Abandoned cart
An order the customer started and did not finish: they picked a product, reached checkout, and left before paying.
Also known as: cart abandonment · abandoned carts · abandoned checkout · incomplete cart
Try CRPRO free for 7 daysAn abandoned cart is an order the customer started and did not finish. They added products, often reached the payment screen, and left before closing it. It is the sale that already absorbed the full cost of attracting the person and stopped one step from the end — which makes it the cheapest one there is to recover.
Three stages that tend to get mixed up
The term gets used as an umbrella, but the stages call for different responses:
- Browse abandonment — looked at the product and left without adding anything. Weak intent.
- Cart abandonment — added to the cart and never reached checkout. Medium intent.
- Checkout abandonment — got as far as generating a Pix code, issuing a boleto, or attempting a card. Very high intent.
Almost all the recoverable money is in the third one. Whoever generated a Pix code already decided to buy; what was missing was one nudge.
Why people abandon
The causes repeat, and almost none of them is "changed their mind." Shipping cost revealed late is the first one — the amount shows up at the end and breaks the math the person had already done. Then come a long checkout, mandatory account creation before purchase, the payment method the person wanted not being available, and a lack of trust signals on the site.
There is also the more recent cause: payment started and interrupted. The person generated the code, left the site to open their banking app, and life got in the way.
The Brazilian case: Pix changed the problem
Foreign recovery tools do not handle Pix, because Pix does not exist outside Brazil. And Pix created a category of abandonment that did not exist before: the customer wanted to pay and got interrupted.
This cart has the highest recovery rate of all and the shortest window — the code usually expires in about 30 minutes. One message sent 15 to 30 minutes in, with the code ready to copy, is usually enough. Once it expires, a new one has to be generated and conversion drops.
That is why WhatsApp works better than email for this specific job: it is not just about being read faster, it is about being able to re-deliver the code within the window it is still valid.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between an abandoned cart and an abandoned checkout?
In an abandoned cart, the person added products and never moved on to payment. In an abandoned checkout, they got as far as generating a Pix code, issuing a boleto, or attempting a card. The second one has much higher intent and is where recovery effort pays off most.
How long should I wait before reaching out to the customer?
It depends on the payment method. A Pix code generated and not paid calls for contact within 15 to 30 minutes, because the code expires. A declined card, 5 to 15 minutes, since it is usually a technical issue. A boleto has a long deadline, so the reminder makes sense close to the due date. A cart with no payment method chosen, one to two hours.
Is recovering an abandoned cart considered spam?
No, when the person just interacted with the store and the message identifies itself, makes one request, and offers an opt-out. It becomes spam when the store keeps insisting with someone who never replied, blasts an old list, or sends several messages in a row — and then the risk of the number getting restricted is real.
Is it worth offering a discount in the recovery message?
Sparingly. A discount on every recovery teaches the customer to abandon the cart on purpose to get a better price. It works better as a last resort than as the first move.
Related pages
Related glossary terms
Cart abandonment rate
The share of carts created that did not turn into a paid sale, within the same period.
Sales pipeline
A representation of the stages a contact moves through from first contact to purchase, used to measure where deals stall and to project revenue.
Average ticket
The average amount spent per order or per customer in a period, calculated by dividing revenue by the number of sales.
Follow-up
A follow-up contact made after an earlier interaction, to resume a conversation that stalled with no decision.
Post-sale
Post-sale is everything the business does with the customer after payment is confirmed, from delivery to the follow-up that leads to the next purchase.