Fashion Abandoned Cart Follow-Up on WhatsApp
This recipe recovers checkouts that stalled on a question. Shipping cost to another country, whether it arrives before Saturday, whether the size runs small, whether you take a certain payment method: one unanswered question is often all that stands between a cart and an order. AeroChat answers it in the chat, with live shipping rates and stock from Shopify, and sends the shopper back to buy. Part of the fashion store workflows.
What happens today
A shopper adds two tops to the cart, reaches the shipping step, sees a fee they did not expect and leaves. Shopify sends its abandoned checkout email the next day. It reminds them of the cart but cannot answer “can you ship to my city by next week?”, so the email is opened and ignored. Across published studies, about 70% of online carts are abandoned, according to the Baymard Institute. Some of those were never going to buy. Others had a question nobody answered. See cart abandonment.
The flow that works
- Web chat sits on your product, cart and checkout pages, so a shopper with a question can ask before they leave.
- Your Shopify abandoned checkout email includes a line inviting the shopper to reply on WhatsApp with any question. You edit this once in Shopify.
- When a shopper asks, AeroChat finds out what they were buying, then answers the question that stopped them: shipping rate and delivery time for their address, size, stock or payment methods.
- It sends the product link so they can go straight back to checkout.
- If you allow it, it offers a discount code within the limit you set, for example free shipping above a cart value. It never goes past your limit.
The reminder itself comes from Shopify’s abandoned checkout email, which you switch on in Shopify. AeroChat answers the replies, any time of day.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When a shopper asks a question about something in their cart or at checkout, or replies to our abandoned checkout email, follow these steps.
- Find out which products they were buying, if they have not said.
- Answer the question that stopped them. For shipping, ask for their postcode and check our Shopify shipping rates and delivery times for that address. For size, use the product’s size chart. For stock, check live stock for that variant. For payment, list the payment methods in our knowledge base.
- If the item will not arrive by the date they need, say so plainly.
- Send the product links so they can go back to checkout.
- If they say the shipping fee is the problem and their cart is above US$60 (example), offer our free-shipping code. Do not offer any other discount.
- If they ask for a discount we have not set, say we cannot offer one, and mention any current promotion listed in our knowledge base.
Do not push a shopper who says they are just looking. Never invent a promotion or a delivery date. Reply in the customer’s language.
Change the cart value, the discount and the payment methods to your own before you paste it. Leave out the discount step if you do not want one.
What to connect
- Shopify. Built in, for products, stock, shipping rates and discount codes. Create the discount code in Shopify and name it in the recipe.
- Shopify’s abandoned checkout email. Switch it on in Shopify and add a line with your WhatsApp link, for example “Questions before you check out? Message us on WhatsApp.”
- Web chat. Add the AeroChat chat to your store from the app, so it shows on product, cart and checkout pages.
- Your knowledge base. Payment methods, current promotions and delivery cut-offs.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
What you still decide
- Whether to offer a discount at all, which code, and above what cart value.
- The wording of your abandoned checkout email and when Shopify sends it.
- Your free-shipping threshold for each shipping zone.
AeroChat applies only the codes you name. It does not create new discounts.
The result to expect
Shoppers with a question get an answer before they leave, or when they reply to the reminder, instead of the next working day. Shipping and delivery questions get the exact rate for their address. Discounts go out only where you said they should.
Measure it with your own numbers: Shopify’s recovered checkouts, and orders from conversations about shipping or size, for a month before and after.
Next: size and fit questions, the other question that most often stops a checkout.
Ask the question your shoppers ask
Install the app, paste the recipe and ask what shipping to your furthest delivery zone costs for a two-item cart.
Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store. Start your 7-day free trial, no credit card needed.
Not on Shopify? Sign up here.