How To Recover Abandoned Carts In HighLevel
How To Recover Abandoned Carts In HighLevel
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Someone found your store. They picked the product. They typed in their email.
Then they closed the tab.
That is not a lost customer. That is a warm one who got interrupted.
Most store owners let those people disappear quietly. The cart data sits there, nobody follows up, and the sale is written off. If you sell physical or digital products, that is the easiest revenue you are leaving on the table.
To recover abandoned carts in HighLevel, go to your sub-account, click Payments, open Orders, then scroll down to Abandoned Checkouts.From there you can filter the list, export it, and switch on automatic recovery emails inside Configure Notifications, which sends a reminder to shoppers who left before finishing checkout.
Here is the whole setup, click by click.
What you need before you start
A HighLevel account with access at the sub-account level. If you do not have one yet, you canstart a 30-day free trial here
A store or checkout built in that sub-account, selling physical or digital products
An email template for the recovery message, or the default template that already comes loaded
That is it. No extra app, no third-party cart tool, no developer.
Find your abandoned checkouts
Step 1: Get to the sub-account level
Make sure you are inside the sub-account, not the agency view.
This trips people up constantly. If your left sidebar does not look the way this walkthrough describes, you are one level too high. Switch into the sub-account first.
Step 2: Click Payments
On the left-hand side, clickPayments.
Step 3: Click Orders
Once Payments opens, go to the top and clickOrders.
Step 4: Scroll to Abandoned Checkouts
Scroll down toAbandoned Checkouts.
Every checkout someone started and did not finish is sitting right here. Look at that list before you do anything else. For most store owners it is longer than expected, and that first look is usually the moment the whole feature clicks.
Following along?Start your 30 days free hereand you can build this out as you read.
Filter and export your abandoned carts
Three filters live on this screen, plus an export button on the right.
Filter by email status
Sort by whether a recovery email has beensent,not sent, or showall.
This is how you spot the carts that fell through without a single follow-up.
Filter by recovery status
Sort by whether the cart wasrecoveredornot recovered.
Run this one monthly. It tells you what your recovery emails are actually doing instead of leaving you guessing.
Filter by date range
Pick your dates on the calendar and hitConfirm.
Pull the past 7 days for a quick pulse check, or the past year when you want to see the real pattern.
Export the list
ClickExporton the right to pull your abandoned checkouts out of the platform.
One warning here. Export gives you whatever your filters are currently showing, so set the filters first, then export. Otherwise you end up with a file that does not match what you thought you were pulling.
Turn on automatic recovery notifications
This is the part that makes you money while you sleep.
Step 5: Open Configure Notifications
On the Abandoned Checkouts screen, selectConfigure Notifications.
Step 6: Toggle the feature on
Switch the toggle to enable abandoned cart notifications.
Skip this and nothing else in this section matters. The template can be perfect and the timing can be dialed in, and not one email goes out if the toggle is off.
Step 7: Choose your email template
Select the email template for the notification. A default template is already set, so you have something working from minute one, and you can create your own template instead when you are ready.
Start with the default. Get emails going out this week, then improve the copy once you have real data.
Step 8: Write your subject line
Set the subject line for the recovery email.
You also have custom values available for the company and for the abandoned cart, so the email can speak to the specific shopper and the specific thing they left behind. Use them. A reminder that names the product beats a generic one every time.
Step 9: Set your send timing
The default sends one hour after the cart is abandoned.
One hour works because the shopper still remembers what they were doing. Adjust it if your buyer moves on a different rhythm, then decide deliberately instead of leaving it at the default because you did not look.
Step 10: Save changes
ClickSave changes.
Check what was sent to each shopper
Click a customer name in the abandoned checkouts list.
You will see that the cart recovery email was sent, along with the date and time the reminder went out. The same screen shows the customer profile information plus the product and checkout details.
That is your proof of what happened, and it is the screen to open when someone asks why a cart did or did not come back.
A real scenario for a beauty e-commerce brand
Say you run marketing for a boutique hair care brand selling shampoo, conditioner, and a digital hair care guide.
Traffic is fine. Checkout starts are fine. Completed orders are the problem.
Here is the sequence:
You open Payments, Orders, Abandoned Checkouts and filter by email statusnot sent. Forty-one carts from the last 30 days, none of them followed up
You open Configure Notifications, toggle it on, and keep the default template so you are live today rather than next week
You write the subject line around the product using the abandoned cart custom value, so a shopper who left a hydrating conditioner sees that conditioner named in the subject line, not "you left something behind"
You leave send timing at one hour, since a beauty shopper browsing on her phone at lunch is still thinking about it at 1pm
You export the 41 older carts, and because those shoppers already gave you an email, you have a warm list to work with by hand
Thirty days later you come back and filter by recovery status to see what actually came back
The brand did not add traffic. It did not add products or run a sale. It followed up with people who had already reached for their wallet.
That is the whole point of this feature, and it works the same whether you sell conditioner, a course, or a template pack. If you want to build it out for your own store or for a client's,start your 30 days free hereand set it up this week.
What each piece does
Tool | Where it lives | What it does for you |
|---|---|---|
Abandoned Checkouts list | Payments, Orders | Shows every checkout that was started and not finished |
Email status filter | Abandoned Checkouts | Finds carts that never got a follow-up |
Recovery status filter | Abandoned Checkouts | Shows which carts came back and which did not |
Date range filter | Abandoned Checkouts | Narrows to a week, a month, or a year |
Export | Abandoned Checkouts, right side | Pulls your filtered carts out for outside follow-up |
Configure Notifications | Abandoned Checkouts | Sends the recovery email automatically |
Customer detail view | Click a customer name | Confirms what was sent, when, and to whom |
Common mistakes to avoid
Setting up the template but leaving the toggle off.Nothing sends. Enable the feature first, then worry about the copy.
Exporting before filtering.Your export reflects the current filters, so set them before you click Export.
Leaving the subject line generic.Custom values are right there for the company and the abandoned cart, so name what she left behind.
Never checking recovery status.Without that filter you have no idea whether the emails are working or just going out.
Working at the agency level instead of the sub-account.The path starts inside the sub-account.
Frequently asked questions
Where are abandoned carts in HighLevel?
Abandoned carts live under Payments in a HighLevel sub-account. Click Payments in the left sidebar, click Orders at the top, then scroll down to Abandoned Checkouts. Every checkout a shopper started and did not complete is listed there, along with filters, an export button, and notification settings.
How long after an abandoned cart does the recovery email send?
The default send time is one hour after the cart is abandoned. You can change it inside Configure Notifications and save your changes. One hour tends to work well because the shopper still remembers what she was looking at, but you can adjust the timing to match how your buyers shop.
Do I need a paid plan to use abandoned cart recovery?
Abandoned Checkouts sits inside the Payments section of a HighLevel sub-account, so you need an active account to use it. You can test the whole setup, including notifications and filters, during the30-day free trialand decide from there.
Can I personalize the abandoned cart email?
Yes. Configure Notifications lets you set the subject line and choose your email template, and custom values are available for the company and for the abandoned cart. That means the reminder can name the specific product the shopper left behind instead of sending the same generic message to everyone.
How do I know if a recovery email was actually sent?
Click the customer name in the abandoned checkouts list. The detail view shows that the cart recovery email was sent, plus the date and time the reminder went out. You will also see the customer profile information along with the product and checkout details for that cart.
Can I follow up with older abandoned carts by hand?
Yes. Use the export button on the right side of the Abandoned Checkouts screen to pull your filtered list out of the platform. Those shoppers already entered their email during checkout, so an export gives you a warm list for personal outreach beyond the automated reminder.
Set this up before your next sale
You have a list of people who wanted your product enough to start checking out. They just did not finish.
HighLevel gives you 30 days free plus a live bootcamp where the team walks you through setup click by click, so you can build this out and see what comes back before you pay for anything.
No long contract. If it is not the right fit, cancel inside the trial.
Starr Codd built a multi seven figure business and now spends her time coaching entrepreneurs on building agencies and recurring revenue. She uses HighLevel in her own businesses and teaches it to the women she works with.
