Recover Abandoned Carts

Cart abandonment is a common challenge for online stores, but it also presents an opportunity to recover potential sales. With Tango.ad, you can create personalized campaigns that encourage visitors to return to their cart and complete their purchase.

This guide explains how to create an abandoned cart recovery campaign and use workflow targeting to reach visitors with items left in their carts.

For an overview of creating campaigns, see Campaigns Overview

Why Recover Abandoned Carts?

Cart recovery campaigns can help you:

Increase completed purchases.
Recover potential lost revenue.
Encourage hesitant shoppers to complete checkout.
Reduce cart abandonment.
Improve conversion rates.

You can also use Analytics: Cart Analysis to understand abandoned carts, products left in carts, and potential lost revenue.

Before You Begin

Make sure you have:

A Tango.ad workspace and configured domain.
The Tango.ad tracking script installed on your website.
A working shopping cart or checkout.
A campaign recovery message or offer, if applicable.

If you use an incentive such as a discount code, you can also review Coupons Overview.

Step 1: Create a New Campaign

Open Campaigns.
Click Create Campaign.
Choose a suitable campaign type or start with a blank campaign.
Give the campaign a descriptive name.

For more information, see Create a Campaign Manually.

You can also use Create a Campaign with AI if you want Tango.ad to generate an initial campaign design.

Create a popup that reminds visitors about the items in their cart and encourages them to complete their purchase.

A typical abandoned cart popup includes:

Headline
Short description
Optional product image
Promotional offer
Call-to-action button
Close button

Example headline:

Don't Leave Yet!

Example description:

Your items are waiting for you. Complete your purchase before they're gone.

Use the Design Editor Overview to learn how to create and customize your campaign design.

You can also use Working with Components to add and customize text, images, buttons, and other elements.

Step 3: Add a Strong Call-to-Action

Choose a CTA that clearly encourages visitors to continue shopping.

Examples include:

Complete My Order
Return to Cart
Checkout Now
Continue Shopping
Claim My Discount

Make your CTA visible and easy to understand.

Use Working with Components to configure buttons and other interactive elements.

Step 4: Configure the Display Trigger

Use the Workflow Editor Overview to determine when the recovery campaign should appear.

Common options include:

Exit intent
After a period of inactivity
Before leaving the checkout page
After spending time on the cart page
When a visitor returns with items still in the cart

Use Triggers to define the event that starts the workflow.

Step 5: Target Visitors with Abandoned Carts

Use workflow conditions to ensure the campaign is shown only to relevant visitors.

For example:

Visitors with items in their cart.
Visitors who have not completed checkout.
Returning visitors with abandoned carts.
Visitors who reached the checkout page but did not purchase.

Use Conditions and Actions to configure the rules that determine which visitors continue through the workflow.

Showing the campaign only to qualified visitors creates a more relevant experience and reduces unnecessary interruptions.

For more advanced workflow setups, see Building Workflows.

Step 6: Offer an Incentive (Optional)

If appropriate, encourage visitors to complete their purchase by offering an incentive.

Examples include:

10% Off Your Order
Free Shipping
Limited-Time Discount
Free Gift with Purchase

Only use incentives when they align with your marketing strategy.

If you use discount codes, see Coupons Overview and Assign Coupons.

Step 7: Preview and Publish

Before publishing your campaign:

Review your design.
Verify all links and buttons.
Check the workflow and conditions.
Test the campaign on desktop and mobile.
Save your campaign.
Publish or activate the campaign.

Use Campaign Settings to review your campaign configuration before publishing.

Best Practices

For better cart recovery results:

Keep your message short and reassuring.
Use a clear and action-oriented CTA.
Display the popup at an appropriate point in the customer journey.
Avoid interrupting the checkout process too early.
Optimize your campaign for mobile devices.
Use incentives strategically rather than for every visitor.
Target visitors using relevant workflow conditions.
Test different messaging and designs to improve performance.

For broader conversion optimization strategies, see Increase Conversion Rates.

Monitor Performance

Track your abandoned cart campaign using Analytics: Cart Analysis.

The report can help you understand:

Abandoned carts
Lost revenue
Products left in carts
Product categories with abandoned carts
Customer decision time
Checkout activity

You can also use Analytics Overview to access other analytics reports.

For measuring the revenue impact of campaigns, see Analytics: Revenue Uplift.

Optimization Tips

Improve your abandoned cart campaigns by:

Testing different headlines and CTA buttons.
Experimenting with display timing.
Personalizing messages for returning visitors.
Trying different incentives.
Reviewing cart analytics to identify opportunities.
Updating messaging during seasonal promotions or special sales.
Comparing campaign performance over time.

Use Analytics: Revenue Uplift to understand whether campaign-exposed visitors generate more revenue than the control group.