Abandoned cart emails in Go

What it does

Configuration

Nothing is required. The storefront address can come from Config, which the reference binary fills from STOREFRONT_URL, and everything can be changed on the Marketing › Automations screen, which wins where both say something.

The module reads its Config struct, not the environment. The variable names are the ones the package’s own example or the reference binary uses; in your own main() you choose where each value comes from. Where a setting has a panel label, the admin’s settings drawer can hold it too, and a value typed there wins over Config.

Setting it up

1. Set up emailInstall an email notifier and set it up under Notifications › Setup Email. Without one that delivers, every reminder is held as no_email_provider rather than written into a log.
2. Install the modulePass cartrecovery.New to gocommerce.New, as below, or start the reference binary with -recovery and STOREFRONT_URL set.
3. Check the automationsUnder Marketing › Automations, review the two sequences and the storefront address. The three reminder emails are worded on Notifications › Setup Email, as Checkout recovery #1, #2 and #3.
4. Watch the basketsOrders › Abandoned checkouts lists each record with its timeline; Marketing › Cart recovery shows the funnel and the recovered revenue.

import (
	"os"

	"github.com/itswadesh/gocommerce/core"
	cartrecovery "github.com/itswadesh/gocommerce/ext/cart-recovery"
)

app, err := gocommerce.New(cfg,
	cartrecovery.New(cartrecovery.Config{
		StorefrontURL: os.Getenv("STOREFRONT_URL"),
	}),
)

How it works

• Through the store’s own email

  A reminder is a notification sent with the engine’s App.Notify on the email channel, through whichever email notifier the store installed, in the wording the store edits. The module ships no transport of its own.

• A counted link

  When the engine knows its panel address, a reminder’s link goes through GET /x/cart-recovery/r/{token}, which counts the click and redirects to the basket. Without one, the link goes straight to the storefront’s /cart/<token> and no click is counted; the report then says “Not counted”.

• The store’s own brand

  On an install with several brands, the counted link goes through the panel address of the store’s own brand and names its store, so a shopper only ever sees the brand of the shop they visited, and the click finds the right basket.

• Checked at the moment of sending

  Before each email the basket is read again. A basket that was bought, emptied, deleted or has nothing in stock is not written about, and a shopper who is in the basket right now is not written to until the visit goes quiet.

• Credited to the order

  order.created names the basket it came from, so the record becomes recovered with the order’s number and total, and notes whether a message had gone out first. A shopper who came back unprompted is recovered all the same, and not counted for the sequence.

• Safe across instances

  The sender claims up to 100 due steps at a time with FOR UPDATE SKIP LOCKED and holds them for five minutes, and the pass runs once a minute per store, plus once at startup.

What it does not do

Read these before an order depends on it. No store is known to run GoCommerce in production yet, so these come from the code, not from anyone’s experience.

• Email onlyA basket carries an address and no phone number, so SMS and WhatsApp steps are not available. Creating a discount and notifying staff are listed on the screen as not built yet.
• Nothing before installA basket that went idle before the module was installed is recorded and shown, and never written to.
• Three failures stop a stepA send that fails is tried again after 10 and then 20 minutes. After the third failure the sequence stops with send_failed until the automation screen is saved again.
• No unsubscribe of its ownThe module has no opt-out list. An operator stops the reminders for one basket by suppressing it, with a reason such as requested_no_contact.
• The link opens the basketA recovery link is as much a credential for the basket as its cart token. Copying it from the admin is a POST, and recorded; the notification log shows it as hidden.
• Figures in the store’s currencyA basket left before the store changed its currency still counts as a basket, but its money is not added to the store’s figures.

Related modules

Each is a directory under ext/, imported the same way. Where this one fits in the store: Checkout and abandoned checkouts in GoCommerce.

• Google Merchant Center and Meta feeds in Go Publish a GoCommerce catalogue as a Google Merchant Center RSS feed and a Meta catalogue CSV: one item per variant, built live from the catalogue.
• IndexNow in Go Tell Bing, Yandex, Seznam and Naver the moment a GoCommerce product or collection changes, over IndexNow: the setup, the key file, and why Google is not in it.
• Klaviyo API in Go Send a GoCommerce store’s orders and abandoned carts to Klaviyo as events, under the metric names Klaviyo’s flows know. The key, the delays, the limits.
• Newsletter signups in Go Collect newsletter signups in a GoCommerce store: each address with its source and date, an unsubscribe route, and a CSV export. It sends no mail itself.