to enrol the contact in the program. - Next, choose whether to Allow abandoned cart for non-subscribed contacts by selecting YES or NO.
Setting this option to YES will allow contacts who have provided their email address on your site but not opted-in to your marketing communications to be enrolled into your abandoned cart program.
Signup form selector
The final option in the Abandoned cart section of your store settings is the Signup form selector field. This is the ID or class name of the HTML form element on your site, which the abandoned cart script uses to capture an email address entered by a contact.
If you are using the native Shopify signup form (as is the case in most Shopify themes) then you can leave this field blank.
If you are using a Dotdigital signup form then you should enter ‘#signup’ in this field.
If you are using a custom signup form and are unsure how to locate the class name or ID of the HTML form element, your web developer or agency will be able to help you.