# Abandoned Checkout Recovery in GoCommerce > GoCommerce now spots a basket left behind within minutes, sends a short run of reminder emails, and credits the order that brings it back. Here is how. - Canonical: https://kitcommerce.store/blog/abandoned-checkout-recovery/ - Last updated: 2026-10-10 --- Blog ## Abandoned checkouts: reminders that stop the moment a basket becomes an order By [itswadesh](https://github.com/itswadesh) · 10 October 2026 A shopper who typed their email and then left is the order closest to happening. GoCommerce’s new `cart-recovery` module notices that basket within minutes, emails the shopper a few times, and stops the moment the basket becomes an order. Then it shows you which orders it actually brought back. ### What counts as abandoned A basket with something in it that sits untouched long enough gets a record of its own, with the items and prices as they were. | Type | What it means | Idle time before it counts (default) | | --- | --- | --- | | Checkout | The shopper typed an email, which a guest does at checkout’s first step | 10 minutes | | Cart | No email was typed | 30 minutes | A cart can be emailed only when it carries a verified address, such as a signed-in shopper’s confirmed email. It is listed either way. Baskets that went idle before you installed the module are shown, but the reminders never go to them — nobody wants a backlog mailed on day one. A shopper who comes back and leaves again resumes the same record, and the next reminder waits for that visit to go quiet. ### The reminder sequence Checkouts and carts each get a sequence: an on/off switch, the idle time, and up to five “wait, then send” steps. Each wait counts from the step before; the first from when the basket was marked abandoned. | Step | Checkout (default) | Cart (default) | Email it sends | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | 1 hour | 2 hours | `cart.recovery.1` — “You left something in your basket” | | 2 | 20 hours | 24 hours | `cart.recovery.2` — “Still thinking it over?” | | 3 | 48 hours | — | `cart.recovery.3` — “Last chance for the items in your basket” | The idle time can be 1 minute to 7 days, and each wait 1 minute to 30 days. Both sequences live on Marketing › Automations; the emails’ wording is edited on Notifications › Setup Email, with the store’s other emails. Nothing is decided early. Before every send, the module checks the basket as it is now: | Check | If it fails | | --- | --- | | The basket still exists | The record is marked expired | | It has not become an order | Nothing more is sent | | Reminders are not suppressed for it | Nothing is sent | | The shopper has not been in it within the idle time | The step moves to when the visit counts as over | | It has an email address | Held until the shopper comes back with one | | At least one item can still be bought | Held until the shopper comes back to it | | The automation is on | Held until it is switched on and saved | | An email provider is set up | Held until one is, and the automation is saved | A held reminder shows its reason. If the provider refuses a message, the module retries after 10 minutes, then 20. After three failed tries it stops with “sending kept failing”; saving the automation tries again. ### The link back Where a reminder’s link goes depends on two addresses you set. | You set | The link | Click counted? | | --- | --- | --- | | A storefront address and `GOCOMMERCE_PANEL_URL` | `/x/cart-recovery/r/`, which counts the click, then `/cart/` | Yes | | A storefront address only | Straight to `/cart/` | No | | No storefront address | No link; the default email gives a basket reference instead | — | If the basket was already bought or has gone, a counted link opens the storefront’s home page instead. ### How an order is credited The engine’s `order.created` event now carries `cart_id`, the basket the order came from. The module marks that record **recovered**, with the order number and total, and notes whether any reminder — automatic or by hand — went out first. So the figures keep “recovered after a reminder” apart from “came back on their own”. | Status | Meaning | | --- | --- | | Abandoned | Recorded; nothing scheduled, and the reason shown | | Scheduled | A reminder is planned | | Contacted | At least one reminder has gone out | | Recovered | It became an order — final | | Suppressed | Staff stopped the reminders, with a reason | | Expired | The basket was deleted by the store’s retention clean-up | ### What staff can do Orders › Abandoned checkouts lists every record. A record’s page shows the basket then and now — a price that moved, a line that sold out — the address’s past orders, and a timeline of what happened and who did it. | Action | Right | Given by default to | | --- | --- | --- | | See the list, records and figures | `abandonment.read` | Owner, Manager, Staff | | Send a reminder now, copy the link | `abandonment.contact` | Owner, Manager, Staff | | Suppress, with a reason | `abandonment.suppress` | Owner, Manager, Staff | | Change the automation | `abandonment.automate` | Owner, Manager | **Send now** picks one of the three emails and does not move the sequence on. **Copy link** is for pasting into a chat; it goes on the timeline, because the link opens the basket for whoever holds it. **Suppress** asks why: contacted manually, asked for no more contact, invalid customer, fraud or test, or other, with a note. If an action cannot happen — the basket was just bought, say — the screen says why. ### The figures Six cards sit above the list and filter with it: abandoned, potential revenue, recovery emails sent, recovered orders, recovered revenue, and the recovery rate (recovered ÷ abandoned). Marketing › Recovery analytics adds three views: - **A funnel:** abandoned, recoverable, emailed, link clicked, recovered. The last stage counts only orders placed after a reminder. - **Recovered revenue over time,** by day, week or month. - **Carts against checkouts:** abandoned, recovered and the rate for each. ### How to turn it on | What | How | | --- | --- | | The module | The `-recovery` flag — already on in both Docker Compose files | | Where the basket lives | `STOREFRONT_URL`, or the automation screen, which wins | | Counted clicks | `GOCOMMERCE_PANEL_URL`, where the store’s panel is reached (a multi-store platform uses each store’s domain) | | An email provider | `-resend` or `-sendgrid` with its key; without one, reminders are held | One store with recovery on ``` # Where the shopper's basket lives export STOREFRONT_URL=https://shop.example.com # The engine's public address, so clicks are counted export GOCOMMERCE_PANEL_URL=https://admin.example.com # An email provider; without one, nothing is sent export RESEND_API_KEY=your-resend-api-key ./gocommerce -recovery -resend serve ``` Flags and variables from `cmd/gocommerce/main.go`. As for any store, the database comes from `DATABASE_URL` and the admin token from `GOCOMMERCE_ADMIN_TOKEN`. For developers: the module adds no third-party dependency and sends through the store’s installed email notifier. Its admin routes are under `/api/admin/x/cart-recovery/`. The one engine change is `cart_id` on `order.created`, explained in decision D82 of `PLAN.md`. ### What it does not do yet - **SMS or WhatsApp.** A basket carries no phone number, so these steps are listed but switched off. - **Create a discount or notify staff** as a step. Listed, not built. - **Chase a failed payment.** Once checkout runs, the basket is an order, and nothing reopens it. - **Wait for payment before crediting.** A recovery counts when the order is created, so an order whose payment then fails still counts. - **Count clicks without `GOCOMMERCE_PANEL_URL`.** The link still works; the click is not counted. ### Further reading - [Checkout features](https://kitcommerce.store/features/checkout/) — abandoned checkouts beside the rest of checkout. - [The admin panel](https://kitcommerce.store/gocommerce/admin/) — the screens these live in. - [GoCommerce](https://kitcommerce.store/gocommerce/) — the engine and its modules. - [The source on GitHub](https://github.com/itswadesh/gocommerce) — the module is `ext/cart-recovery`.