Overview

Abandoned cart flows help recover customers who started checkout but did not complete their purchase. A properly configured flow can improve conversion while maintaining a smooth customer experience. This guide walks you through the best practices for setting up an effective abandoned cart flow on our platform.

Prerequisites

Before you can activate an abandoned cart flow, make sure the following are in place:

• Klaviyo account is connected to your store through our platform integration
• Klaviyo tracking snippet (Klaviyo Object) is installed on your website — this is a JavaScript snippet that enables client-side event tracking
• Customer identification is enabled — abandoned cart events can only be sent to Klaviyo when an email address is associated with the cart, meaning the customer must be:
  • Logged into their account, or
  • Far enough into the checkout process to have entered their email address

Important: Without the Klaviyo Object installed and customer identification in place, abandoned cart events will not fire and your flow will not trigger.

How Abandoned Cart Timing Works

Understanding how our platform sends cart abandonment data to Klaviyo is critical to configuring your flow correctly.

On Prado-powered stores, abandoned cart events are sent to Klaviyo 24 hours after the cart is created. Any delay added inside the Klaviyo flow is applied after that initial 24-hour period.

For example:

• A 5-minute delay in Klaviyo means the email sends approximately 24 hours and 5 minutes after cart creation
• A 1-day delay in Klaviyo means the email sends approximately 2 days after cart creation

Keep this in mind when testing. The 24-hour Prado-side delay is not visible inside Klaviyo — it happens before the flow is triggered. If your emails seem slower than expected during testing, this is likely the reason.

When Is a Cart Considered Abandoned?

Our system checks for abandoned carts on a regular interval (approximately every 15 minutes). A cart is considered abandoned when it meets all of the following criteria:

• The cart has not been completed into an order (status remains "In-Process")
• The cart has not been modified in the prior 45 minutes
• The cart contains at least one item
• The cart has an associated email address

Once an abandoned cart is detected and the 24-hour window has elapsed, a CartAbandoned event is sent to Klaviyo.

Login & Customer Identification

Whether or not a customer needs to be logged in depends on your store's checkout configuration — specifically, whether guest checkout is enabled.

For stores where guest checkout is disabled, customers may add items to their cart before logging in, but they are required to authenticate at checkout. Klaviyo can only reliably associate abandoned cart activity once the customer becomes identifiable — typically after login or checkout initiation.

Customers will generally follow one of two paths:

1. They log in first, then add items to their cart
2. They add items to their cart first, then log in during checkout

In both cases, once the customer is authenticated (logged in), Klaviyo can properly associate the cart activity with their profile.

An abandoned cart email will trigger when:

• The customer is logged in or becomes logged in during checkout, and
• They add items to their cart or begin checkout, and
• They do not complete the purchase

If your abandoned cart flow feels like it's under-triggering, it's usually due to one of the following:

• Customers browsing or adding items without logging in at any point
• Customers not reaching a tracked checkout event before dropping off
• Tracking gaps between cart activity and login association

Tip: As long as the customer logs in either before or during checkout, Klaviyo should be able to track the session and trigger the abandoned cart flow appropriately.

Data Included in the Abandoned Cart Event

The CartAbandoned event sent to Klaviyo includes the following data, which you can use to build rich, personalized email templates:

• Cart ID — Unique identifier for the abandoned cart
• Customer Details — Email, first name, and last name (if available)
• Cart Details:
  • Product name
  • Product image URL
  • Price
  • Quantity
  • Total cart value
  • Subscription status (IsSubscription)
  • Fulfillment method
  • UTM source and campaign (if available)

Tip: Use this product-level data to display the specific items a customer left behind — personalized emails with product images and names perform significantly better than generic "You left something behind" messaging.

Recommended Flow Structure

A standard abandoned cart flow in Klaviyo should include the following components:

1. Flow trigger — Abandoned Cart
2. Initial reminder email
3. Delay period
4. Conditional purchase check (Conditional Split)
5. Follow-up reminder email — only if no purchase was completed

Building Your Email Sequence

The first reminder email should be concise, mobile-friendly, and include:

• A clear call-to-action back to checkout
• Product images and cart contents
• The customer's first name for personalization

For follow-up emails, consider escalating urgency or adding incentives:

• Email 1 (initial — sent after Prado's 24-hour trigger + your Klaviyo delay): A friendly reminder showing the items left in the cart. Keep it simple with a prominent CTA.
• Email 2 (24 hours after Email 1): Reinforce urgency. Mention limited availability or highlight product benefits. Consider adding social proof like reviews or ratings.
• Email 3 (48–72 hours after Email 1) — Optional: Offer a small incentive (e.g., free shipping or a discount code) if your margins allow. This is your last chance before the lead goes cold.

Use Conditional Splits to Check for Completed Purchases

Before sending any follow-up reminder, add a Conditional Split in your Klaviyo flow using:

Has OrderPaid at least once since starting this flow

The recommended logic is:

• YES → End the flow (the customer already purchased)
• NO → Continue to the next reminder email

This prevents customers who completed their purchase between emails from receiving unnecessary reminders.

Why Use a Conditional Split Instead of a Trigger Filter?

This is an important distinction:

• A Trigger Filter only evaluates conditions when the customer first enters the flow. It cannot account for purchases that happen after the flow begins.
• A Conditional Split evaluates customer behavior dynamically during the flow itself — at the exact point where it's placed.

Because abandoned cart reminders depend on whether the customer eventually places an order (which may happen between Email 1 and Email 2), Conditional Splits are the recommended approach for purchase checks within the flow.

Configure Flow Filters

In addition to Conditional Splits within your flow, you should also configure flow-level filters to prevent customers from entering the flow unnecessarily. Klaviyo provides the following filters:

• Started Checkout zero times since starting this flow — Prevents the email from sending if the customer has re-entered checkout
• Placed Order zero times since starting this flow — Prevents the email from sending if the customer has already completed a purchase
• Received Email zero times in the last X days — Prevents over-communication by suppressing sends if the customer recently received another email from you

Recommended: At a minimum, enable the "Placed Order zero times since starting this flow" filter. Then use Conditional Splits between emails for dynamic purchase checks. This two-layer approach provides the strongest protection against unwanted sends.

Merchants can configure these filters within their Klaviyo abandoned cart flow based on their desired behavior.

Additional Best Practices

Use Dynamic Product Content

• Pull in the product name, image, and price directly from the event data into your Klaviyo email template
• Display each item the customer left in their cart — itemized product lists drive significantly higher click-through rates
• Include a direct "Complete Your Order" or "Return to Cart" CTA button

Differentiate Cart Abandonment from Checkout Abandonment

These are two separate flows and should be treated differently:

• Cart Abandonment — The customer added items to their cart but never proceeded to checkout (triggered by the Added to Cart / CartAbandoned metric)
• Checkout Abandonment — The customer started the checkout process but didn't complete payment (triggered by the Started Checkout metric)

Setting up separate flows for each allows you to tailor your messaging. A checkout abandoner is further down the funnel and may just need a nudge, while a cart abandoner may need more persuasion.

Include a Cart Restoration Link

• Ensure your abandoned cart email includes a link that restores the customer's cart with their original items, quantities, and selections
• The customer should land directly on the cart or checkout page in a ready-to-complete state — no manual re-adding of items
• This dramatically reduces friction and improves conversion rates

The following URLs are available in the event data for this purpose:

• CartRestoreUrl — Restores the customer's cart with their original items
• CheckoutUrl — Takes the customer directly to checkout

Important — Cart Persistence: A customer's cart is not preserved across sessions. If a customer logs out or ends their session, their cart contents will not be saved for their next visit. The only way to recover an abandoned cart is through the cart restoration link included in the email. This makes the restoration link a critical component of your abandoned cart flow — without it, returning customers would need to re-add their items manually.

Also Consider Browse Abandonment

If you want to capture customers even earlier in the funnel, set up a Browse Abandonment flow alongside your cart abandonment flow:

• Triggered by the Viewed Product metric
• Targets customers who viewed a product page but didn't add anything to their cart
• Keep messaging lighter — focus on product highlights and recommendations

Testing Your Abandoned Cart Flow

When testing your abandoned cart flow, keep the following in mind:

• Use a test account — Avoid triggering flows on real customer profiles during testing
• Stay logged in during checkout testing — Klaviyo needs an identifiable session to associate cart activity
• Do not complete the order if you're testing reminder emails — completing the purchase should (correctly) suppress the flow
• Wait the full timing window before expecting the email — remember that Prado sends the abandoned cart event 24 hours after cart creation, plus any delay configured in Klaviyo
• Confirm that both the flow and all emails inside the flow are set to Live — a common oversight is leaving individual emails in Draft or Manual mode while the flow itself is Live

Common Reasons Abandoned Cart Emails Don't Send

If your abandoned cart emails aren't arriving as expected, check for these common causes:

• The customer completed their purchase before the reminder was scheduled to send. In this case, Klaviyo correctly removes them from the flow — this is expected behavior, not a bug.
• Timing confusion — Since Prado sends the abandoned cart trigger 24 hours after cart creation, additional Klaviyo delays can make testing appear slower than expected. Double-check your total expected wait time.
• The flow or individual emails are not set to Live — Verify that the flow status is Live and that each email action within the flow is also set to Live.
• The customer was not logged in — If the customer browsed or added items without ever authenticating, Klaviyo cannot associate the activity with a profile.
• Missing Klaviyo Object — Verify the tracking snippet is correctly installed on all relevant pages (product pages, cart, and checkout).
• Flow filters are too restrictive — Check that your trigger filters and conditional splits aren't inadvertently excluding valid recipients.

Recommendation: Manage Abandoned Cart Emails in Klaviyo

For better reporting and automation flexibility, we recommend managing abandoned cart emails directly in Klaviyo instead of Prado Auto Communications. Klaviyo provides:

• Better visibility into opens, clicks, conversions, and customer behavior
• More advanced flow customization options (conditional splits, A/B testing, branching logic)
• Centralized email performance reporting across all your automated flows

Key Metrics to Track

Monitor these metrics in Klaviyo to measure the success of your abandoned cart flow:

• Open rate — Aim for 40%+ (abandoned cart emails typically outperform standard campaigns)
• Click-through rate — How many recipients clicked to return to their cart
• Conversion rate — The percentage of recipients who completed their purchase (industry benchmark: ~3–5%)
• Revenue per recipient — Total revenue generated divided by emails sent
• Unsubscribe rate — Watch for fatigue if you're sending too many follow-ups

Summary

An effective abandoned cart flow can be one of your most profitable automated sequences. The key ingredients are:

• Understanding the 24-hour Prado trigger delay and planning your Klaviyo timing accordingly
• Using Conditional Splits (not just Trigger Filters) to dynamically check for completed purchases between emails
• Configuring flow-level filters as an additional safety layer
• Including personalized product content and a cart restoration link in every email
• Managing your flow in Klaviyo for maximum reporting and customization flexibility

Start with the basics, track your results, and iterate from there.

If you have questions about your Klaviyo integration or need help verifying that abandoned cart events are flowing correctly, reach out to our support team.