Let’s begin.

To get started, go to WooCommerce > Cart Abandonment > Settings.

General Settings

Cart Abandonment Settings

Enable Tracking

Enable or disable the cart abandonment tracking on your store. Disabling will not track the checkout page for tracking abandonment.

Cart abandoned cut-off time

This is the cron cut-off time after which the plugin marks the order as abandoned. The time is in minutes.

Disable Tracking For

The plugin tracks the abandoned cart for all users by default. In some cases, it requires disabling cart abandonment tracking for some users. Using this option you can disable tracking for the user’s type available on the store.

Exclude email sending For

The plugin marks the order as recovered when abandoned order is placed and order status is either processing or completed. Processing and Completed are the default order status selected in this setting to mark orders as recovered.

If you want to mark the orders as recovered & do not send future emails for other order statuses like On Hold ( as BASC has default Woocommerce order status is On Hold ) you need to select the On Hold option in this setting.

Notify recovery to admin

Enabling this option, you can receive the email notification of cart abandonment recovery with the order details. This email is sent to the admin.

UTM parameters

When customers revisit your recovery checkout page link through the follow-up emails, there might requirement of sending UTM parameters with the checkout links.

In this setting, you can add the multiple UTM parameters each at the new line, plugin will append all these parameters to the checkout links of all follow-up emails.

Also, you can add the other parameters too for your custom requirements. 

Coupons Settings

Delete Coupons Automatically

As each follow-up email creates the unique coupon if enabled, then after some time the coupon might be used by the user or expire & it is of no use. To delete such coupons regularly we have this option.

Enabling this option will delete all used & expired coupons once a week. Plugin deletes the coupons that are created by itself.  

Delete Coupons Manually

To delete the expired and used coupons instantly, you can click on the Delete button.

Email Settings

“From” Name

It is the sender name that appears in the follow-up emails. It tells your recipients who sent them the email.

“From” Address

It is the sender address that appears in the follow-up emails.

“Reply-To” Address

It is the email address that the reply message is sent to when your customer wants the reply to go to an email address that is different than the From address.

Recovery Report Emails

Send recovery report emails

If enabled, you will receive weekly report emails about the cart abandonment and recovery stats.

Email Address

You can add an email address in this field to receive the weekly report emails. If you want to receive the weekly report emails to multiple email addresses, then you can add each email address to each new line.

Webhook Settings

More info at Using Cart Abandonment Webhook

GDPR Settings

Enable GDPR Integration

As the plugin captures the checkout & cart data of the customer, it is necessary to ask or let the customer know that we are saving your data to send the follow-up emails. 

Enabling this option will add the text message below the email field on the checkout with the no thanks link. If the customer clicks on the no thanks link plugin will not capture data for that user.

GDPR Message

Use the text field to change what message is displayed below the email field of the checkout. For the best user experience, we recommend that you keep it short, clear, and to the point.

Plugin Settings

Delete Plugin Data

We have provided an option to delete the Woocommerce Cart Abandonment Recovery plugin data and its tables while deleting the plugin.

The plugin creates the following tables in the database.

• cartflows_ca_cart_abandonment
• cartflows_ca_email_history
• cartflows_ca_email_templates
• cartflows_ca_email_templates_meta

To delete plugin data & tables, you must enable this option. After enabling this option, uninstall and delete the plugin.

Follow Up Emails Settings

The plugin provides you a three default follow-up email. You can see these emails in Woocommerce > Cart Abandonment > Follow-Up Emails.

If you want to create a new one, you can create it by clicking on the Create New Template button.

You can restore the default follow-up emails provided by the plugin by clicking on the Restore Default Template Button. It will add the default templates in existing follow-up emails.

You can delete, and clone the template using the row actions.

Email Templates Settings

You can edit the email template by clicking the edit link and can set up the email subject, email body & coupon settings.

You can update the email template body as per your requirements by using the WCAR Fields. These are the dynamic fields containing the abandoned cart & checkout data. 

You can also find these all fields with their description here.

 We have coupon options if you wish to add the coupon on the checkout.

Data Processing & Consent

Abandoned cart emails fall under legitimate interest for data processing under GDPR guidelines. This means:

• No special consent is required to send abandoned cart recovery emails.
  
• You can use this feature confidently without additional consent checkboxes, though transparency in your privacy policy is recommended.
  

Optional GDPR Confirmation Setting

To give store owners more control, the plugin includes an optional setting:

• Enable GDPR Integration – Ask confirmation from the user before tracking data.
  

Note: When enabled, a confirmation message will appear below the email field on the checkout page. This informs the user about tracking and gives them the option to opt out by clicking “No thanks.”

This provides a balance between compliance and conversion, allowing you to recover lost sales while respecting your users’ privacy preferences.

The emails are delivered through your website host or an SMTP plugin if one is set up. That means the issue is related to how emails are sent from your site, not how Cart Abandonment is configured.

Why Recovery Emails Go to Spam

Email providers automatically filter emails that look suspicious, poorly configured, or lack important authentication. Here are common reasons why recovery emails may be flagged as spam:

1. Missing SPF, DKIM, or DMARC Records

These DNS records help verify that your site is authorized to send email from your domain. Without them, email services may not trust the message and send it to spam.

2. Using a Free Email Address

Sending emails from an address like [email protected] or [email protected] lowers deliverability. Always use an email based on your own domain (e.g., [email protected]).

3. Spam-Triggering Words in Subject or Content

Words like “Buy now,” “Click here,” or “Limited offer” – especially in all caps – can increase the chances of emails being flagged. Keep your messaging clean, helpful, and aligned with your brand voice.

4. Poor Sender Reputation

If your domain has a history of bounced or reported emails, email services may treat all future messages from it as suspicious. This includes sending emails too frequently or to invalid addresses.

5. Lack of User Consent

Sending emails to users who didn’t explicitly opt-in can lead to spam complaints, which damages your sender reputation. Always get clear consent and provide a way to unsubscribe.

6. Low-Quality Content or Layout

Emails that are just one big image, have broken links, or include poor formatting can be flagged by spam filters. Use a mix of clean text and minimal design.

What You Can Do to Fix It

• Use an SMTP plugin like SureMail to improve email delivery.
• Set up and verify your domain’s SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. Your hosting provider can help with this.
• Always use a domain-based sender email address.
• Avoid using aggressive marketing language in subject lines and content.
• Test your emails using a service like mail-tester.com to identify problems.
• Contact your hosting provider for help reviewing your server’s email configuration.

Here in this article, we will find out how to resolve the issue of Woocommerce Cart Abandonment Recovery plugin not capturing the abandoned carts.

Generally, this issue is may occur due to the disabled WP CRON.

What is WP CRON?

WP-CRON is how WordPress handles scheduling time-based tasks in WordPress. It’s normally used to schedule a job that is executed periodically. WordPress comes with its own CRON system which allows it to perform scheduled tasks.

Refer to this article for more information on WP CRON.

Why CRON is necessary for the plugin?

WooCommerce Cart abandonment Recovery plugin needs the CRON to capture the Abandoned Cart Orders and mark as Abandoned. 

The plugin has the cron job named as  ‘cartflows_ca_update_order_status_action’. This cron job runs after every fifteen minutes and checks if the order is completed or not and sets the order status accordingly. 

If you have disabled the WP CRON job from your site then it will not be able to capture the abandoned orders. So you need to enable it or you need to add the external cron job with cPanel.

To enable the WP CRON, locate the wp-config.php file in your website’s root directory and add the below code after the ‘define(‘DB_COLLATE’, ”);‘ line.

define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', false);

How to add the CRON job using the cPanel?

Here are some articles and video that will explain how to add CRON using cPanel.

• https://hostadvice.com/how-to/how-to-setup-cron-jobs-on-cpanel/
• https://www.greengeeks.com/tutorials/article/set-up-cron-jobs-cpanel/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwpUjz1tMbA

Related Docs –

• Cart Recovery Emails not Sending

Follow-ups emails are the automated series of recovery emails set in the plugin. When any order gets abandoned, emails are scheduled according to the time set for emails. At the scheduled time the emails will be sent to the respective customers.

In order to send the follow-ups emails, you need to install and configure the SMTP plugin. You can use any SMTP plugin to send the follow-ups emails. But we prefer to use the WP Mail SMTP.

Here is the plugin link: WP Mail SMTP by WPForms

How to configure the WP Mail SMTP with the Gmail account?

You can configure the SMTP with the google account.

Please click here for an detailed article.

How to configure the WP Mail SMTP for other SMTP?

You can configure the SMTP with the other SMTP plugins as per your requirement.

For description purpose, and we recommend the WP Mail SMPTP by WPForms, as shown in the below video –

After you have configured the SMTP on your website, you can verify by sending a Test Email from the email template.

This filter will help you to change the default styles of Product Table and Product Image in the emails –

/*
 * The woo_ca_email_template_table_style filter allows you to change the default styles of 
 * product table & product image provided by WooCommerce Cart Abandonment Recovery plugin.
 *
 */

add_filter( 'woo_ca_email_template_table_style', 'wcar_product_table_styles', 10 ); 

function wcar_product_table_styles( $style ){

    $style['product_image']['style'] = 'height: 42px; width: 42px;';
    
    $style['table']['style'] = 'color: #636363; border: 1px solid #e5e5e5; width:250px;';
    
    $style['table']['attribute'] = 'align="center" ';
    
    return $style;
}

The below filter will display the Cart Total including Tax and Shipping cost in the Product Table –

// Show product table with cart total including tax and shipping cost
add_filter( 'woo_ca_recovery_enable_cart_total', '__return_true' );

Note: Above filter or custom code should be added to your child theme’s functions.php, here’s an article to help you Add Custom code.

Here Webhooks is the method used to deliver this automated message when you make this transaction.

So in simpler terms, Webhooks listens for an event and performs certain actions like sharing a coupon code with the abandoned users or notifying the users, etc.

How Webhooks work in Cart Abandonment Plugin?

Let’s start with enabling the Webhook under the WordPress Dashboard > WooCommerce > Cart Abandonment > Settings > Webhook Settings.

Now, imagine a scenario in which the Customer has Abandoned the Checkout process, and we have also enabled an option to send the customers an auto-generated special coupon code.

Here you can either provide a percent discount or a fixed discount on the cart amount. And here you can also set a coupon expiry timer.

Here’s a video of how you can set up Webhook on your end –

Also, here are the steps followed in the above video to fetch the Webhooks –

Step 1: Visit and login to the Zapier website.

Step 2: Go to the My Zaps tab next to the Dashboard tab below the Zapier logo.

Step 3: Click on the Make a New Zap button and then you need to search and select Webhooks by Zapier under the Choose App & Event.

Step 4: When you select the Webhooks by Zapier option you will see the option to Choose Trigger Point > Catch RAW Hook and click on CONTINUE.

Step 5: After clicking on Continue, you will need to copy the URL under the Webhook URL for Webhooks by Zapier.

Now paste the Webhook URL under the Webhooks Settings of the Cartflows settings which we enabled in the initial step.

Step 6: By clicking on Trigger Sample, you can even Trigger a Sample and verify the details by going back to the Zapier screen and click on Test & Review button.

You can review the webhook data as shown below –

Step 7: Now, we need to choose an action on which the Webhook will perform certain actions and Choose an action event like Send Email.

Step 8: If you have enabled the Create Coupon Code, your abandoned customers will receive an email with the coupon providing a discount.

Note: You can create different listeners and perform various actions as per your requirement.