Abandoned Cart Recovery¶

Industry data shows 60-80% of shopping carts are abandoned. Merchello's abandoned cart recovery system helps you reclaim 5-15% of that lost revenue through automatic detection, recovery emails, and restoration links.

What it is: An opt-in system that snapshots in-flight checkouts, detects abandonment after an inactivity threshold, sends up to three recovery emails on a configurable schedule, and restores the basket when the customer clicks a recovery link.

Why you use it: You do not have to write any tracking code — the existing checkout services update abandoned-checkout records automatically. You enable it by registering IAbandonedCheckoutService (configured in Startup.cs) and configuring the recovery email topics.

Source: AbandonedCheckoutDetectionJob.cs, AbandonedCheckoutSettings.cs, CheckoutAbandonedNotificationBase.cs.

How It Works¶

Abandoned cart tracking is built into the checkout -- no extra code required. The system automatically tracks activity through existing checkout operations:

Customer enters email at checkout  -->  AbandonedCheckout record created
         |
Customer selects shipping          -->  LastActivityUtc updated
         |
Customer leaves without paying...
         |
Background job detects (1 hour)    -->  Status: Abandoned
         |
Recovery email #1 sent             -->  Contains recovery link
         |
Recovery email #2 (24h later)
         |
Recovery email #3 (48h later)
         |
Customer clicks link               -->  Basket restored, status: Recovered
         |
Customer completes purchase        -->  Status: Converted

Note: If the customer completes their purchase at any point, subsequent recovery emails are automatically cancelled.

Lifecycle States¶

Each abandoned checkout moves through these states:

Status	Value	Description
`Active`	0	Checkout is in progress -- customer is still shopping
`Abandoned`	10	No activity for the configured threshold (default: 1 hour)
`Recovered`	20	Customer returned via a recovery link
`Converted`	30	Customer completed their purchase after recovery
`Expired`	40	Recovery window has passed (default: 30 days)

Configuration¶

Configure abandoned cart behavior in appsettings.json. Both key paths are bound in Startup.cs so either works, with Merchello:Checkout:AbandonedCart taking precedence when both are present:

{
  "Merchello": {
    "AbandonedCheckout": {
      "AbandonmentThresholdHours": 1.0,
      "RecoveryExpiryDays": 30,
      "CheckIntervalMinutes": 15,
      "RecoveryUrlBase": "/checkout/recover",
      "FirstEmailDelayHours": 1,
      "ReminderEmailDelayHours": 24,
      "FinalEmailDelayHours": 48,
      "MaxRecoveryEmails": 3
    }
  }
}

Setting	Default	Description
`AbandonmentThresholdHours`	`1.0`	Hours of inactivity before a checkout is marked as abandoned
`RecoveryExpiryDays`	`30`	Days until recovery tokens expire
`CheckIntervalMinutes`	`15`	How often the background job runs
`RecoveryUrlBase`	`/checkout/recover`	Base URL for recovery links
`FirstEmailDelayHours`	`1`	Hours after abandonment to send the first email
`ReminderEmailDelayHours`	`24`	Hours after the first email to send the reminder
`FinalEmailDelayHours`	`48`	Hours after the reminder to send the final email
`MaxRecoveryEmails`	`3`	Maximum recovery emails per checkout

Recovery Email Sequence¶

The system sends up to three recovery emails on a configurable schedule:

Email 1: Initial Recovery (1 hour after abandonment)¶

Notification: CheckoutAbandonedFirstNotification
Topic: checkout.abandoned.first
Typical subject: "You left something behind!"

Email 2: Reminder (24 hours after email 1)¶

Notification: CheckoutAbandonedReminderNotification
Topic: checkout.abandoned.reminder
Typical subject: "Still thinking it over? Your cart is waiting"

Email 3: Final Notice (48 hours after email 2)¶

Notification: CheckoutAbandonedFinalNotification
Topic: checkout.abandoned.final
Typical subject: "Last chance -- your cart expires soon"

Setting Up Recovery Emails¶

You have three options for sending recovery emails:

Option A: Email Builder (Recommended)¶

The simplest approach -- configure emails in the Merchello backoffice:

Navigate to Settings > Email in the backoffice
Create email configurations for each topic:
checkout.abandoned.first -- First recovery email
checkout.abandoned.reminder -- Reminder email
checkout.abandoned.final -- Final notice
Use Razor templates with the notification properties
Enable all three configurations

The system handles delivery automatically via the outbound delivery infrastructure.

Option B: Custom Notification Handler¶

For advanced requirements (A/B testing, third-party ESP integration):

[NotificationHandlerPriority(1500)]
public class MyRecoveryEmailHandler(
    ILogger<MyRecoveryEmailHandler> logger)
    : INotificationAsyncHandler<CheckoutAbandonedFirstNotification>
{
    public async Task HandleAsync(
        CheckoutAbandonedFirstNotification notification,
        CancellationToken ct)
    {
        // Send via your preferred service
        // notification.CustomerEmail
        // notification.RecoveryLink
        // notification.FormattedTotal
        // notification.EmailSequenceNumber
    }
}

Option C: Webhooks¶

Subscribe to webhook topics to trigger external platforms (Klaviyo, Mailchimp, etc.):

Topic	When
`checkout.abandoned.first`	First recovery email is due
`checkout.abandoned.reminder`	Reminder email is due
`checkout.abandoned.final`	Final email is due
`checkout.recovered`	Customer returned via recovery link
`checkout.converted`	Recovered checkout completed purchase

Notification Properties¶

All recovery email notifications inherit from CheckoutAbandonedNotificationBase:

Property	Type	Description
`AbandonedCheckoutId`	`Guid`	ID of the abandoned checkout record
`BasketId`	`Guid?`	ID of the abandoned basket
`CustomerEmail`	`string?`	Customer's email address
`CustomerName`	`string?`	Customer's name
`BasketTotal`	`decimal`	Total value of the abandoned basket (in basket currency)
`CurrencyCode`	`string?`	Currency code (e.g., "USD")
`CurrencySymbol`	`string?`	Currency symbol (e.g., "$")
`FormattedTotal`	`string`	Pre-formatted total with currency symbol
`RecoveryLink`	`string?`	Link to restore the basket
`EmailSequenceNumber`	`int`	Which email in the sequence (1, 2, or 3)
`ItemCount`	`int`	Number of items in the abandoned basket

Basket Restoration¶

When a customer clicks a recovery link (/checkout/recover/{token}), the system:

Validates the recovery token (not expired, not already used)
Restores the basket from the abandoned checkout record
Sets the basket cookie on the customer's browser
Marks the abandoned checkout as Recovered
Redirects to the checkout page

Note: If the customer has a different basket in progress, the recovered basket replaces it. The previous basket is deleted.

Backoffice API (Admin)¶

The backoffice provides endpoints for managing abandoned checkouts:

List Abandoned Checkouts¶

GET /umbraco/api/v1/abandoned-checkouts
    ?page=1&pageSize=50&status=Abandoned&search=&orderBy=DateAbandoned&descending=true

Get Checkout Detail¶

GET /umbraco/api/v1/abandoned-checkouts/{id}

Returns full details including line items, addresses, and recovery link.

Get Recovery Statistics¶

GET /umbraco/api/v1/abandoned-checkouts/stats?fromDate=...&toDate=...

Response:

{
  "totalAbandoned": 150,
  "totalRecovered": 25,
  "totalConverted": 18,
  "recoveryRate": 16.67,
  "conversionRate": 12.00,
  "totalValueAbandoned": 15000.00,
  "totalValueRecovered": 2500.00
}

Resend Recovery Email¶

POST /umbraco/api/v1/abandoned-checkouts/{id}/resend-email

Manually triggers a recovery email. Only works for checkouts in Abandoned status with an email address.

Regenerate Recovery Link¶

POST /umbraco/api/v1/abandoned-checkouts/{id}/regenerate-link

Generates a fresh recovery link (useful if the original has expired).

Automatic Tracking Integration¶

The system tracks checkout activity through existing checkout service methods. You don't need to add any tracking code:

Checkout Action	What Happens
Customer saves addresses (with email)	Creates `AbandonedCheckout` record
Customer selects shipping	Updates `LastActivityUtc`
Customer applies discount code	Updates `LastActivityUtc`
Customer updates line item quantity	Updates `LastActivityUtc`
Customer completes purchase	Marks as `Converted`

Background Job¶

The AbandonedCheckoutDetectionJob runs three tasks on each interval:

Detect abandonment -- marks checkouts as abandoned after the inactivity threshold
Send recovery emails -- fires notifications for emails in the sequence that are due
Expire old recoveries -- cleans up expired recovery tokens

The job runs every 15 minutes by default (configurable via CheckIntervalMinutes).

Tip: The minimum check interval is 5 minutes to avoid excessive database queries.