Sam Jilani
September 22, 202615 min read
A shopper adds something to their cart, then leaves. It happens on every Shopify store, every day. The real question isn't whether you should try to bring them back, it's which channel actually gets them back.
Most merchants default to email because it's what they set up first. But email isn't always the fastest, and it isn't always the one that gets opened. Push and WhatsApp behave differently, and each has a moment where it clearly outperforms the others.
- Push fires first, while the shopper is still likely active on their device.
- WhatsApp follows with a more personal, harder-to-ignore nudge, especially for cash-on-delivery orders.
- Email closes the loop over the following day, reaching everyone else with the full pitch.
The stores that recover the most carts don't rely on one channel. They run all three in sequence, each timed to the moment it's most likely to work.
