Cart recovery
Set up end to end a WhatsApp automation that follows up with customers who left without paying, with their cart rebuilt and a promo code, then measure the sales you recovered.
An abandoned cart is a cart a customer filled, sometimes all the way to payment, without placing the order. On WhatsApp, a short message sent an hour later, with a button that puts their items back in the cart, brings some of these customers back. This guide shows how to do it in Fullmetrix, from preparing the template to reading the results.
Cart recovery has no page of its own in the app. It runs on a cart recovery template and an automation.
What you need before you start
A connected WhatsApp number and store
Connect the number from WhatsApp Business and the store from the Quickstart. Fullmetrix reads the carts from your store and creates the cart links and promo codes there.
Carts with a phone number
Fullmetrix can only follow up on carts where it knows the customer's number. In practice, these are customers who entered their phone during checkout, or known contacts with their number. Your carts are visible in the Carts report.
Your customers' WhatsApp consent
Fullmetrix only sends the follow-up to WhatsApp subscribed customers. The most direct way is to add a consent box to your checkout. Open Settings, then Checkout, turn on the marketing consent box and tick WhatsApp in the affected channels. Details are in Checkout.
Without consent, the customer enters the automation then exits at the message step, and the history shows that WhatsApp consent is required.
Preparing the recovery template
Start from the Abandoned cart recovery model
Open WhatsApp, then Templates. Click New and choose Abandoned cart recovery. The editor opens with text, a header image and a button already in place.
Choose the store and the destination
In the top box, choose your store. Then choose Where the customer lands. Straight to checkout sends them to checkout with their items, which shortens the path. On their cart gives them time to review the order. Either way, their store puts their products back in the cart and applies their promo code.
Adjust the text
The suggested text greets the customer with {{1}}, reminds them that their cart of {{2}} is still waiting and that their items are in stock. Keep the variables. In the automation, you will say that {{1}} is the first name and {{2}} the cart total. The button is called Complete my order. Its destination is set by Fullmetrix, you never type an address.
Add the image for Meta
Add an image, for example your logo. It is only used to get the template approved. At send time, each customer gets the photo of the first product in their cart instead.
Add a promo code (optional)
For a more persuasive second message, create a second template with a Dynamic promo code button. Set the Discount and Valid for (days), for example 10% valid for 3 days, and write the same offer in the text. Each customer will get a unique code, created for them in your store.
Submit to Meta
Click Create template and wait for the Approved status. The Sync button on the Templates page refreshes the status.
A cart recovery template can only be used in an automation that starts from a cart, or in a campaign. It is not offered in the chat. Every editor field is described in Templates.
Building the automation
Open WhatsApp, then Automations, and click Create workflow. Give it a name, for example "Cart recovery".
Choose the trigger
Click the trigger card. Started checkout is already selected. It targets customers who started paying without finishing, and it is the most common choice. Added product to cart casts a wider net, with carts that never reached checkout.
In Trigger filters, you can add a cart rule, for example a minimum amount, so you only follow up on carts worth it.
Add an exit condition
In Exit conditions, click Add exit condition and choose Placed an order. A customer who buys in the meantime exits the workflow and does not get the reminder.
Wait before the first message
Drag a Delay block under the trigger and set the Duration to 1 Hours. This delay gives the customer time to finish the order on their own.
Send the follow-up
Add a WhatsApp Message block and choose your recovery template. For the variables, choose First name for {{1}} and Cart total for {{2}}. Use Send a test to see the message on your phone.
Add a reminder with a promo code (optional)
Add a Delay block of 1 Days, then a Condition block on Cart converted with Exit workflow. A customer who bought in the meantime stops there. Finally, add a second WhatsApp Message with your promo code template. The offer set on the template goes out automatically.
Check the frequency
In Frequency, the Skip contacts who have already been in this automation option is on for 1 day. Raise it to 7 days, for example, so you do not chase the same hesitant customer every week.
Save and start
Click Save, then Start automation, and confirm. The first customers enter within minutes of their checkout.
Measuring the result
Fullmetrix links an order to your follow-up in two ways. If the order uses the promo code sent by the automation, it goes to the automation. Otherwise, it goes to the automation if the customer read the message in the 7 days before ordering. When several read messages come before the order, the amount is split equally.
Choose Stats in the automation's menu to read its Attributed revenue and Attributed conversions, along with the history of customers who entered. Exits are explained there, for example a customer who ordered or who had not given consent.
The WhatsApp overview then compares your automations and campaigns under Recovered revenue, and gives the read rate of your messages under Engagement & deliverability. To follow the carts themselves, open the Carts report.
Improving the follow-up
If few customers enter the automation, the issue usually comes from the number or the consent. Check that your checkout asks for the phone number and that the WhatsApp consent box is on.
If many messages are read but few orders follow, try another button destination, a shorter text or a promo code from the second message.
If the read rate is low, shorten the delay before the first message. A customer contacted an hour later is still in their purchase. A customer contacted the next day has often forgotten it.
Frequently asked questions
Profile
Edit the WhatsApp Business profile your customers see, change the photo, register your number and read the sending limits set by Meta.
Back in stock
Offer a WhatsApp alert on your out-of-stock products with a Back in stock form, notify every subscriber automatically when the product returns and measure the resulting sales.