Abandoned-cart reminders on WhatsApp

About 20 minutes, plus Meta’s template review · Last checked 31 October 2026 · Plugin 2.10.0

At the end, a shopper who agreed to WhatsApp messages and left items in the cart gets up to three reminders, each with a link that puts the cart back and opens checkout. The Abandoned carts screen shows the sales those reminders brought.

What you need

• Any plan, from Starter up (see the plans)
• Your number connected to Meta’s WhatsApp Cloud API, with every check working in Connection Doctor
• An approved Marketing template in Meta whose text has exactly two blanks: {{1}} the customer’s name and {{2}} the link back to the cart
• Shoppers who agreed to WhatsApp messages. The plugin adds the box “I agree to receive order updates and promotional offers via WhatsApp.” to WooCommerce’s checkout page, the classic one and the newer block checkout.
• WordPress scheduled tasks (WP-Cron) running, or better, a real cron job on your host

Steps

1. Create your reminder template in Meta

   In Meta’s WhatsApp Manager, create a template in the Marketing category with the customer’s name in {{1}} and the cart link in {{2}}, for example: “Hello {{1}}, your cart is still saved. You can finish your order here: {{2}}”. The plugin fills only these two blanks, so leave the header and buttons without blanks. When the cart has no name, {{1}} becomes “Dear customer” in an English template, or «العميل العزيز» in an Arabic one.

   You can also create it inside WordPress: WAPI Connect → Templates has a ready “Cart reminder” in Arabic and English, and its “Use for” choice “Abandoned cart reminder: First message” fills in step 3 for you once Meta approves it. See the message templates guide.

   Want a second or third reminder with different words? Create a template for each one.

2. Add a discount code (optional)

   The plugin has no coupon blank for cart reminders. To offer a discount, first create the coupon in WooCommerce (Marketing → Coupons), then write its code into the template text, for example “Use the code BACK10 for 10% off today: {{2}}”. For example, keep the first reminder friendly and put the discount in the second one.

3. Turn on the reminders

   Open WAPI Connect → Settings → Abandoned Cart and tick “Enable abandoned cart recovery” (“Turn on abandoned cart recovery on WhatsApp”). Under “First message”, keep “Enable the first message” ticked and fill in:

   • “Wait before the first message”: from 15 minutes to 72 hours after the last activity in the cart.
   • “First message template”: the exact template name from WhatsApp Manager.
   • “First message template language”: its language code, such as ar or en_US.

   For more reminders, open “Second message (follow-up)” and “Third message (last reminder)”, tick “Enable the second message” or “Enable the third message”, and give each its own wait and template. The second reminder only goes out after the first, and the third after the second.

4. Set the rules

   Under “Smart rules”:

   • “Require WhatsApp consent” (“Only send to customers who agreed to WhatsApp marketing messages”): ticked on a new store. On a store that used the plugin before version 2.9.1 it keeps its old setting, and while it is off reminders go to every shopper with a phone number, so check that it is ticked.
   • “Send only once per cart”: never send the second or third reminder.
   • “Minimum cart total”: no reminder for carts below this amount (0 means no minimum).
   • “Maximum messages (7 days)”: the most cart reminders the same phone number gets in 7 days, 3 by default.
   • “Allow test sends without consent”: lets the “Send now” button on the carts screen send to a cart without consent, for your own tests. It starts ticked: untick it when you finish testing.

   Under “Expiry and clean-up”, “Stop reminding after (days)” (7 by default) is how long a cart stays worth a reminder: a cart with no activity for longer gets no more reminders, and one that never got a reminder is closed as “Too old to remind (expiry days)”. “Delete old records after (days)” (30 by default) removes old cart records. Press “Save Settings”.

5. Make sure the check runs on time

   The plugin checks the waiting carts every 5 minutes with WordPress’s scheduled tasks. Open WAPI Connect → Abandoned carts: the notice at the top says when the last check ran. If it is late, the notice shows a cron command to add in your hosting panel (on Hostinger: Advanced → Cron Jobs, every 5 minutes). Until then, the check also runs when you open the WordPress admin and when a WhatsApp message reaches the store.

When a cart is saved

A cart is saved as soon as the shopper adds a product. A reminder also needs a phone number, which the plugin gets in one of two ways:

• WooCommerce’s checkout page: on the classic checkout, the plugin saves the phone number and the WhatsApp box a few seconds after the shopper types or changes them; on the block checkout, when WooCommerce saves the address. The consent box is on both, and guests count too.
• A signed-in shopper with a phone number on their account: the cart is saved with that number.

With a checkout page from another plugin, a guest’s phone number may not be saved, so only signed-in shoppers’ carts can get a reminder.

When an order arrives, the plugin closes every open cart of that customer, found by phone number, e-mail and account, and checks again right before each reminder goes out. A customer who already bought does not get a reminder.

The sales from reminders

• “Sales from reminders”: the total of orders placed within 7 days after a reminder was sent or its link was opened.
• “Bought after a reminder”: how many carts those orders closed. Each one shows the status “Bought after the reminder” and its order under “Recovered order”.
• “Buy rate after reminders”: carts bought after a reminder, out of the carts that got a reminder.
• “Carts reminded”: how many carts got at least one reminder.
• Under these four: “Total carts”, “Pending carts”, “Links opened” and “Failed messages”.

A purchase without any reminder closes the cart as “Skipped”, with the reason “Bought (no reminder)”, and is not counted. An order still waiting for payment does not close the cart.

Check that it worked

1. For the test, set “Wait before the first message” to 15 minutes and save.
2. In a private window, add a product to the cart and go to the checkout page. Type your own WhatsApp number, tick the WhatsApp box and wait a few seconds. Close the window without ordering.
3. On WAPI Connect → Abandoned carts, the cart shows as “Pending” with your number and a tick under “Consent”.
4. After 15 minutes, press “Run the check now”. The status moves to “Queued”, then “Sent”, “Delivered” and “Read”, and the reminder reaches your phone. Not willing to wait? “Send now” on the cart’s row sends the first reminder at once.
5. Tap the link: the cart fills again and checkout opens. The status becomes “Clicked”. Place the order, and the cart shows “Bought after the reminder”.

Then set the wait back to what suits your store.

Common problems