Email Marketing Automation for PrestaShop: Abandoned Cart Recovery That Converts

For every 100 shoppers who add items to their cart, roughly 70 leave without completing the purchase. That is not just a statistic — it represents real revenue sitting on the table. Abandoned cart emails are consistently the highest-ROI marketing activity in e-commerce, recovering between 5% and 10% of those lost sales with minimal ongoing effort.

The Timing Formula

When you send matters as much as what you send. The proven sequence:

1. Email 1: 1 hour after abandonment — a gentle reminder. "You left something in your cart." Recovery rate: 3-5%
2. Email 2: 24 hours later — add social proof or urgency. "These items are popular and selling fast." Recovery rate: 2-3%
3. Email 3: 72 hours later — offer an incentive if you choose to. "Here is 10% off to complete your order." Recovery rate: 1-2%

Sending the first email within 60 minutes is critical — after 24 hours, recovery rates drop by more than half. The shopper has already moved on mentally.

What to Include

Effective abandoned cart emails share these elements:

• Product images and names — visual reminders are more effective than text
• A single, clear CTA — "Complete your order" or "Return to your cart"
• Cart total — including any shipping estimate if available
• Trust signals — return policy, secure checkout badge, customer support contact
• Mobile-optimized design — over 60% of these emails are opened on phones

PrestaShop Integration Options

Built-in Cart Reminders

PrestaShop includes basic abandoned cart functionality. Navigate to Customers → Shopping Carts to see abandoned carts. However, the built-in system is limited — it requires manual follow-up and lacks automation.

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)

The official Brevo module for PrestaShop offers:

• Automatic cart abandonment triggers
• Pre-built email templates with product blocks
• SMS follow-up option for mobile-first markets
• Transaction tracking for measuring actual recovered revenue

Mailchimp

Mailchimp's PrestaShop integration syncs customer and order data for:

• Automated abandoned cart workflows
• Post-purchase follow-up sequences
• Customer segmentation based on purchase history
• A/B testing of subject lines and content

Beyond Cart Recovery

Once your abandoned cart sequence is running, extend your email automation:

• Welcome series — 3 emails over 7 days for new subscribers
• Post-purchase — thank you, shipping notification, review request
• Win-back — re-engage customers who haven't purchased in 90 days
• Browse abandonment — follow up with shoppers who viewed products but didn't add to cart

Measuring Success

Track these metrics for your cart recovery emails:

• Recovery rate — percentage of abandoned carts that convert after email
• Revenue recovered — total value of orders completed via cart recovery emails
• Unsubscribe rate — if above 0.5% per email, your frequency or content needs adjustment
• Revenue per email sent — the ultimate efficiency metric

Email marketing automation is one of the rare cases where the setup effort pays for itself almost immediately. Start with the three-email abandoned cart sequence, measure results for 30 days, then expand from there.