Shopify Cart Abandon and Checkout Abandon URLs

Important: This is an advanced feature that must be utilized through HTML Display Conditions or Drag-and-Drop Display Conditions

If you are utilizing Shopify as your e-commerce platform you can easily use our custom merge tag to pull each customer’s individual checkout URL into the email template to bring the customer directly back to checkout.

In order to develop good marketing strategies and content around this function, it is important to understand the difference between a “cart abandon” and a “checkout abandon.”

Cart Abandon URL in Shopify

Checkout Abandon URL in Shopify

Strategies for using Cart Abandon and Checkout Abandon URLs

Cart Abandon URL in Shopify

For most Shopify eCommerce sites there is a dedicated page for the cart which is usually the domain name followed by /cart (www.domain.com/cart). Each individual site may be slightly different so check with your Shopify Admin or developer to confirm.

Each item will be added to the cart/bag by utilizing the Add To Cart (or Add To Bag) button on the item page. 

This has triggered a “cart action” for your customer and Cortex will know that this event has occurred. At that time, a tracking cookie will be dropped for the specific user, assuming that they are not using a private browsing session. This means that the customer will be directed back to this identical shopping cart if they return to domain.com/cart.

If the user completes the transaction, Cortex will not send a Cart Abandon email. If the user navigates away from the page or closes the browser, Cortex will identify this user as eligible for a Cart Abandon, and they will receive a Cart Abandon Email. If the user clicks checkout, a custom checkout URL will be created for this user.

Checkout Abandon URL in Shopify

When ever a customer that clicks the “checkout” button, the customer is sent to the checkout page, and a custom checkout URL is created specifically for that customer. Once the custom checkout URL is created, our custom merge tag, {{rs_str_1_usr_attr}}, can be utilized to direct your customer to their checkout page.

Important: this is an advanced feature and requires Display Conditions for use.

Strategies for using Cart Abandon and Checkout Abandon URLs

There are three possible locations for customers to be directed when receiving a cart abandon email: their cart "domain/cart", their custom checkout URL, or a product page. It’s important to note that if a user does not have a Checkout URL, it will not be possible to send them to this URL. Discuss what will be the best strategy for your business with your Client Success Manager.

Send to Shopify Cart or Shopify Checkout

Utilize the conditional merge tag to ensure that a user will be directed to the product page, if a Shopify Checkout page does not exist:

{% if rs_str_1_usr_attr == null or rs_str_1_usr_attr == '' %} <a href= "www.default.com/cart"> {% else %} <a href= "{{rs_str_1_usr_attr}}"> {% endif %}

Pros

• If a customer does not have a Shopify Checkout URL they will be directed to the cart
• If a customer does have a Shopify Checkout URL they will be directed toward the payment page
• Fewer steps to completing the purchase

Cons

• Limits additional browsing if sent to Shopify URL
• User will be sent to an empty cart page if there is no Shopify URL and they're utilizing a different browser for shopping

Send to Product Page or Shopify Checkout

Utilize the conditional merge tag to ensure that a user will be directed to the product page, if a Shopify Checkout page does not exist:

{% if rs_str_1_usr_attr == null or rs_str_1_usr_attr == '' %} <a href= "{{rs_rpu1}}"> {% else %} <a href= "{{rs_str_1_usr_attr}}"> {% endif %}

Pros

• If a customer does not have a Shopify Checkout URL they will be directed to the product page for the item that was left in the cart
• If a customer does have a Shopify Checkout URL they will be directed toward the payment page
• Fewer steps to completing the purchase
• Customer will be sent to the page of the item they added to the cart

Cons

• Limits additional browsing if sent to Shopify URL
• User will not see additional items left in the cart

To learn more about merge tags, please see these additional resources:

• For help on merge tags and implementation for cart abandon see this article.
• For a list of merge tags read this article.
• For general implementation of merge tags read this article.