Recover abandoned carts

The classic sequence, and a good first one because the success metric is obvious.

The shape

Customer abandons cart
        │
        ├─ after 1 hour  →  "Still thinking it over?"
        └─ after 24 hours →  "Your cart expires tonight"
                              │
                              └─ they buy → sequence stops

Write two templates

Both marketing category — this is promotional, and mis-categorising it to dodge consent rules is the fastest way to lose a WhatsApp number.cart_reminder_1:

Hi {{1}}, you left {{2}} in your cart. Still interested?

cart_reminder_2:

Hi {{1}}, last chance — {{2}} is still waiting, and your cart clears
tonight.

Submit both and wait for approval. See Templates.

Build the sequence

Two steps:

Step	Delay	Template
1	1 hour	`cart_reminder_1`
2	24 hours	`cart_reminder_2`

Bind {{1}} to the contact’s name and {{2}} to a value carried on the enrolment, so the message names the actual product.

Fire the event from your shop

async function cartAbandoned(cart) {
  // No phone, nothing to send to. Not an error.
  if (!cart.customer?.phone) return;

  await fetch("https://app.thinnest.ai/api/v1/events", {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.THINNEST_API_KEY}`,
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
      // One enrolment per cart, however many times this fires.
      "Idempotency-Key": `cart-abandoned-${cart.id}`,
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      name: "cart_abandoned",
      contact: {
        phone: cart.customer.phone,
        name: cart.customer.firstName,
      },
      variables: {
        product: cart.items[0]?.title ?? "your items",
        cart_id: cart.id,
      },
    }),
  });
}

The idempotency key is doing real work here. Cart-abandonment jobs typically run on a timer and will happily re-fire for the same cart every few minutes. Without a key derived from the cart, your customer gets the same reminder nine times.

Stop it when they buy

The part people forget, and the one customers notice.

async function orderPlaced(order) {
  await fetch("https://app.thinnest.ai/api/v1/events", {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.THINNEST_API_KEY}`,
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
      "Idempotency-Key": `order-placed-${order.id}`,
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      name: "order_placed",
      contact: { phone: order.customer.phone },
    }),
  });
}

Configure the sequence to end on order_placed. Nothing is worse than “last chance, your cart clears tonight” arriving after somebody has paid.

Checked at enrolment and again at each send. A customer who opts out on hour one does not receive hour twenty-four — you do not have to handle that yourself.

Timing

One hour and 24 hours are a sensible default rather than a law. Two rules worth keeping:

Not immediately. Somebody who wandered off to check a delivery date has not abandoned anything.
Two messages, not five. The third reminder converts almost nobody and earns you a block, which costs you the channel for that customer permanently.

Checking it worked

The sequence page shows enrolments, which step each contact is on, and who completed or exited early. Against that, the Analytics conversation count tells you how many replied — which is the number that actually matters.

Guides

Set up

Answer the phone

Connect your systems

Reach out

Recover abandoned carts

The shape

Timing

Checking it worked

​The shape

​Consent

​Timing

​Checking it worked

The shape

Consent

Timing

Checking it worked