14 Ways to Recover WooCommerce Abandoned Cart Sales

Picture this: a customer spends 15 minutes browsing your store, adds three items to their cart, and then… disappears. Sound familiar? You’re definitely not alone in this struggle.

Cart abandonment happens to every online store, and it’s one of the most common challenges store owners face.

Here’s the encouraging news: those abandoned carts aren’t lost forever. With the right recovery strategies, you can bring many of those customers back to complete their purchases.

Through our years of working with numerous WooCommerce store owners, we’ve identified the most effective cart recovery methods that actually work.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through proven strategies that can help you turn those abandoned carts into completed sales and grow your online business.

How Much Impact Does Cart Abandonment Have on WooCommerce Sales?

Cart abandonment poses a bigger threat to your bottom line than you might think. Our latest research reveals a startling fact: 60% of online businesses aren’t monitoring their cart abandonment rates. This means they are losing potential revenue.

Unlike physical stores, where abandoned carts are rare, online stores face abandonment rates of up to 80%. The financial impact is huge. eCommerce businesses lose approximately $18 billion yearly due to unfinished purchases.

Through our extensive testing, we’ve identified the main causes: surprise shipping costs, lengthy checkout processes, and forced account creation. These friction points consistently drive customers away from online stores before they complete their purchase.

Here is the good news: your WooCommerce store can reclaim these lost sales. We’ve identified and tested several effective strategies that can dramatically reduce cart abandonment rates.

Ready to recover those lost sales? Jump to any section below to discover our proven abandoned cart recovery techniques.

1. Remind Users of Cart Items with Exit-Intent Popups
2. Send Subscribers Abandoned Cart Notifications
3. Make the WooCommerce Cart Visible and Noticeable
4. Avoid High Shipping Fees and Hidden Costs
5. Enable Guest Checkout Without Account Creation
6. Make the WooCommerce Checkout Process Faster
7. Offer Multiple Payment Methods During Checkout
8. Effectively Use Urgency and Scarcity Tricks on Product and Cart Pages
9. Use FOMO to Discourage WooCommerce Cart Abandonment
10. Make it Easy for Customers to Get Questions Answered
11. Add Trust Boosters to WooCommerce Cart Page to Build Confidence
12. Make it Easy to Contact Your Team
13. Allow Users to Save Their WooCommerce Cart
14. 14. Make Data-Driven Decisions About Your WooCommerce Store
15. Frequently Asked Questions About WooCommerce Cart Abandonment

1. Remind Users of Cart Items with Exit-Intent Popups

Exit-intent can save a sale when a user seems ready to leave your website. On desktop computers, these popups appear right as a user’s mouse moves to exit the window.

On mobile devices, the popup can trigger when a user scrolls up quickly or hits the ‘back’ button. This grabs their attention at a critical moment.

You’ve likely seen one of these overlays on many top WordPress websites since they deliver incredible results. 

Often, you can recover between 3 to 8% of abandoned cart sales by offering customers exclusive coupons or free shipping before they leave your site.

But what if you’re already offering a discount, and it’s applied to the cart?

Some users will start to doubt their purchase decisions at the last minute. Sometimes they have a question that isn’t being answered, which leads to an abandoned cart. Other times, they need reassurance that they’re making the best decision.

In that case, you can create a popup that gives users the option to get their questions answered, like this one on OptinMonster.

If they click the ‘Claim My Discount Now’ button, then the popup closes and allows the user to finish the purchase.

Alternatively, if they have a question, then they can click on the ‘I have a few questions first!’ button, which loads a contact form inside the popup. The question gets sent to our support team so we can assist the customer.

This strategy offers immediate solutions for common hesitation points. At OptinMonster, this simple popup has helped us with tens of thousands in cart abandonment recovery in just one month.

Want to add exit-intent popups on your WooCommerce store? 

We recommend using OptinMonster because it’s the best WordPress popup plugin and conversion optimization software in the market.

It helps you convert abandoning website visitors into subscribers and customers.

For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to create a WooCommerce popup to increase sales.

2. Send Subscribers Abandoned Cart Notifications

Push notifications give you the power to reach customers even after they’ve left your website. These messages pop up in their browser, reminding them of their interest in your products.

You can target abandoned carts effectively with push notifications. Send a quick reminder to hesitant shoppers and nudge them back towards completing their purchase.

Here’s an example push notification to encourage users to complete their purchases.

The easiest way to do this is with PushEngage. It’s the best web push notification software in the market, used to send over 15 billion push messages every month.

With PushEngage, you can easily set up abandoned cart push notifications that will send out automatically.

You can even set up browse abandonment campaigns, which first encourage visitors to add products they’ve viewed to their carts. After that, the cart abandonment campaign takes over to turn those visitors into paying customers.

For more details, see our guide on how to add web push notifications to WordPress. You can also get started with the free version of the plugin that lets you send 30 campaigns for up to 200 subscribers every month.

Another thing you can do is send a WooCommerce abandoned cart email to your email list subscribers. To learn more, see our guide on how to create an email newsletter.

To easily set up automated, high-converting abandoned cart emails for WooCommerce, we recommend using FunnelKit Automations.

FunnelKit Automations, which is a popular WooCommerce marketing automation plugin, comes with a full library of email templates and automation workflows, including abandoned cart workflows. These workflows include pre-written copy, delay intervals, goals, and more.

You can import an abandoned cart recovery email workflow in a single click and use the visual email automation builder to make any customizations. You can even add time-bound coupon codes to encourage more customers to complete their purchases.

For more details, see our guide on how to customize WooCommerce emails.

3. Make the WooCommerce Cart Visible and Noticeable

Many customers add items to their cart intending to review them later, but with short attention spans, they may easily forget. A prominent shopping cart icon serves as a constant reminder of their saved items.

Take a cue from eCommerce giants like Amazon, which feature a clear shopping cart icon on every page.

Most quality WooCommerce themes include a cart icon in the header or navigation menus. You should first check Appearance » Customize » WooCommerce to see if you can enable it there.

If your theme does not have this feature, then the WooCommerce Menu Cart plugin can help you add one.

To do this, simply install and activate the WooCommerce Menu Cart plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit WooCommerce » Menu Cart Setup to configure the plugin settings. On this page, you can customize your menu and choose which menu to add the cart icon to.

Then, make sure to click the ‘Save’ button to save your settings.

You can now visit your store to see the cart icon in the navigation menu.

4. Avoid High Shipping Fees and Hidden Costs

High shipping costs are one of the top reasons for shopping cart abandonment. Sometimes costs are out of your hands, but you can make it easier for your customers to handle.

You can tackle the shipping cost issue by showing the shipping cost right away. If you know the exact shipping cost, then you can easily show that in the product description or on the pricing page.

Alternatively, you can offer a free shipping threshold. For example, you can offer free shipping on orders over $50. This encourages users to add more items to the cart rather than abandoning it.

Luckily, there are several WooCommerce add-ons and plugins you can use for variable pricing and shipping cost calculations.

We recommend using Table Rate Shipping because it allows you to define variable shipping costs for every single product in your store.

It simply adds an additional shipping option to your WooCommerce product pages.

This allows your users to see shipping costs for all products, even those with variable pricing, before adding them to their cart.

Alternatively, you can add a shipping calculator, or build the shipping cost in your product price and advertise free shipping to boost your conversions.

5. Enable Guest Checkout Without Account Creation

Many eCommerce stores want users to create an account for faster checkouts in the future. However, a lot of customers don’t want to create another account just to buy a product.

By enabling a guest checkout feature in WooCommerce, you allow customers to buy the products they like without signing up.

To do this, simply go to WooCommerce » Settings and click the ‘Accounts & Privacy’ tab.

Then, check the ‘Guest checkout’ box.

Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to store the customer information you need to process the pending order while eliminating a step from your checkout process.

6. Make the WooCommerce Checkout Process Faster

Ever noticed how blazingly fast Amazon.com is? That’s because a single-second delay in page loading time can cost the company millions of dollars.

Industry research shows that a 1-second delay in page load time can lead to a 7% loss in conversions. It also causes 11% fewer page views and a 16% decrease in customer satisfaction.

This goes for your WooCommerce store, too. It needs to be quick and responsive to maintain user attention.

To improve your WooCommerce speed and performance, see our ultimate guide on how to boost WordPress speed and performance.

For a better checkout experience, you may also want to look at our guide on how to create a faster checkout in WooCommerce.

7. Offer Multiple Payment Methods During Checkout

The lack of payment options is another reason customers will abandon their saved carts. This is why conversion experts always recommend adding multiple payment methods to reduce cart abandonment.

WooCommerce makes it easy to add multiple payment methods like credit cards, PayPal, and more. Simply go to WooCommerce » Settings and click on the ‘Payments’ tab to adjust your payment settings.

Each payment gateway has different fees for transactions that you need to review as a business owner.

For example, on our MonsterInsights website, we offer both credit cards and PayPal as an option.

This gives users a choice on how to pay, and the more options they have, the more likely they are to make a purchase.

8. Effectively Use Urgency and Scarcity Tricks on Product and Cart Pages

Scarcity and urgency are tricks used by sellers since ancient times. eCommerce websites use this tactic by showing limited product stock or limited-time discount offers.

Booking.com does a great job of using both urgency and scarcity on its hotel listing pages.

There are a few different ways to implement urgency and scarcity in your store.

The first is using OptinMonster. It comes with a countdown timer feature you can easily add to your campaigns.

For more details, see our guide on how to add a countdown timer in WordPress.

The next is using SeedProd. It’s the best WordPress page builder plugin in the market, used by over 1 million websites.

It lets you build completely custom WooCommerce cart pages with the drag-and-drop builder.

Plus, it comes with all kinds of conversion-boosting elements like countdown timers, testimonials, popular products, and more.

For more details, see our guide on how to create a custom WooCommerce cart page with no code.

9. Use FOMO to Discourage WooCommerce Cart Abandonment

FOMO, or ‘fear of missing out,’ is a psychological term that describes anxiety about missing out on something exciting and trendy.

As a WooCommerce store owner, you can take advantage of this human behavior with your marketing strategy to discourage cart abandonment.

The easiest way to implement FOMO is with TrustPulse. It’s the best social proof plugin for WooCommerce to help improve conversions and get more sales. 

When customers are close to completing their purchase, they’ll see a notification from other customers who have also bought.

This will help nudge users to complete their purchases while giving them confidence in their decisions.

TrustPulse makes setting up these notifications easy. You can install it on your online store without code and customize the notifications to match your brand. 

For more details, see our guide on how to use FOMO to increase conversions.

10. Make it Easy for Customers to Get Questions Answered

Another big reason for cart abandonment is a lack of information. Shoppers often hesitate at the last moment because they still have unanswered questions about a product, pricing, shipping, or refunds.

When those questions aren’t answered quickly, many users simply leave and don’t come back.

One effective way to reduce this friction is by offering AI-powered chat agent directly on your WooCommerce product and cart pages.

For this, we recommend StoreAgent. It is an all-in-one AI suite that uses your existing product content to give shoppers instant, accurate answers while they browse.

Unlike old-style rule-based chatbots that rely on scripted responses, StoreAgent’s AI chat understands your product data and responds conversationally.

It pulls information from your product pages and store content, so customers get relevant answers without needing to wait for human support.

This is especially helpful during high-traffic periods, when multiple shoppers may need help at the same time.

For those store owners who want to offer human support as well, can combine AI chat with live chat software like WPChat. For example, AI can respond to common questions instantly. Plus, unlike other live chat tools, your customers can engage with you via their favorite messaging apps, like WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, etc., even after leaving your site.

By removing uncertainty and answering questions at the right moment, you make it much easier for customers to move from hesitation to checkout.

For more details, see our guide on how to add LiveChat to your WooCommerce store and boost sales.

11. Add Trust Boosters to WooCommerce Cart Page to Build Confidence

People are more cautious when shopping online, particularly when buying from a store they’ve never heard of before. 

In this case, customers look for trust signals to ensure they are buying from a legitimate business and their personal and payment information is secure.

First, you need to make sure your site is using an SSL certificate. An SSL certificate helps to protect your website data and is a requirement for processing payments online. 

For more details, see our guide on how to get a free SSL certificate for your WordPress website.

You can also add customer testimonials to your cart page to help build social proof. 

At AIOSEO, we feature a customer testimonial directly on the user’s cart page so they can see the social proof all the way to the end of the checkout process.

That way, they are reminded that they’re making the right decision.

To add user reviews and testimonials, see our guide on how to add rotating testimonials in WordPress.

Finally, you can consider adding security badges to your website footer, checkout, and cart pages.

You can obtain these plain certificates from different internet security and trust agencies like Norton, McAfee, Better Business Bureau, and more.

For example, we display trust badges on our TrustPulse site on the user’s checkout page:

12. Make it Easy to Contact Your Team

Adding product FAQ sections and live chat support is great. However, some users won’t want to use live chat and aren’t in a rush to make a decision. 

In this case, you should offer alternatives, so your customers can use the contact method they prefer. 

One of the most common methods is adding a contact form to your eCommerce store. 

The easiest way to do this is by using the WPForms plugin. It’s the best WordPress contact form plugin in the market, used by over 5 million websites. 

It comes with a library of over 2000 templates and the drag-and-drop builder to create any kind of website form you like.

For more details, see our guide on how to create a contact form in WordPress.

You can also add a business phone number so that customers can call your team with their questions. 

We recommend using Nextiva since it’s the best business phone service in the market that works seamlessly with WooCommerce. 

After you’ve set up your business VOIP, you can add a free WordPress click to call button to your store so that customers can reach your team with a single click. 

13. Allow Users to Save Their WooCommerce Cart

Many shoppers browse multiple sites to compare prices, read reviews, or check out different products. During this process, they might close the tab or leave your store without completing their purchase. This is a common cause of cart abandonment.

One way to help reduce this friction is by allowing users to save their cart for later. This gives customers the flexibility to return to your store and continue shopping without losing the items they’ve already selected.

For WooCommerce stores, we recommend using the free Save to Wishlist plugin.

Simply install and activate the tool, and it will automatically add a “Save to Wishlist” option to your WooCommerce cart page. Customers can save items and return anytime without losing their selected products. This makes it easy for shoppers to pick up where they left off.

If you want to take cart recovery a step further and learn how to automatically bring back shoppers who leave items behind, check out our complete guide on WooCommerce cart recovery.

14. Make Data-Driven Decisions About Your WooCommerce Store

Many beginners rely on their best guesses and simple traffic stats to recover abandoned carts in WooCommerce. You don’t need to do that when you can get actual data to drive your decision-making. 

This is where using Google Analytics comes in.

With Google Analytics, you can enable enhanced eCommerce tracking, which gives you access to customers’ shopping and checkout behavior. It even assigns a unique identifier to each customer.

However, the IDs assigned by Google Analytics won’t accurately give you information about each user.

For that, you’ll need to use MonsterInsights. It’s the best WooCommerce reporting and analytics plugin in the market, used by over 3 million websites. 

The plugin makes it easy to set up enhanced eCommerce tracking with no coding needed. Plus, it works with Google Analytics 4 (GA4), so you don’t have to worry about switching to the new version and getting anything configured.

The MonsterInsights dashboard gives you an easy-to-read breakdown of your store’s performance, top-selling products, and more.

For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to enable customer tracking in WooCommerce.

If you’re looking for even more ways to improve your sales and conversions, then see our list of the best WooCommerce sales funnel plugins to boost conversions.

Frequently Asked Questions About WooCommerce Cart Abandonment

Here are some common questions our readers ask about recovering lost sales in WooCommerce.

How to show cart icon in WooCommerce?

You can usually show the cart icon by going to Appearance » Customize » WooCommerce in your WordPress dashboard. If your theme doesn’t support this, you can use the free WooCommerce Menu Cart plugin to add it to your navigation menu.

What is an abandoned cart?

An abandoned cart happens when a potential customer adds items to their online shopping cart but leaves the website without completing the purchase. It is essentially an unfinished order that represents lost revenue for the store owner.

What is the difference between abandoned cart and abandoned checkout?

Abandoned cart refers to shoppers who add items to their cart but leave before starting checkout.
Abandoned checkout happens when shoppers begin the checkout process—such as entering their details—but leave before completing payment.

The key difference is intent: abandoned checkouts indicate higher purchase intent and usually happen due to friction like unexpected costs or limited payment options.

How to see abandoned carts in WooCommerce?

WooCommerce does not show abandoned cart data by default, so you will need a plugin like FunnelKit Automations or analytics tools like MonsterInsights. These tools track user activity and display a list of unfinished orders directly in your WordPress dashboard.

Does cart abandonment hurt business?

Yes, cart abandonment significantly hurts business because it directly reduces your sales revenue and conversion rates. It also indicates friction in your user experience, which can negatively impact your brand reputation over time.

Does abandon means delete?

No, abandoning a cart simply means the user left the site without buying, but the items often remain saved in their session for a short time. Deleting a cart implies the user manually removed items or cleared their browser data, erasing the potential order completely.

We hope this article helped you learn new ways to recover WooCommerce abandoned cart sales. You may also want to see our guide on how to convert WooCommerce visitors into customers and our picks of the best WooCommerce plugins for your store.

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