--- title: "Abandoned cart email examples" description: "Abandoned cart email examples: the three-email sequence, timing, subject lines, when to offer a discount, and the mistakes that train people to wait." source: https://savepad.app/blog/abandoned-cart-email-examples --- [Blog](https://savepad.app/blog) · 21 May 2025 # Abandoned cart email examples Abandoned cart email examples: the three-email sequence, timing, subject lines, when to offer a discount, and the mistakes that train people to wait. *A three-email abandoned cart sequence saved in order in Savepad* **TLDR** - The classic sequence is **three emails**: a reminder within the hour, help or proof after a day, and a last nudge (maybe with an offer) after two or three days. - The first email does most of the work. Make it simple: the product, a picture, one button back to the cart. - Don’t discount in email one. You’ll train people to abandon on purpose. ## The three-email sequence **Email 1: the reminder (within an hour).** “You left something behind.” Product photo, name, price, and one button back to the cart. No discount, no essay. Most people just got distracted. **Email 2: the help (about a day later).** Answer the objection. Shipping, returns, sizing, reviews. “Still thinking? Free returns for 100 days.” Some brands add a short quote from a customer here. **Email 3: the last nudge (two or three days later).** The cart’s about to expire, stock is low (only if true), or here’s a small offer. This is where a discount goes, if you use one at all. ## Subject lines - `You left something behind` - `Still thinking about the trail runners?` - `Your cart's waiting (and it ships free)` - `Last call on your cart` Naming the product beats a generic line, every time. ## For SaaS checkouts The same idea works when someone starts a paid plan and bails. Email one: “You were almost set up, here’s the link back.” Email two: answer the pricing question (“Can I cancel anytime? Yes.”). Email three: offer a call or extend the trial. Keep it human, it’s often a person’s credit card at stake. *A mock cart reminder email with a product photo* 0361 · email 1 · +45 min *A mock follow-up email about free returns* 0458 · email 2 · +1 day *A mock final reminder email* 0555 · email 3 · +3 days An abandoned cart sequence kept in order as one save, with the gap between each email. ## Mistakes - **Discount in email one.** Your best customers learn to wait. - **Fake urgency.** “Only 2 left!” when there are 2,000. People notice. - **No picture.** They forgot what they wanted. Show them. - **Five emails.** Stop at three. ## Collect sequences, not single emails An abandoned cart flow only makes sense as a sequence: the order and the gaps are the strategy. Next time you abandon a cart on purpose (we all do it for research), forward each email to your swipe file. Savepad keeps emails as emails, and on paid plans you can keep them as a **sequence**: in order, with the time between each. Same goes for [welcome emails](https://savepad.app/blog/welcome-email-examples) and [onboarding flows](https://savepad.app/blog/saas-onboarding-examples). The [email swipe file](https://savepad.app/blog/email-swipe-file) post has more. ## FAQ ### When should you send an abandoned cart email? The first within an hour or so, while they still remember. A second after about a day, and a third after two or three days. Test your own timing. ### Should abandoned cart emails include a discount? Not in the first one. Save it for the last email, if at all. Discounting straight away teaches regular customers to abandon carts on purpose. ### How many abandoned cart emails should you send? Two or three. Most of the recovered revenue comes from the first one, and after the third you're just annoying people. [Join the waitlist](https://savepad.app/#waitlist) ## Read these next - [Welcome email examples that don't read like a robot wrote them: What good welcome emails do in the first 60 seconds after signup, the patterns worth copying, and a few that got it right.](https://savepad.app/blog/welcome-email-examples) - [How to keep an email swipe file (and why one email isn't enough): Sign up, forward, keep the order. How to build an email swipe file that saves whole onboarding and lifecycle sequences, not just nice-looking one-offs.](https://savepad.app/blog/email-swipe-file) - [Newsletter examples: Newsletter formats that work, from the one-writer essay to the link roundup and the product update, with real examples, layout patterns, and where to find more.](https://savepad.app/blog/newsletter-examples)