How to Get Notified When Abandoned Cart Products Go Out of Stock

Cart Abandonment Recovery can let you know when products in your abandoned carts go out of stock. When this happens, you get a short email listing the affected carts and products, so you can restock the product or reach out to the customer with an alternative.

This guide explains how out-of-stock alerts work, how to turn them on, and what the alert email looks like.

How Out-of-Stock Alerts Work

Once alerts are on, the plugin keeps an eye on the products inside your abandoned carts and emails you when any of them become unavailable.

• When a product or variation is marked as out of stock, the plugin checks your abandoned carts for it shortly afterwards.
• It also runs a daily check, so carts are covered even when stock changes in other ways.
• If any abandoned carts contain out-of-stock products, you receive one summary email listing each customer, when they abandoned their cart, and which products are no longer available.

You hear about each product in a cart only once, so your inbox stays clean even if a product stays out of stock for a while.

How to Set Up Out-of-Stock Alerts

Step 1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to WooCommerce > Cart Abandonment and open the Settings tab.

Step 2. Click Recovery Report in the left-hand settings menu.

Step 3. In the Email Address field, enter the address where you want to receive alerts. To send alerts to more than one person, add each email address on its own line. If you don’t see the Email Address field, turn on Send Recovery Report Emails first to show it.

Step 4. Turn on Notify When Abandoned Cart Products Go Out Of Stock. Your change is saved automatically.

Shortly after you turn the option on, the plugin runs a first check, so any abandoned carts that already contain out-of-stock products are included in your first alert.

What Triggers an Alert

Alerts follow the stock status you set in WooCommerce. A product counts as out of stock when its stock status is Out of stock, either because you set it manually on the product’s Inventory tab or because its stock quantity reached zero.

For variable products, each variation is checked on its own. If only one size or color sells out, the alert lists just that variation.

The Alert Email

The alert arrives with the subject Out-of-stock alert: products in abandoned carts need attention. It includes:

• A summary of how many out-of-stock products were found and how many carts they appear in.
• A table with each customer’s name and email, the date they abandoned their cart, and the out-of-stock products in it.
• A Review abandoned carts button that takes you straight to your Cart Abandonment dashboard.

From there, you can restock the product or reach out to the customer with an alternative.

Frequently Asked Questions