TL;DR: An abandoned cart email reminds someone who started checkout but left without paying to come back and finish. Send up to three: a reminder about an hour later, an objection-handling follow-up a day later, and an incentive email three days later, saving any discount for last. Klaviyo’s 2026 benchmarks found abandoned cart flows earn more revenue per recipient than any other automated email type. On our checkout, these emails are switched on by default, with the template and subject line editable from your admin. This guide covers the timing, proven examples, best practices and ready-to-copy templates.

The sad reality of running an online business is that countless people will start working their way through your checkout flow and then spontaneously abandon their cart. An abandoned cart email is an automated message sent to someone who starts checkout, enters their email address and leaves before paying. It reminds them what they were buying and links them straight back to checkout.

Unlike a physical storefront where you can walk customers through their purchases and counter their objections, online your potential customers are anonymous and can disappear at the click of a mouse.

Why abandoned cart emails are worth sending

About 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned. Contentsquare puts the 2026 average at 70.22%, based on Baymard Institute and Statista data. That’s a tough reality check if you’re new to selling online, but it isn’t the end of the story.

This post will show you exactly how to generate additional revenue from your existing site visitors, by using a simple but highly effective technique: abandoned cart emails.

Once you’ve made peace with the fact that most people who start your checkout process will not finish it, you will be able to see abandoned carts for what they really are: an opportunity.

Let us break this down for you:

People who did not finish your checkout process did something very important: they started it. These website visitors have given you a clear signal that they have a need and they believe your product is the solution to that need. No other visitor segment is closer to buying from you than this one.
Let’s say that you currently make $1,000 per month with your online product. If you recover just 5% of the sales you lose from abandoned carts (using a 75% cart abandonment rate), that means you could be making an extra $150 per month, or $1,800 per year. That’s nearly two extra months of revenue.

What is an abandoned cart?

Have you ever walked through a supermarket and noticed a jar of mayonnaise in the cookie aisle? This is not a sign that you should dip your Oreos in mayo. Some other shopper probably grabbed the item from the shelf and changed their mind before reaching the checkout lane.

The same type of thing happens when you sell digital products.

Whether you're just starting your online business or have been running one for years, abandoned carts happen when website visitors start the checkout process for a product but leave your site before completing the purchase. On our checkout, a cart counts as abandoned once a potential student has typed in their email address and left the page without paying.

Why do people abandon their carts?

Before you give up on improving your cart abandonment rates, you can do your best to remove any obstacles that could discourage your potential customers from purchasing.

According to Baymard Institute research, summarized by , these are the most common reasons shoppers abandon their carts: unexpected extra costs (39%), slow delivery (21%), forced account creation (19%), lack of trust (19%), a complicated checkout (18%) and limited payment options (10%).

Unexpected costs. Have you ever abandoned a $2 item because the shipping was something like $5? Digital products like online courses have no shipping, so the surprise usually comes from taxes or fees added at the last step. If you sell with Teachable Payments, our Stripe-powered payments system, you can show tax-inclusive pricing, so students in every country see one price from the sales page to checkout.
Slow delivery. For physical products, this means a long wait between paying and the package arriving. It doesn’t carry over directly to digital products: once a student pays for your course, they get access right away, with no shipping and no wait.
Forced account creation. Whether the checkout process should require creating an account, to collect email addresses, before showing the checkout total and payment options is a real point of disagreement among digital marketers.
Lack of trust. A 2015 field experiment with 26,000 customers of an online retailer found that customers who feel there is little risk in making the wrong purchase keep coming back. If you’re offering digital products, let your potential customer know that it will be easy to get a refund if they’re not satisfied.
Complicated checkout. Every extra field, redirect or step is a chance for someone to give up. Our checkout is built in, so students pay on the same page without being sent to a separate payment processor or app.
Limited payment options. This is fairly straightforward: if you want people to give you their money, make it easy for them to give it to you. On Teachable Payments, students can pay by card or PayPal, and you can offer a payment plan on higher-priced courses.

Since collecting emails is fundamental to this tutorial, we think it’s worthwhile to review this question.

Should you collect visitors’ emails before they pay?

Let’s start with the main reason why some people are against this method: it adds another step to the checkout process.

This is 100% a valid concern.

By collecting their email addresses, you are asking people to fill in at least one additional field and make one additional click, which can seem like a lot in the world of online marketing.

However, asking for an email address is not the same as forcing someone to create a full account. One field is a small ask, and it’s the field that makes every abandoned cart email possible. It can also make it easier for you to issue a refund when necessary.

For the most part, the main advantage far outweighs any downside of asking customers to take this extra step. Since you now know that most of the people who start your checkout process will drop out, you need to find an effective way to re-engage them.

If you did not have a way of collecting emails during the checkout process, your only other option (for attempts to recover some of the sales from cart abandonment) would be retargeting.

Have you ever looked at a fancy new pair of shoes online, and then found yourself being followed around the Internet by these shoes? The shoes are not stalking you, that’s retargeting at work.

While retargeting is great, it does have some disadvantages:

Impersonal: It’s both less personal and less direct than email, so you have a lower chance of getting users to focus on your message among so many ads.
Limited: Messaging is limited to the platform’s (Google Ads, Facebook, Instagram) ad space and advertising requirements.
Tracking: It might be necessary to set up specific tracking of the abandoned-cart segment. This involves installing tracking pixels and creating audiences based on pages visited by potential customers.
Segmentation: You will need to establish separate remarketing and segmentation on every ad network used (Google, Meta, TikTok and so on)

On the other hand, following up on abandoned carts via email has none of these disadvantages. Instead, emails have advantages such as:

Personal and Direct: Your message will go straight to your contact’s inbox.
Messaging Power: Email offers the opportunity to present a more comprehensive message. Plus, you can fulfill targeting specifications by following up with different messages.
Automation: Once you’ve captured your potential customer’s email, the same reminder can go out automatically to every buyer who leaves checkout.

Ultimately, the ability to send emails to abandoned-cart segments is worth the additional friction of a two-step checkout process.

Some people will disagree with this. However, do you know who else agrees with asking visitors for their email address during checkout? Only the largest online retailer in the world.

If you don’t have an account already, this is the first thing you’ll see when you try to purchase a product on Amazon.

Now that we’ve got this concern out of the way, let’s look at how many emails to send, and when.

How many abandoned cart emails to send, and when

Send a sequence of up to three emails. Email marketing company Rejoiner recommends this cadence: the first email one hour after abandonment, the second one day later and the third three days later.

Don’t wait too long before starting your abandoned cart email sequence. You still want the course your potential student almost bought to be top of mind.

Many businesses simply send out a single cart abandonment email and call it a day. A sequence gives buyers who were busy, comparing options or waiting for payday more than one chance to come back. You don’t want to send the same email three times, so break your emails down like this:

Email #1, about one hour later: a brief reminder of the course they left, with a link back to checkout
Email #2, about one day later: an answer to their most common objection, plus a testimonial or two
Email #3, about three days later: an incentive, like a coupon or a bonus, with a real deadline

Abandoned cart emails are worth the effort. Klaviyo’s 2026 benchmarks, from more than 110,000 of its customers, found that abandoned cart flows earn the highest average revenue per recipient of any automated email flow: $6.77 per email recipient. Their average click rate is 6%.

Abandoned cart email examples

Amazon is a prime example of consistent abandoned cart emails. If you’ve ever added products to your cart, initiating but never finishing checkouts, it’s not long before emails start to hit your inbox.

We’ve always been amazed by Amazon’s ability to get us to purchase items left in our carts, so we started with those emails. Surprisingly, their abandoned cart emails are just simple reminders rather than big marketing ploys.

This is an example:

There are several important highlights about this email:

The email mentions the name of the item we left in the cart several times: in the subject line, in the body of the email, and in an image of the product. This is a great way to remind customers about why they visited the site.
Despite several links in the email, a clearly dominant call-to-action leads directly to the cart (instead of linking through the sales or product page). Amazon’s purpose is to reduce the number of necessary steps to complete the purchase.
Amazon uses a minimal amount of copy. However, this works for them as a highly recognized brand. As we’ll see in the next few examples, it’s typically useful to provide some context when sending these emails.

For another great example, let’s review Carthook:

Though it may look like a simple, run-of-the-mill email, our quick analysis of the copy revealed the greatness of this abandoned-cart email:

This email follows a typical user journey in just a few paragraphs:

Why Not: First, Carthook is upfront about the most common reasons why some people decide not to try their product. Transparency is a great way to connect, these guys nailed it.
Solution: Immediately after that, Carthook provided a solution to address the user’s concern. In this case, because it’s a software product, a demo was provided. If you want to do something similar, consider whether or not the addition of a different call-to-action will distract your user from the email’s primary objective. The company solved this problem by placing the main call-to-action in the landing page containing the demo video:
Finally, this email presents a low-risk offer. Since lack of trust is an issue with new users, the “trial” call-to-action is a great way to overcome this obstacle.

Let’s continue reviewing interesting abandoned-cart emails. Now it’s Kettle and Fire’s turn on the hot seat.

This email retains many of the elements mentioned in the first two examples, but a few additional elements make it highly effective. Were you able to spot them?

Kettle and Fire’s cart-abandonment email includes a coupon code. This is a great tactic if you sell a product that you expect the user to purchase again once they’ve tried it, or if your product has a premium price. However, this is the obvious downside to coupons: reduced dollar value of the purchase. If you decide to use this tactic for one-time-purchase products, we recommend you offer the coupon in the last email in a sequence of abandoned-cart emails. This allows some users to purchase at a higher price point before you offer a discount.
Most importantly, this email offers a way to reach out to potential customers directly while reinforcing the fact that they will receive a reply. This opportunity is lacking when you have tens of thousands of people receiving these emails every day. However, a smaller company can use a personal touch to its advantage, something that large competitors can’t afford to provide as part of the user experience.

Now, we’ll show you a great email from Threadless, one of the dozens we’ve reviewed.

This email includes several elements we’ve already mentioned, but it also has the best email copy of all of the emails we’ve reviewed.

When we saw this email hit our inbox, we immediately wanted to click on it. That’s what an eye-catching subject line can do. This might seem like a small thing (and most people write their subject lines almost as an afterthought), but it might be the most important thing about an abandoned-cart email. Your potential customers need to be convinced to open your email before reading its content.
The other amazing thing about this email is its copy. It’s not only hilarious, but the copy resonates with their target audience. Threadless customers are into novelty clothing that’s often quirky and funny, so humor is a great way to grab their attention and keep them engaged.

Are you thinking about getting started? After analyzing all of these emails, we summarized our key takeaways that you can use to implement these tactics in your own business.

Abandoned cart email best practices

This list includes the must-haves when writing your own abandoned-cart email:

Write an eye-catching subject line. You have to start at the top. If your users don’t even open your email, its body content won’t matter.
Mention the course the user has left in the cart several times. Use the course name, its thumbnail and one line on what students will be able to do once they finish. Unless you remind them, chances are that website visitors won’t even remember entering your site, much less what they were searching for initially.
Use a single call-to-action or highlight one call-to-action above all others. Don’t distract users from the main action you want them to perform. If you need to link to other content to help your users make a decision, place the main call-to-action in that piece of content again (before the end).
Add a link that leads users directly to the checkout page. Avoid sending users back to the sales page (or worse, your homepage!). By linking directly to the checkout page, you will reduce the user’s number of steps needed to complete their order, increasing your conversion rate.
Identify and address common objections in the email. You can send a survey to identify your customers’ most frequent concerns about your product. Very likely, many prospective customers have the same objections. In your email, mention the most frequent concern and provide a response.
Include a low-risk offer. People commonly have reservations about making large investments or joining subscription services. You can solve this problem for prospective customers by offering lower-risk options such as coupons, a payment plan or a free preview lesson.
Be accessible. Give people an easy way to contact you with more questions. These are your most qualified leads (the segment of people closest to purchasing from you), so you can afford to spare a few minutes to talk to them.
Write copy that resonates with your target customers. Engaging your users with highly relevant or interesting copy will also increase the chance that they will click on the call-to-action.
Create urgency, but only when it’s real. A cart that “expires”, a closing enrollment window or a launch price that ends on a set date can all prompt a decision. Never invent a deadline you won’t keep.
Save the incentive for last. A coupon or a bonus works best in the final email, after the reminder and the objection-handling email have done their job.

Here’s how a few brands put these into practice:

Engaging copy: an Adidas email opens with the subject line “Sorry to hear about your wi-fi…”, a playful nod that assumes the buyer simply got cut off.
A clear CTA: Rudy’s Barbershop frames its email around a single action: “don’t let free shipping go to waste.” Clear CTA wording that works: “Complete my order”, “Return to my cart” and “Take another look”.
Urgency: Society6’s subject line, “cart reserved (with the best offer available),” signals the cart won’t be held forever.
An incentive teaser: Winc’s subject line, “you forgot something unforgettable,” teases the offer without giving it away until the email opens.

Abandoned cart email subject lines

Your subject line decides whether the email gets opened, so keep it short and match it to where the email sits in your sequence. For more ideas, see our guide to increasing your email open rate.

Email #1, the reminder: “Did you forget something?”, “Your seat in [course name] is waiting”, “Still thinking it over?”
Email #2, the objection: “A quick answer about [course name]”, “Here’s what students say about [course name]”, “Any questions before you start?”
Email #3, the incentive: “A little something to help you start”, “Your [discount] ends tonight”, “Last chance to join at this price”

Copy our plug-and-play abandoned-cart email templates

You can use our customizable templates to set up your own cart-abandonment sequence. Just copy and paste this content into your email service provider (ESP) and be on your way!

NOTE: The phrases between [square brackets] are meant to be filled by you or substituted by the appropriate merge fields from your ESP.

Abandoned cart email #1

This email should get straight to the point. Just address customers’ most frequent concern about your product, and give them a way to complete their purchase.

When to send: Between 1 hour and 1 day after the visitor starts the checkout process. Give people some time to complete their purchase, so don’t send this email immediately after they join your list.

Subject line option #1: I think you forgot something

Subject line option #2: Did you forget something?

Email body copy:

Hey [first name]!I noticed you were thinking about purchasing [name of your product] but left before completing your order.Many potential customers mention [most common concern about your product].I wanted to reach out personally, just in case you felt that way too, to let you know [answer to the most common concern].If you want to complete your purchase and [product value proposition] just click the link below.Click here to get [name of your product]If you have other doubts or questions, I’d be happy to answer them, just reply to this email and I’ll get back to you.Looking forward to seeing you around![Your name]

Abandoned cart email #2

This email handles the second most common concern and adds proof from students who already took the course.

When to send: about one day after the first email.

Subject line: Here’s what students say about [name of your product]

Email body copy:

Hi [first name],You were checking out [name of your product] yesterday, so I wanted to share what a recent student said: “[short testimonial]”.Another question I hear a lot is [second most common concern]. Here’s the short answer: [answer].Your spot is still open. Click here to finish enrolling in [name of your product].[Your name]

Abandoned cart email #3

The last email in the sequence. If you use an incentive, this is where it goes.

When to send: about three days after the buyer left checkout.

Subject line: A little something to help you start

Email body copy:

Hi [first name],This is my last note about [name of your product]. If [price or timing] was what held you back, here’s [coupon code or bonus], valid until [date].Click here to use it and start [product value proposition] today.If now isn’t the right time, no problem. Just reply and let me know what would help.[Your name]

How to create even better abandoned-cart emails

While every industry and product is different, these emails should work for most situations. If you’re just getting started with cart-abandonment emails, these templates give you a complete three-email sequence to adapt.

However, systems and processes can always be improved once they’re applied to a specific situation. If you decide to use these templates, we recommend that you regularly track their performance and look for ways to optimize open-and-click rates using industry-specific techniques and copywriting styles.

These are just a few ideas you might consider:

Introduce urgency into your email sequence by offering a limited-time deal or coupon with a real end date.
If you run weekly webinars, you can send an invitation in the email sequence and give prospective customers a chance to get to know you.
Include screenshots of public testimonials in social media channels to give even more authenticity to your social-proof email.

How to set up abandoned cart emails on Teachable

Once your sequence is written, you need a way to send it. Abandoned cart emails are built into every school on our platform and switched on by default, so there’s nothing to connect. Here’s how to check and edit them, per our help center guide:

From your admin, go to Emails and open the Abandoned Cart tab. If the emails are off, turn them on there.
Under Email Template, click Edit Template. Rewrite the body text using the email #1 template above, then click Publish. Leave the code inside the double braces as it is.
To change the subject line, go to Site > Custom Text and edit the “abandoned_order_notification” field.
Check your results on the Abandoned Cart tab: emails sent, revenue recovered, click-through rate and conversion rate.

When a potential student enters their email at checkout and leaves, they get your email with a link back to that product’s checkout page. If they don’t opt in to future emails and don’t complete the purchase, we hide their address in your admin, per GDPR and other privacy rules. Once they buy, it appears under your students.

Want to send all three emails with your own timing? From the Builder plan, you can connect your email marketing tool through our integrations, including Zapier, and run the sequence there. Use one setup or the other: our help center recommends turning off third-party cart tracking before you switch on built-in abandoned cart emails, so students don’t get two reminders. Compare plans on our pricing page.

Checkout, cart recovery emails, coupons and tax handling all come with our online course platform.

Start a 7-day trial and build your first course before committing to a plan.

FAQs

How many abandoned cart emails should I send?

Up to three. A common cadence is one hour, one day and three days after the buyer leaves checkout. Start with a reminder, then answer objections, and save any incentive for the last email.

Are abandoned cart emails legal?

They can be, but privacy rules vary by country, so check the rules where your students live. On our checkout, we hide a buyer’s email address in your admin if they don’t opt in to future emails and don’t complete the purchase, per GDPR and other privacy regulations.

Do abandoned cart emails work?

Does Teachable send abandoned cart emails?