What is Abandoned Cart?
When a shopper adds items to their cart but leaves the site without completing the purchase. Abandoned cart email flows typically recover 5-15% of abandoned carts.
In mani: Mani generates abandoned cart email creative showing the exact products left behind.
The abandoned cart problem
Average ecommerce cart abandonment rate is 70.19% (Baymard Institute, 2025). For mobile shoppers, it is 85.65%. That means for every 100 people who add items to their cart, only 14-30 complete the purchase. The top reasons: unexpected shipping costs (48%), required account creation (26%), complicated checkout (22%), and "just browsing" (58%). Abandoned cart recovery flows target the segment that intended to buy but got interrupted or discouraged.
Abandoned cart email sequence
The optimal sequence: Email 1 at 1 hour (reminder with product image, 40-50% open rate). Email 2 at 24 hours (address objections, add social proof, 30-35% open rate). Email 3 at 72 hours (final urgency, consider a small discount, 20-25% open rate). This three-email sequence typically recovers 5-15% of abandoned carts. Adding SMS at the 4-hour mark can boost recovery by an additional 3-5%.
Creative that converts abandoned carts
Show the exact product they left behind. Use dynamic product images, not generic brand imagery. Include the price and any active promotions. Add 2-3 customer reviews of that specific product. If offering a discount, make it time-limited (24-48 hours). AI tools generate these personalized recovery emails at scale by pulling product data and matching it to your brand voice and visual style.
Beyond email: retargeting abandoned carts
Dynamic retargeting ads on Meta and Google show the exact products a visitor left in their cart. These ads have 3-5x higher CTR than standard prospecting ads because the viewer already showed purchase intent. Combine email recovery (owned channel, free) with retargeting ads (paid, $5-15/day) for maximum cart recovery. The combination recovers 15-25% of abandoned carts versus 5-15% from email alone.