Difference between revisions of "Draft:Abandoned Cart Reminder"

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#REDIRECT [[X-Cart:Abandoned_Cart_Reminder]]
 
==Overview==
 
==Overview==
  
 
===What Abandoned Cart Reminder does===
 
===What Abandoned Cart Reminder does===
  
<u>Abandoned Cart Reminder</u> module is intended to collect the shopping cart content of customers who specified their email address, but have not finished placing their order for some reason. It works with both registered and anonymous customers.  
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It is known that a significant number of shoppers abandon their online shopping carts before completing the checkout process. Cart abandonment is not always a bad thing. To many shoppers abandoning a shopping cart is a part of their natural buying cycle: people usually want to review their options, weigh the pros and cons of the potential buy and consider a million of things before making their final decision, which often causes them to make a number of returning visits to your store before the purchase is actually made. However, as an ecommerce store owner you do not want to lose sales because your potential buyer encountered a payment problem, got confused with your checkout process, found a better price at another store or simply was distracted and forgot to complete the purchase.
  
Once the abandoned cart is registered, admin have an ability to follow up these customers either offering them a discount coupon to stimulate the purchase or just contact them to sort the issues out. Seize the opportunity. No more lost orders, Abandoned Cart Reminder is here to increase your profit.
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X-Cart's <u>Abandoned Cart Reminder</u> add-on module helps you recapture the sales that otherwise would be lost by remarketing to customers who abandoned their cart. The module collects the shopping cart content of such customers and allows you to remind them they have an abandoned cart by sending an automatic email notification (or multiple notifications - if you choose to send the reminder email more than once). This way you can learn about and sort out any problems preventing customers from buying things at your store, hear the questions that potential buyers might want to ask about the product they are interested in and even stimulate the purchase by including a coupon for the customer's next order. What is important, the module works for both registered and anonymous customers (anonymous customers need to have specified their email address).
  
 
===Why Abandoned Cart Reminder?===
 
===Why Abandoned Cart Reminder?===
 
+
X-Cart's <u>Abandoned Cart Reminder</u> add-on module:
* Promotes your business by giving you more potential orders. You will be the first to know that an order remained unfinished and will be able to contact your customers even before they contact you.
+
:* Promotes your business by giving you more potential orders. You will be the first to know that an order remained unfinished and will be able to contact your customers even before they contact you.
* Increases the conversion rate by giving customers an option to eventually finish their order with a discount.
+
:* Increases the conversion rate by giving customers an option to eventually finish their order with a discount.
* Helps to take care of your clients by providing tools for following them up. Eventually, it brings your merchant to customer relationship to a higher level.
+
:* Helps to take care of your clients by providing tools for following them up. Eventually, it brings your merchant to customer relationship to a higher level.
* Provides pofessional, easy and time-efficient facilities to create orders with one button click in Admin area, if your customers contact you about unfinished transaction by phone (in 4.5.3 and higher).
+
:* Provides professional, easy to use and time-efficient facilities to create orders with one button click in the store's Admin area, if your customers contact you about an unfinished transaction by phone (in versions 4.5.3 and later).
* Can work in fully automatic mode. Just set up a cron task, and the module will flick through the abandoned carts and send email notifications automatically.
+
:* Can work in fully automatic mode. Just set up a cron task, and the module will flick through the abandoned carts and send email notifications automatically.
* Provides an opportunity for admin to set the time period between the abandonment and the reminder along with a number of reminder emails.
+
:* Provides an opportunity for admin to set the time period between the abandonment and the reminder along with a number of reminder emails.
* Allows customers to recover their shopping cart content with a single click. Your customers will not need to add items to the bag from scratch.
+
:* Allows customers to recover their shopping cart content with a single click. Your customers will not need to add items to the bag from scratch.
* Works both with registered and anonymous customers.
+
:* Works both with registered and anonymous customers.
* Automatically logs in registered customers.
+
:* Automatically logs in registered customers.
* Automatically populates address fields for anonymous customers.
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:* Automatically populates address fields for anonymous customers.
* Works with product options and variants.
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:* Works with product options and variants.
  
 
==System requirements==
 
==System requirements==
Line 45: Line 46:
 
# The installation script  patches the files and activates the module. Click '''Next''' to continue the installation.<br />{{Note1|'''Note:''' if you are using custom skin, you will need to manually apply the patches to it. Otherwise, the module will not work in this skin.}}
 
# The installation script  patches the files and activates the module. Click '''Next''' to continue the installation.<br />{{Note1|'''Note:''' if you are using custom skin, you will need to manually apply the patches to it. Otherwise, the module will not work in this skin.}}
 
# The installation script generates a new system fingerprint. Click '''Next''' to complete the installation.
 
# The installation script generates a new system fingerprint. Click '''Next''' to complete the installation.
# Use the ADMINISTRATOR AREA link to log in to the Admin area.
+
# Use the ADMINISTRATOR AREA link to log in to the Admin area.<br /><br />
  
 
==Enabling the Abandoned Cart Reminder add-on module==
 
==Enabling the Abandoned Cart Reminder add-on module==
Line 62: Line 63:
 
<div id="AbandonedCartReminderConfigurationSettings"> </div>
 
<div id="AbandonedCartReminderConfigurationSettings"> </div>
 
===Abandoned Cart Reminder add-on module configuration settings===
 
===Abandoned Cart Reminder add-on module configuration settings===
Here are a few notes on the Abandoned Cart Reminder add-on module configuration settings:
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Here is an explanation of the Abandoned Cart Reminder add-on module configuration settings:
:* '''Handle sending out notifications manually or automatically?''': This setting allows you to define the mode in which you would like abandoned cart reminder email notifications to be sent. <br />''Manually'' corresponds to the mode in which abandoned cart notifications are not sent until you specifically instruct the module to send them. In this mode you yourself decide which users should be notified, when the notifications should be sent, with or without a coupon, etc.<br />''Automatically'' corresponds to the mode in which sending of abandoned cart notifications is initiated by a cron job. In this mode the number of times that a notification message should be sent, the time of sending the initial and subsequent notifications, whether the notification should include a discount coupon or not, etc are defined based on the add-on module configuration settings. Note that, if you choose the automated mode, you will need to make sure that the script for periodic tasks is set up in your store (See: [[X-Cart:Cron.php_-_Script_for_Periodic_Tasks | X-Cart:Cron.php - Script for Periodic Tasks]]).  
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<br />
 
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:* '''Handle sending out notifications manually or automatically?''' The mode in which you would like abandoned cart reminder email notifications to be sent. <br />''Manually'' corresponds to the mode in which abandoned cart notifications are not sent until you specifically instruct the module to send them. In this mode you yourself decide which users should be notified, when the notifications should be sent, with or without a coupon, etc.<br />''Automatically'' corresponds to the mode in which sending of abandoned cart notifications is initiated by a cron job. In this mode the number of times that a notification message should be sent, the time of sending the initial and subsequent notifications, whether the notification should include a discount coupon or not, etc are defined based on the add-on module configuration settings. Note that, if you choose the automated mode, you will need to make sure that the script for periodic tasks is properly set up in your store (See: [[X-Cart:Cron.php_-_Script_for_Periodic_Tasks | X-Cart:Cron.php - Script for Periodic Tasks]]).
All the options below will affect the work of the module only if the automated mode is chosen.
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<br />
 
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The following settings affect the work of the module only if the module is working in the automated mode:
:* After how many days customer should be notified of abandoned cart -- how many days should pass by between the abandoned cart’s registration and the first notification about it to the customer.
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:* '''After how many days customer should be notified of abandoned cart''': The number of days to wait after cart abandonment before sending an abandoned cart reminder notification to the cart owner.<br />{{Note1|'''Note:''' For stores sending multiple abandoned cart notifications about each abandoned cart this reflects the number of days before the ''first'' notification is sent.}}
:* How many notifications should be sent -- if you want to send more than one notification about abandoned cart to your customers, specify the number of the notifications here.  
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:* '''How many notifications should be sent''': The number of reminder notifications that should be sent about each abandoned cart. The recommended value is 1. If you wish to notify the users about each abandoned cart more than once, you can specify a greater value here.<br />{{Note1|Note: Although it is possible to send multiple notifications, it is not recommended to do so, because customers may be annoyed by too many notifications and even mark them as spam.}}
{{Note1|Note: although it is possible to send more than one notification to a customer, it is not recommended to do so, because customer might be annoyed by many notifications and even mark them as spam.}}
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:* '''Delay between notifications (in days)''': (''This needs to be specified if you are going to send more than one notification about each abandoned cart.'') The length of period between reminder notifications being sent to the same user about a specific abandoned cart. Note that setting this value to "0" (zero) will result in that each user will be notified only once.<br /><br />''Example:''<br />If you use the following configuration:<br />[[File:Acr_conf_settings_ex1.png | border]]<br />abandoned cart owners will receive a reminder notification on the 7th, 10th and 13th days after their abandoned cart has been registered by the module.<br /><br />
:* Delay between notifications (in days) -- if you are going to send more than one notification to a customer, specify a delay between these notifications in the field.
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:* '''Type of discount coupon that should be attached to notifications''': If you want to offer a discount to the users whom you notify about an abandoned cart, you can specify what type of coupon it should be. Choose one of the following options:<br />''None'' -- no coupon will be attached to the notification;<br />''$ off'' --  a “flat amount off“ coupon will be attached to the notification;<br />''% off'' -- a “percentage amount off” coupon will be attached to the notification.<br /><br />
{{Note1|Note: for example, you have the following configuration:<br />
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:* '''Discount coupon value''': This setting is related to the previous one; it allows you to specify the value of the discount given by the coupon.<br />Two examples below will clarify how it works.<br /><br />''Example 1.''<br />If you use the configuration below:<br />[[File:Acr_conf_settings_ex2.png | border]]<br />the coupon attached to the notification will give the user a 20$ discount off the purchase.<br /><br />''Example 2.''<br />If you use the following configuration:<br />[[File:Acr_conf_settings_ex3.png | border]]<br />the coupon attached to the notification will give the user a 10% discount.<br /><br />
[[File:Acr_conf_settings_ex1.png | border]]
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:* '''Period of abandoned cart expiration (Number of days after which email notifications to customer will no longer be sent and the coupon associated with the abandoned cart will become invalid)''': This setting defines when an abandoned cart as well as all the coupons associated with it should be deleted from the system.<br /><br />
 
 
it means, that customer will receive the notifications on the 7th, 10th and 13th days after abandoned cart is registered.
 
 
 
* Type of discount coupon that should be attached to notifications -- if you want to offer a discount to your client, you can specify what type of coupon it should be. Options are:
 
* None -- no coupon will be attached to the notification
 
* $ off --  “flat amount off“ coupon will be attached to the notification
 
* % off -- “percentage amount off” coupon will be attached to the notification
 
 
 
* Discount coupon value -- this option works in pair with the Type of discount coupon that should be attached to notifications one and defines the value of discount that will be given to a customer.
 
 
 
Two examples below will clarify how it works:
 
# The snapshot below illustrates the settings of discount coupon that will be attached to the notification and grant 20$ discount to the customer.<br />[[File:Acr_conf_settings_ex2.png | border]]
 
# The following snapshot illustrates the settings of discount coupon that will be attached to the notification and grant 10% of the order’s subtotal as a discount to the customer.<br />[[File:Acr_conf_settings_ex3.png | border]]
 
* Period of abandoned cart expiration (Number of days after which email notifications to customer will no longer be sent and the coupon associated with the abandoned cart will become invalid) -- this option defines when abandoned cart will be deleted as well as all coupons assigned to it.
 
  
 
==Managing Abandoned Carts==
 
==Managing Abandoned Carts==
  
You can review all abandoned carts registered by the module on the Orders > Abandoned Cart page in admin area:
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You can review the abandoned carts registered by the module on the <u>Orders</u>-><u>Abandoned Carts</u> page in your store's Admin area:
:[[File:Acr_abandoned_carts_page.png | border | 780 px]]
+
:[[File:Acr_abandoned_carts_page.png | border | 800 px]]
 
 
Each record displays the following information about abandoned cart:
 
:* Email specified by a customer
 
:* Login if customer is a registered one
 
:* Products - shopping cart content including selected options
 
:* Subtotal - the total price of all products inside a shopping cart
 
:* Coupon - coupon code (if any is applied)
 
:* Date when the abandoned cart was last time updated by the customer
 
:* Is notified? - indicates whether the abandoned cart’s owner was notified, how many times and when last notification was sent
 
 
 
  
:* Search for abandoned carts
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Each record displays information about an abandoned cart:
You can search for particular abandoned cart by
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:* '''Email''': Email address specified by the abandoned cart owner.
a) start and end dates;
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:* '''Login''': User login of the abandoned cart owner - if the abandoned cart owner is a registered customer.
b) login or email that were used by the cart owner
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:* '''Products''': Shopping cart content including selected options.
 +
:* '''Subtotal''': Total price of all the products in the shopping cart.
 +
:* '''Coupon''': Coupon code (if any is applied).
 +
:* '''Date''': When the abandoned cart was last updated by the customer.
 +
:* '''Is notified?''' Whether the abandoned cart owner was notified, how many times and when the last notification was sent.
  
:* Notify cart owners about their abandoned cart.
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What you can do using the controls of the <u>Orders</u>-><u>Abandoned Carts</u> page:
This option allows admin to notify the customers about the carts they abandoned. For that you should select carts you want to notify by ticking on the check-boxes on the left-hand side in the abandoned carts list. After that click the “Send notifications to selected cart owners” button at the bottom of the page.
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:* '''Search for abandoned carts'''<br />You can search for abandoned carts:
 +
::a) by date (Specify the start and end dates of the period when the abandoned cart was registered by the module);
 +
::b) by customer login or email address that were used by the cart owner.
  
If you want to attach a discount coupon to these notifications, you need to tick on the “Attach coupon” option near the “Send notifications to selected cart owners” button and specify the parameters of coupon there:
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:* '''Notify cart owners about their abandoned cart'''<br />You can notify the users who did not complete their orders about the carts they abandoned:
:[[File:Acr_coupon.png | border ]]
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::# Specify the carts whose owners you want to notify by selecting the check boxes on the left-hand side in the abandoned carts list.
 +
::# Click the '''Send notifications to selected cart owners''' button at the bottom of the page.
 +
:: If you want to attach a discount coupon to the abandoned cart reminder notifications:
 +
::# Select the '''Attach coupon''' option near the '''Send notifications to selected cart owners''' button.
 +
::# Specify the coupon parameters below:<br />:[[File:Acr_coupon.png | border ]]
  
:* Create order for certain abandoned cart.
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:* '''Create an order based on a specific abandoned cart'''<br />Sometimes a user may abandon their shopping cart because of some technical issue that prevented them from completing the purchase. If this happens, you can offer the user to create the order for them based on the contents of their abandoned cart:
For that you should click the “Create order” button in the record that represents this cart. After you click this button, X-Cart will bring you to a page where new order is created and you will have to fill in the rest of information about this order:
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::# In the abandoned carts list, click the '''Create order''' button in the record that represents the abandoned cart for which you need to create an order. This opens a page where you will be able to create the new order.
* Customer info
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::# Provide the required information about the order:
* Order’s total
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:::* Customer info;
 +
:::* Order’s total.
  
:* Delete certain abandoned carts.
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:* '''Delete abandoned carts'''<br />You can delete the abandoned carts you no longer need:
For that you should select the carts, you want to delete, by ticking on the check-boxes on the left-hand side in the abandoned carts list. After that click the “Delete selected” button at the bottom of the page.
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::# Specify the carts you want to delete by selecting the check boxes on the left-hand side in the abandoned carts list.  
 +
::# Click the '''Delete selected''' button at the bottom of the page.
  
 
==Setting up the module to work automatically==
 
==Setting up the module to work automatically==
  
 
To set up the module to work automatically:
 
To set up the module to work automatically:
# Go to the module’s settings and set the option '''Handle sending out notifications manually or automatically?''' to ''Automatically''.
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# Go to the module’s configuration settings and set the option '''Handle sending out notifications manually or automatically?''' to ''Automatically''.
# Adjust the rest of the options on the module settings page:  
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# Adjust the rest of the configuration settings on the page:  
 
#* how many notifications should be sent and when,
 
#* how many notifications should be sent and when,
#* parameters of coupon,
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#* coupon parameters,
 
#* when to consider an abandoned cart expired.
 
#* when to consider an abandoned cart expired.
# Save changes.  
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# Save the changes.  
# Make sure that periodical tasks are correctly set up in your store according to the following article:
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# Make sure that periodical tasks are correctly set up in your store according to the following article: [[X-Cart:Cron.php_-_Script_for_Periodic_Tasks | X-Cart:Cron.php - Script for Periodic Tasks]]
[[X-Cart:Cron.php_-_Script_for_Periodic_Tasks | X-Cart:Cron.php - Script for Periodic Tasks]]
+
 
 +
<u>Abandoned Cart Reminder</u> will add two more jobs to existing periodic tasks in your store:
 +
# Sending notifications to abandoned carts.
 +
# Deleting expired abandoned carts.
  
 
==Customizing the email notification messages sent by the module==
 
==Customizing the email notification messages sent by the module==
  
 
By default the messages sent to your customers look as follows:<br />
 
By default the messages sent to your customers look as follows:<br />
''Notification without coupon:''<br />:[[File:Acr_notification_wo_coupon.png | border | 611 px]]<br />
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:''Notification without a coupon:''
''Notification with coupon:''<br />:[[File:Acr_notification_with_coupon.png | border | 611 px]]<br />
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:[[File:Acr_notification_wo_coupon.png | border | 611 px]]<br /><br />
If you would like to change how this notifications appear to your customers, you may need to change the following Smarty templates:
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:''Notification with a coupon:''
:* <u>skin/common_files/mail/abandoned_cart_notification.tpl</u> (defines the plain version of the notification)
+
:[[File:Acr_notification_with_coupon.png | border | 611 px]]<br />
:* <u>skin/common_files/mail/abandoned_cart_notification_subj.tpl</u> (defines the header of the notification)
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:* <u>skin/common_files/mail/html/abandoned_cart_notification.tpl</u> (defines the HTML version of the notification)
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You can change the way these messages appear to your customers by adjusting the following Smarty templates:
 +
:* <u>skin/common_files/mail/abandoned_cart_notification.tpl</u> (plain version of the notification)
 +
:* <u>skin/common_files/mail/abandoned_cart_notification_subj.tpl</u> (header of the notification)
 +
:* <u>skin/common_files/mail/html/abandoned_cart_notification.tpl</u> (HTML version of the notification)
 +
 
 
In addition to that you may want to change the following language variables:
 
In addition to that you may want to change the following language variables:
 
:* eml_abcr_notification_message
 
:* eml_abcr_notification_message
Line 150: Line 146:
 
==Viewing your shopping cart recovery statistics==
 
==Viewing your shopping cart recovery statistics==
  
In order to find out how many orders were recovered by the module, you should go to the Orders > Cart recovering statistic page:
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Information on the number of orders that have been recovered using the <u>Abandoned Cart Reminder</u> module is available via the <u>Cart recovery statistics</u> page (<u>Orders</u>-><u>Cart recovery statistics</u>):
http://awesomescreenshot.com/0ear1qvd7
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:[[File:Acr_statistics.png | border | 800 px]]

Latest revision as of 15:30, 4 January 2013

Overview

What Abandoned Cart Reminder does

It is known that a significant number of shoppers abandon their online shopping carts before completing the checkout process. Cart abandonment is not always a bad thing. To many shoppers abandoning a shopping cart is a part of their natural buying cycle: people usually want to review their options, weigh the pros and cons of the potential buy and consider a million of things before making their final decision, which often causes them to make a number of returning visits to your store before the purchase is actually made. However, as an ecommerce store owner you do not want to lose sales because your potential buyer encountered a payment problem, got confused with your checkout process, found a better price at another store or simply was distracted and forgot to complete the purchase.

X-Cart's Abandoned Cart Reminder add-on module helps you recapture the sales that otherwise would be lost by remarketing to customers who abandoned their cart. The module collects the shopping cart content of such customers and allows you to remind them they have an abandoned cart by sending an automatic email notification (or multiple notifications - if you choose to send the reminder email more than once). This way you can learn about and sort out any problems preventing customers from buying things at your store, hear the questions that potential buyers might want to ask about the product they are interested in and even stimulate the purchase by including a coupon for the customer's next order. What is important, the module works for both registered and anonymous customers (anonymous customers need to have specified their email address).

Why Abandoned Cart Reminder?

X-Cart's Abandoned Cart Reminder add-on module:

  • Promotes your business by giving you more potential orders. You will be the first to know that an order remained unfinished and will be able to contact your customers even before they contact you.
  • Increases the conversion rate by giving customers an option to eventually finish their order with a discount.
  • Helps to take care of your clients by providing tools for following them up. Eventually, it brings your merchant to customer relationship to a higher level.
  • Provides professional, easy to use and time-efficient facilities to create orders with one button click in the store's Admin area, if your customers contact you about an unfinished transaction by phone (in versions 4.5.3 and later).
  • Can work in fully automatic mode. Just set up a cron task, and the module will flick through the abandoned carts and send email notifications automatically.
  • Provides an opportunity for admin to set the time period between the abandonment and the reminder along with a number of reminder emails.
  • Allows customers to recover their shopping cart content with a single click. Your customers will not need to add items to the bag from scratch.
  • Works both with registered and anonymous customers.
  • Automatically logs in registered customers.
  • Automatically populates address fields for anonymous customers.
  • Works with product options and variants.

System requirements

To be able to successfully install and use the Abandoned Cart Reminder module, you must have a working copy of X-Cart GOLD or GOLD PLUS version 4.5.3 or later installed on your server. Make sure that the version of the module is the same as the version of the installed copy of X-Cart.

Note: If you do not remember the version of installed X-Cart, find it in the Environment info section of the Summary page in X-Cart Admin area.

Installation

To install the module for X-Cart 4.5.3 or higher:

  1. Obtain a distribution package for the Abandoned Cart Reminder add-on module by downloading it from the File Area section of your X-Cart Account. The distribution package you need is contained in the archive file x-abandoned-cart-reminder-x.y.z.tgz where x, y and z are the version numbers of the module. Make sure the version of the module is the same as the version of the installed X-Cart.
  2. Copy the distribution package to the X-Cart root directory on your server or hosting account.
    • If you are using a Windows-based server, or a UNIX-based server without terminal access:
    a) Decompress the archive with the Abandoned Cart Reminder distribution package to a directory on your system using your favorite compression program (WinZIP or any other archiver with support for TAR files).
    b) Use an FTP client to upload all the files contained in the archive (retaining the directory structure) to the X-Cart root directory on your server or your hosting account.
    • If you are using a UNIX-based server with terminal access:
    a) Use an FTP client to upload the archive with the distribution package to the X-Cart root directory on your server or your hosting account.
    b) Decompress the package using the following command:
    tar -xzvf x-abandoned-cart-reminder-x.y.z.tgz
    Important: Make sure you keep the directory structure while unpacking and uploading the distribution package, otherwise some necessary files can be overwritten!
  3. In a web browser, run the installation script httр://<YOUR_XCART_DOMAIN>/install-x-abandoned-cart-reminder.php replacing the variable <YOUR_XCART_DOMAIN> with the actual domain name of your X-Cart store.
  4. Enter the Auth code, accept the License Agreement and click Next.
  5. The installation script patches the files and activates the module. Click Next to continue the installation.
    Note: if you are using custom skin, you will need to manually apply the patches to it. Otherwise, the module will not work in this skin.
  6. The installation script generates a new system fingerprint. Click Next to complete the installation.
  7. Use the ADMINISTRATOR AREA link to log in to the Admin area.

Enabling the Abandoned Cart Reminder add-on module

After the Abandoned Cart Reminder add-on module installation has been completed, the module you have installed needs to be enabled in your store:

  1. In Admin area, go to the Modules section (Settings menu->Modules).
  2. Choose the Abandoned Cart Reminder module by selecting the respective check box on the left.
  3. Click the Apply changes button. This activates the module.

Configuring the Abandoned Cart Reminder add-on module

After the Abandoned Cart Reminder add-on module has been enabled in your store, you should check and adjust its configuration:

  1. In the Modules section (Settings menu->Modules), click the Configure link opposite the module name ('Abandoned Cart Reminder').
    The module configuration page (titled by the name of the module) opens.
  2. Adjust the settings on the module configuration page. Detailed information regarding the Abandoned Cart Reminder add-on module configuration settings is available below.
  3. Click the Apply changes button to save the changes.

Abandoned Cart Reminder add-on module configuration settings

Here is an explanation of the Abandoned Cart Reminder add-on module configuration settings:

  • Handle sending out notifications manually or automatically? The mode in which you would like abandoned cart reminder email notifications to be sent.
    Manually corresponds to the mode in which abandoned cart notifications are not sent until you specifically instruct the module to send them. In this mode you yourself decide which users should be notified, when the notifications should be sent, with or without a coupon, etc.
    Automatically corresponds to the mode in which sending of abandoned cart notifications is initiated by a cron job. In this mode the number of times that a notification message should be sent, the time of sending the initial and subsequent notifications, whether the notification should include a discount coupon or not, etc are defined based on the add-on module configuration settings. Note that, if you choose the automated mode, you will need to make sure that the script for periodic tasks is properly set up in your store (See: X-Cart:Cron.php - Script for Periodic Tasks).


The following settings affect the work of the module only if the module is working in the automated mode:

  • After how many days customer should be notified of abandoned cart: The number of days to wait after cart abandonment before sending an abandoned cart reminder notification to the cart owner.
    Note: For stores sending multiple abandoned cart notifications about each abandoned cart this reflects the number of days before the first notification is sent.
  • How many notifications should be sent: The number of reminder notifications that should be sent about each abandoned cart. The recommended value is 1. If you wish to notify the users about each abandoned cart more than once, you can specify a greater value here.
    Note: Although it is possible to send multiple notifications, it is not recommended to do so, because customers may be annoyed by too many notifications and even mark them as spam.
  • Delay between notifications (in days): (This needs to be specified if you are going to send more than one notification about each abandoned cart.) The length of period between reminder notifications being sent to the same user about a specific abandoned cart. Note that setting this value to "0" (zero) will result in that each user will be notified only once.

    Example:
    If you use the following configuration:
    Acr conf settings ex1.png
    abandoned cart owners will receive a reminder notification on the 7th, 10th and 13th days after their abandoned cart has been registered by the module.

  • Type of discount coupon that should be attached to notifications: If you want to offer a discount to the users whom you notify about an abandoned cart, you can specify what type of coupon it should be. Choose one of the following options:
    None -- no coupon will be attached to the notification;
    $ off -- a “flat amount off“ coupon will be attached to the notification;
    % off -- a “percentage amount off” coupon will be attached to the notification.

  • Discount coupon value: This setting is related to the previous one; it allows you to specify the value of the discount given by the coupon.
    Two examples below will clarify how it works.

    Example 1.
    If you use the configuration below:
    Acr conf settings ex2.png
    the coupon attached to the notification will give the user a 20$ discount off the purchase.

    Example 2.
    If you use the following configuration:
    Acr conf settings ex3.png
    the coupon attached to the notification will give the user a 10% discount.

  • Period of abandoned cart expiration (Number of days after which email notifications to customer will no longer be sent and the coupon associated with the abandoned cart will become invalid): This setting defines when an abandoned cart as well as all the coupons associated with it should be deleted from the system.

Managing Abandoned Carts

You can review the abandoned carts registered by the module on the Orders->Abandoned Carts page in your store's Admin area:

Acr abandoned carts page.png

Each record displays information about an abandoned cart:

  • Email: Email address specified by the abandoned cart owner.
  • Login: User login of the abandoned cart owner - if the abandoned cart owner is a registered customer.
  • Products: Shopping cart content including selected options.
  • Subtotal: Total price of all the products in the shopping cart.
  • Coupon: Coupon code (if any is applied).
  • Date: When the abandoned cart was last updated by the customer.
  • Is notified? Whether the abandoned cart owner was notified, how many times and when the last notification was sent.

What you can do using the controls of the Orders->Abandoned Carts page:

  • Search for abandoned carts
    You can search for abandoned carts:
a) by date (Specify the start and end dates of the period when the abandoned cart was registered by the module);
b) by customer login or email address that were used by the cart owner.
  • Notify cart owners about their abandoned cart
    You can notify the users who did not complete their orders about the carts they abandoned:
  1. Specify the carts whose owners you want to notify by selecting the check boxes on the left-hand side in the abandoned carts list.
  2. Click the Send notifications to selected cart owners button at the bottom of the page.
If you want to attach a discount coupon to the abandoned cart reminder notifications:
  1. Select the Attach coupon option near the Send notifications to selected cart owners button.
  2. Specify the coupon parameters below:
    :Acr coupon.png
  • Create an order based on a specific abandoned cart
    Sometimes a user may abandon their shopping cart because of some technical issue that prevented them from completing the purchase. If this happens, you can offer the user to create the order for them based on the contents of their abandoned cart:
  1. In the abandoned carts list, click the Create order button in the record that represents the abandoned cart for which you need to create an order. This opens a page where you will be able to create the new order.
  2. Provide the required information about the order:
  • Customer info;
  • Order’s total.
  • Delete abandoned carts
    You can delete the abandoned carts you no longer need:
  1. Specify the carts you want to delete by selecting the check boxes on the left-hand side in the abandoned carts list.
  2. Click the Delete selected button at the bottom of the page.

Setting up the module to work automatically

To set up the module to work automatically:

  1. Go to the module’s configuration settings and set the option Handle sending out notifications manually or automatically? to Automatically.
  2. Adjust the rest of the configuration settings on the page:
    • how many notifications should be sent and when,
    • coupon parameters,
    • when to consider an abandoned cart expired.
  3. Save the changes.
  4. Make sure that periodical tasks are correctly set up in your store according to the following article: X-Cart:Cron.php - Script for Periodic Tasks

Abandoned Cart Reminder will add two more jobs to existing periodic tasks in your store:

  1. Sending notifications to abandoned carts.
  2. Deleting expired abandoned carts.

Customizing the email notification messages sent by the module

By default the messages sent to your customers look as follows:

Notification without a coupon:
Acr notification wo coupon.png

Notification with a coupon:
Acr notification with coupon.png

You can change the way these messages appear to your customers by adjusting the following Smarty templates:

  • skin/common_files/mail/abandoned_cart_notification.tpl (plain version of the notification)
  • skin/common_files/mail/abandoned_cart_notification_subj.tpl (header of the notification)
  • skin/common_files/mail/html/abandoned_cart_notification.tpl (HTML version of the notification)

In addition to that you may want to change the following language variables:

  • eml_abcr_notification_message
  • eml_abcr_notification_without_coupon_message
  • eml_abcr_visit_us

Viewing your shopping cart recovery statistics

Information on the number of orders that have been recovered using the Abandoned Cart Reminder module is available via the Cart recovery statistics page (Orders->Cart recovery statistics):

Acr statistics.png