How to Set Up Automated Abandoned Cart Messages in Your Store
Recovering lost sales is easier than you think—with automated abandoned cart messages, you can remind customers to complete their purchases and boost your conversion rate with minimal effort. This guide walks you through how to set up and customize automated messages that are sent when a shopper leaves items in their cart without checking out.
Whether you're just getting started or looking to optimize your recovery strategy, follow these steps to get your abandoned cart automation up and running.
How to Set Up Automated Abandoned Carts?
STEP 1
Before you can start using automation, you’ll need to log in to your Facebook Business account.
Click the “Login to Facebook” button shown at the top to authorize access and enable automation features like abandoned cart recovery and messaging. This is a one-time setup required by Meta to manage permissions and template approvals.
STEP 2
On the Dashboard, navigate to the Automated Abandoned Cart, and click ‘Select’.
STEP 3
On the redirected page, click ‘Create New’.
STEP 4
Creating an Abandoned Cart Automation in Kefi
Kefi allows you to set up personalized WhatsApp messages to recover abandoned carts automatically. Here's a breakdown of how to configure your automation:
STEP 5
Get the Automation Setup -
Automation Name - Give your automation a clear internal name (e.g., “30-Minute Cart Recovery”).
Time Sent After - Choose how long after cart abandonment the message should be sent (e.g., 30 minutes, 1 hour, etc.).
STEP 6
Header Type & Text - Choose whether your header is text or an image or none, and customize the header line that will appear in the WhatsApp message (e.g., “Order Pending!”).
Message Body - Personalize your recovery message using short codes like {{first_name}}, {{last_name}}, {{checkout_items}}, and {{total_amount}}. Example: Hi {{first_name}}, we’re glad you visited, but it looks like you left some items behind!
STEP 7
Create a Discount Code (Optional) -
If you want to offer an incentive like a discount, create a discount code in your Shopify admin and paste it here. This code will be embedded within the recovery message.
STEP 8
Next, work on the Footer & CTA Button -
Footer Text - Add a short line such as “Need help? Contact support” to make the message feel more personal and helpful.
Button Type & Text - Set the button to View Cart, or, Quick Reply.
The WhatsApp message preview on the right updates live as you build, so you can see exactly what your customer will receive.
Click on Add Button to add another button type. If you want to delete the second button, simply click the trash icon next to it.
STEP 9
Set your Target Section -
Use these controls to fine-tune who should receive the automation:
Cart Value – Only send if the cart value is greater than, less than, equal to a specified amount (e.g., $50).
Cart Items – Send based on the number of products in the cart (e.g., more than 1 item, less than, equal to).
Customer Country – Include or exclude customers based on their country for region-specific targeting.
STEP 10
In targeting, the “AND” logic ensures that all selected conditions must be true for a message to be triggered.
For Example, If you select:
Cart Value greater than $50
Customer Country: Exclude [X]
Your message will only be sent if: The cart value is over $50 AND The customer is not from the excluded country.
If you also enable Cart Items > 1, then all three conditions must be satisfied for the automation to execute.
STEP 11
On the right side of the screen, you’ll see a real-time preview of your WhatsApp message as it will appear on a customer’s device. Once you save your changes, the template is sent for approval. After this, only the targeting settings can be edited—not the template itself or other details. Even if the template isn’t published yet, it is still sent for approval.
STEP 12
This screen allows you to configure targeting rules for your abandoned cart automation. While the message content itself is locked (as the template is not editable), you can still adjust targeting filters like cart value, item quantity, or customer country to define who receives the message.
Once your conditions are set, click Activate in the top-right corner to make the automation live. The preview on the right shows how the message will appear on WhatsApp.
Please note: If the automation is saved but not activated, it will not run.
STEP 13
If you no longer want an active automation to run, simply click the Deactivate button in the top-right corner. This will pause the automation from sending further messages while retaining your targeting and setup for future use.
To view all WhatsApp messages sent through automation, navigate to Kefi: WhatsApp Marketing > Messages in the left-hand sidebar.
STEP 14
The Messages section provides a detailed log of all WhatsApp messages sent through automations. You can track each message by date, automation name, customer, checkout ID, message status (e.g., Read, Not Sent, Sent, Delivered, Failed), country, recovery status, and revenue.
This dashboard helps you measure message performance and identify which carts were successfully recovered. Filters at the top allow you to sort by automation, country, message status, and more.
Please Note - All WhatsApp automation message templates must be approved by Meta before they can be used. This review ensures your content aligns with Meta’s business communication policies. No matter how many templates you create, each one must go through this approval process individually.
If a template doesn’t comply, Meta may reject it—causing your automation messages to fail.
Need Help?
If you have any questions or need assistance, feel free to contact us:
Live Chat: Available via the Kefi app or website.
Email: [email protected]