Email marketing · E-commerce
Three example emails, the timing to use, and the settings that stop the flow from bothering people who already bought.
Two or three emails total
First email within a few hours
Save discounts for the last
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A strong abandoned cart email flow has two or three messages. Send the first a few hours after the shopper leaves, with the items, images and a single button back to the cart. Send the second the next day to answer doubts (shipping, returns, sizing, reviews). If you use a third, send it a day or two later and, only if your margins allow, add a modest incentive, ideally for first-time customers. Klaviyo’s own guidance recommends a first email 2 to 4 hours after checkout starts, a second 20 to 48 hours later, and two to three messages in total. Below are example emails you can adapt, plus the settings that stop the flow from annoying customers who already bought.
There are two triggers, and they deserve different messages:
If you run both in a tool such as Klaviyo, add a filter so anyone who starts checkout leaves the cart flow, and turn off your store platform’s built-in abandoned checkout email so customers do not get duplicates.
Keep it short and helpful. No discount.
Why it works: it reminds, shows exactly what they chose, and opens a door for questions. The reply-to line catches shoppers who left because of a doubt.
Use this email to remove the reasons people hesitate. Baymard Institute’s research on why shoppers abandon checkout lists extra costs, slow delivery, trust and returns policies among the top reasons, so address those directly.
Only state shipping and returns terms you actually offer, and keep them consistent with your site.
Klaviyo cautions against putting a coupon in the first email, because it can train customers to abandon carts to get a discount. Holding the incentive for the last email, or offering it only to new customers, protects your margin.
Want help writing and setting up your flows?Book a free 30-minute call and we will look at your store and email setup and tell you what we would add first.
Abandoned cart emails promote a purchase, so in the US they are generally treated as commercial email under the CAN-SPAM Act, not transactional messages. The FTC’s guidance for commercial email includes honest sender details and subject lines, a valid postal address, a working unsubscribe link, and honoring opt-outs within 10 business days. As of 2026, the FTC’s compliance guide says each violating email can bring penalties of up to $53,088. This is general information, not legal advice; check with counsel if you sell internationally, where consent rules are stricter.
Track recovered revenue, the placed-order rate per email, and unsubscribe rate. Compare email 3 with and without an incentive over a few weeks before making discounts permanent. If the flow recovers little, look upstream: the fixes in our conversion rate optimization tips often do more than any email can.
JLB USA sets up email marketing on Klaviyo, Mailchimp and HubSpot, including abandoned cart, welcome and post-purchase flows. If you are still choosing a tool, read our Klaviyo vs Mailchimp vs HubSpot comparison. We have worked with 500+ clients on 1,000+ projects over more than 15 years.
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Two or three. Klaviyo says research across thousands of its e-commerce customers found that two to three abandoned cart messages lead to optimal performance.
A few hours after the shopper leaves. Klaviyo recommends 2 to 4 hours after checkout starts, with the second email 20 to 48 hours later.
Not in the first email. Discounts early on can train shoppers to abandon carts on purpose. If you use one, put it in the last email and consider limiting it to first-time buyers.
In the US they are generally treated as commercial email under CAN-SPAM, which requires an unsubscribe link and a postal address. Rules differ in other countries. This is general information; confirm with counsel.
