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How to Get Notified When a Cart is Abandoned on Your WooCommerce Store

33 threads Sep 16, 2025 Plugin → Woocommerce cart abandonment recovery

Content

One of the most common requests from store owners using the WooCommerce Cart Abandonment Recovery plugin is the ability to receive an immediate notification when a potential customer leaves without completing their purchase. This allows for quick, manual follow-up, which can be crucial for recovering sales, especially for high-value or custom items.

This guide explains the current capabilities of the plugin and the most effective workarounds to set up these alerts.

Why Admin Notifications for Abandoned Carts Are Useful

While automated recovery emails are effective, a real-time alert empowers you to take immediate action. You could personally reach out via phone or email to address any last-minute questions or concerns the customer might have, potentially saving a sale that would otherwise be lost.

The Native Plugin Limitation

Based on community support threads, the WooCommerce Cart Abandonment Recovery plugin does not have a built-in feature to send an email alert to an admin or shop manager when a cart is initially abandoned. By default, the plugin is designed to only send a notification when a previously abandoned cart is recovered and a sale is made.

Recommended Solution: Using Webhooks with Automation Tools

The most powerful method to create instant abandoned cart notifications is by using the plugin's built-in webhook functionality in conjunction with a third-party automation service like Zapier or Make (formerly Integromat).

Here’s how it works:

  1. Enable Webhooks: Navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Cart Abandonment > Settings in your WordPress admin dashboard. Find the Webhooks section and enable it.
  2. Configure the Webhook: Enter the webhook URL provided by your automation platform (e.g., Zapier). This URL is where the plugin will send a payload of data whenever a cart is abandoned.
  3. Set Up Automation: In your automation tool, create a "Zap" or "Scenario" that triggers when it receives the webhook from your site. You can then set an action to send an email (to yourself or your team), a Slack message, or even an SMS alert containing the details of the abandoned cart.

This method is highly flexible and can be adapted to send alerts to virtually any platform you use.

Alternative: Reviewing the Weekly Summary Report

If you don't need instant notifications, the plugin does offer a weekly email report that summarizes all abandoned cart activity. You can find this option under WooCommerce > Settings > Cart Abandonment > Settings. While not immediate, this report provides a valuable overview for following up on older abandoned carts at a scheduled time.

Looking Forward

The desire for instant admin notifications is a frequent feature request from the user community. The 'WooCommerce Cart Abandonment Recovery' team has acknowledged this request in several support threads and has indicated that it has been added to their development queue for consideration in a future update.

In the meantime, the webhook solution provides a robust and effective way to bridge this functionality gap and ensure you never miss an opportunity to recover a sale.

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