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Why Your Mailchimp for WooCommerce Abandoned Cart Emails Aren't Working (And How to Fix It)

24 threads Sep 17, 2025 Plugin → Mailchimp for woocommerce

Content

Abandoned cart emails are a powerful tool for recovering lost sales, but getting them to work correctly with the Mailchimp for WooCommerce plugin can be frustrating. Based on common community support threads, we've compiled the most frequent issues and their solutions.

How Abandoned Cart Capture is Supposed to Work

The 'Mailchimp for WooCommerce' plugin is designed to capture a customer's email address the moment they click or tab out of the email input field on the checkout page. This happens for both registered users and guest customers. Once captured, this data is sent to Mailchimp to trigger an abandoned cart automation.

Common Problems and Their Solutions

1. Emails Not Being Captured or Sent

Why it happens: This is the most reported issue. It can be caused by JavaScript conflicts on your checkout page, testing while logged in as an administrator, or a misconfiguration in Mailchimp.

How to fix it:

  • Test Correctly: The plugin intentionally blocks cart tracking for logged-in administrators. Always test using a private/incognito browser window or a separate guest user account.
  • Check for JavaScript Errors: Conflicts with other plugins or your theme can prevent the email capture script from running. Use your browser's developer console (F12) to check for errors on your checkout page.
  • Verify Mailchimp Setup: For free Mailchimp accounts, you must use Classic Automations, not the newer Customer Journeys. Navigate to the Customer Journeys page in your Mailchimp account and look for the "Go to Classic Automations" prompt in the upper right corner to set it up.

2. Abandoned Cart Emails Sent After a Successful Purchase

Why it happens: This frequently occurs with certain payment gateways, like BACS (direct bank transfer), which place orders in an "on-hold" status instead of "processing" or "completed." The plugin may not immediately recognize these orders as completed, causing the automation to still trigger.

How to fix it: The Mailchimp for WooCommerce team has acknowledged this issue. While a permanent fix is under development, your only current option may be to temporarily disable abandoned cart automations if this is a significant problem for your store.

3. Guest Cart Recovery Not Working

Why it happens: The feature only works if a guest user enters their email on the checkout page. It will not capture emails from a newsletter signup form elsewhere on your site.

How to fix it: Ensure your checkout process requires an email address early on. The plugin cannot capture an email that is never entered.

4. GDPR and Consent Concerns

Why it happens: Sending marketing emails like abandoned cart reminders to contacts who have not explicitly opted-in can violate regulations like GDPR.

How to fix it: Version 2.6 of the plugin introduced finer controls. In the plugin settings, you can now disable cart tracking for non-subscribers to ensure compliance. If you have an older version, updating the plugin is the first step.

Need More Help?

If you've worked through these common solutions and are still experiencing problems, the issue may be specific to your site's configuration. For further assistance, you may need to consult the official Mailchimp support resources or seek help from a developer familiar with WooCommerce and Mailchimp integrations.

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