# See abandoned carts and send reminder emails > Sell > Carts shows every basket a shopper filled but has not checked out, with who it belongs to when they gave an email. Switch on the Abandoned cart automation and Shoprocket emails those shoppers a link back to their cart, with an optional one-time discount code. Help Centre / Orders and customers - Updated 29 October 2026 Not every shopper who fills a cart finishes checking out. Shoprocket keeps each of those carts so you can see what was left behind, and it can email the shopper a reminder with a link that opens their cart again, ready to pay. The examples use a coffee shop in Portland, OR, selling bags of beans and mugs in USD. ## See the carts in your shop Go to **Carts**, under **Sell** in your sidebar. It is there on every plan. The list shows every cart that has not become an order yet, most recent first: - **Customer**: the shopper's name and email, or **Guest** if they haven't given them yet. A shopper's email reaches the cart as soon as they type it at checkout, even if they never finish. - **Items**: how many items are in it. - **Value**: the cart's total. - **Last activity**: when the shopper last changed it. Search by **Customer name or email…**, or use the **Last activity** date filter to see, for example, carts left last week. Click any column header to sort, for example by **Value** to find the biggest carts. ![Sell > Carts listing four carts: two with a shopper's name and email and two Guest, with items, value and last activity](https://v3.shoprocket.io/img/help/abandoned-carts/carts-list.webp) Click a cart to open it. You see each item with its price and quantity, the **Summary** (subtotal, any discount code, shipping, tax and total) and the cart's **Details**: when it was **Created**, its **Last activity**, and when it **Expires**. Carts are read-only. You can't edit or delete one, because it still belongs to the shopper, who may come back to it. ### When a cart leaves the list - **It becomes an order.** Once the shopper checks out, the cart is gone from **Carts** and the sale is in **Orders**. - **It expires.** A cart nobody touches for 30 days is removed. Each change the shopper makes starts the 30 days again. A cart made for a quote or a draft order's payment link is never listed here: the draft is its record. See [Take quote requests and enquiries](https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/quotes-and-enquiries.md). ## Send reminder emails Reminder emails are an automation. Shoprocket sends them for you, at the times you choose, to shoppers who left a cart with their email in it. ### Before you begin - Automations are part of the **Email marketing** app, which is on the Growth plan and above. On a lower plan, **Add** on the app opens the upgrade. - To add it, go to **Apps**, find **Email marketing** and click **Add**. **Email campaigns** and **Automations** then appear in your sidebar under **Marketing**. ### Switch it on 1. Go to **Automations**, under **Marketing**. 2. Find **Abandoned cart**: "A shopper leaves items in their cart without checking out". 3. Switch it on. 4. Check the wait on each email (see below), then click **Save**. ![The Abandoned cart automation switched on, with Email 1 sent 4 hours after they leave with no discount and Email 2 sent 2 days after they leave with a 10% code](https://v3.shoprocket.io/img/help/abandoned-carts/automation-card.webp) It starts with two emails we've written for you: - **Email 1**, 4 hours after the shopper leaves: "You left something in your cart", with the items, their pictures and prices, and a **Return to your cart** button. - **Email 2**, 2 days after they leave: "Still thinking it over? Here's 10% off", with the shopper's own discount code and a **Finish checking out** button. **Return to your cart** opens the shopper's cart with everything still in it, so they can check out straight away. ### Change the timing and the discount On each email's row: - **Wait**: type a number and choose **hours** or **days**. Every wait is counted from when the shopper left, not from the email before, so each email must wait longer than the one before it. The longest wait is 7 days, because after that a cart is too old to win back. - **Discount**: choose **no discount**, or **with a 5% code** up to **with a 25% code**. Each shopper gets their own code that works once. You'll find the discount the codes belong to in **Discounts**, named like "Abandoned cart: 10% off". Click **Add a follow-up email** to add a third email, or the bin beside an email to remove it. An automation holds up to 3 emails. Click **Save** when you're done. ### Change what the emails say Click **Edit email** on any row to open it in the email editor. Keep the **Cart items** and **Cart link** merge tags in the email: they fill in the shopper's items and the link back to their cart. On an email with a discount, the **Discount code** tag fills in their code. An edited email is checked once before it starts sending, which usually takes a few minutes. Its row says "Being checked before it sends" until then. Our own unedited emails send straight away. A shopper who reads your shop in another language gets the emails in that language, as long as you haven't edited them. ### Who gets them A reminder goes to a shopper when their cart: - has an email in it, and - hasn't become a paid order. A cart whose checkout was started but never paid counts as left behind too, and - has had no activity for that email's wait, and is less than 7 days old. Each shopper gets each email once per cart. As soon as they check out, the later emails stop. A follow-up only goes after the email before it, so a shopper never gets two in the same minute. Reminders don't need the shopper to have ticked marketing at checkout, because they are about a cart they just filled. Every email has an unsubscribe link, and anyone who unsubscribes stops getting them. Automated emails never count toward your plan's monthly email allowance. ### See how they're doing Each automation shows how many emails were **Sent** and **Clicked**, and the **Revenue** they brought in, over the last 30 days. Revenue counts orders placed within 5 days of someone clicking an email. ## Questions **Why does a cart say Guest?** The shopper hasn't typed their email or name at checkout yet. A Guest cart can't get a reminder, because there's no one to send it to. **Can I email one shopper about their cart myself?** Not from the Carts screen. If the cart shows their email, you can write to them from your own email app. **Does a cart hold stock?** No. Adding to a cart holds nothing; stock is held once the shopper places the order. See [Track stock and inventory](https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/track-stock-and-inventory.md). **Do test carts get reminders?** Any cart with an email in it can. To try it, add something to your cart on your shop, enter your own email at checkout, leave without paying and wait for the first email. ## Related - [Manage orders](https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/manage-orders.md) - [Customers](https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/customers.md) - [Take a test order](https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/take-a-test-order.md) - [Your hosted shop](https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/your-hosted-shop.md) [Open Carts in your dashboard](https://app-v3.shoprocket.io/go/carts) --- - HTML version: https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/abandoned-carts - Language: English (en) - Also in: [العربية](https://v3.shoprocket.io/ar/help/abandoned-carts.md), [Deutsch](https://v3.shoprocket.io/de/hilfe/abgebrochene-warenkoerbe-ansehen-und-erinnerungs-e-mails-senden.md), [Ελληνικά](https://v3.shoprocket.io/el/help/abandoned-carts.md), [Español](https://v3.shoprocket.io/es/ayuda/consulta-los-carritos-abandonados-y-envia-emails-de-recordatorio.md), [Français](https://v3.shoprocket.io/fr/aide/voir-les-paniers-abandonnes-et-envoyer-des-e-mails-de-relance.md), [עברית](https://v3.shoprocket.io/he/help/abandoned-carts.md), [हिन्दी](https://v3.shoprocket.io/hi/help/abandoned-carts.md), [Bahasa Indonesia](https://v3.shoprocket.io/id/bantuan/lihat-keranjang-yang-ditinggalkan-dan-kirim-email-pengingat.md), [Italiano](https://v3.shoprocket.io/it/aiuto/vedere-i-carrelli-abbandonati-e-inviare-email-di-promemoria.md), [日本語](https://v3.shoprocket.io/ja/help/abandoned-carts.md), [Lietuvių](https://v3.shoprocket.io/lt/pagalba/perziurekite-apleistus-krepselius-ir-siuskite-priminimus-el-pastu.md), [Norsk](https://v3.shoprocket.io/nb/hjelp/se-forlatte-handlekurver-og-send-paminnelser-pa-e-post.md), [Nederlands](https://v3.shoprocket.io/nl/hulp/verlaten-winkelwagens-bekijken-en-herinneringsmails-sturen.md), [Polski](https://v3.shoprocket.io/pl/pomoc/zobacz-porzucone-koszyki-i-wysylaj-przypomnienia-e-mailem.md), [Português](https://v3.shoprocket.io/pt/ajuda/veja-carrinhos-abandonados-e-envie-e-mails-de-lembrete.md), [Română](https://v3.shoprocket.io/ro/ajutor/vezi-cosurile-abandonate-si-trimite-e-mailuri-de-reamintire.md), [Русский](https://v3.shoprocket.io/ru/help/abandoned-carts.md), [ไทย](https://v3.shoprocket.io/th/help/abandoned-carts.md), [Türkçe](https://v3.shoprocket.io/tr/yardim/terk-edilmis-sepetleri-gorun-ve-hatirlatma-e-postasi-gonderin.md), [中文](https://v3.shoprocket.io/zh/help/abandoned-carts.md)