Browse Abandonment Emails for Shopify

A Shopify browse abandonment email goes to a shopper you already know who viewed a product and left without adding it to their cart. Send the first one a few hours later, show them the product they looked at, and answer the questions that usually stop people buying. A second email a day later can let other customers do the persuading.

It's the earliest of the abandonment flows, so it reaches more shoppers than a cart or checkout email, with a lighter touch. This guide covers the setup, the timing, what to write and examples, using Audienceful, the email platform we make for Shopify stores, where the flow comes ready-made. It's one of the Shopify email flows every store should run.

Who gets a browse abandonment email

Shopify doesn't tell an email app when someone views a product, so the signal has to come from your storefront. In Audienceful, a pixel records product views, and the Audienceful app embed in your theme recognizes who the shopper is.

That means browse abandonment reaches shoppers Audienceful already knows: someone who arrived by clicking one of your emails, or who signed up through one of your forms. An anonymous first-time visitor won't get one, because there's no one to send it to. That's narrower than everyone who visits, but it's the group most worth emailing: people who already chose to hear from you.

Shopify Messaging, Shopify's own email tool, has a product browse template as well, which sends to customers subscribed to marketing by default. Running the flow in Audienceful puts it next to your cart and checkout flows, with the same product blocks and revenue reporting.

If you're unsure how this differs from the cart and checkout flows, our guide to abandoned checkout vs abandoned cart lays out all three side by side.

Why it works

A product view is a small signal, but a real one. Many shoppers leave for ordinary reasons: they're on their phone at work, they want to check their budget, they're comparing two options. A helpful email a few hours later puts the product back in front of them when they have time to decide.

Because intent is lighter than at checkout, the tone matters. Be useful rather than pushy, and skip the discount: browsers are early in the decision, and a code here trains people to look at a product and wait for an email.

What you need: the Audienceful app embed

Abandoned checkout emails work from Shopify's checkout data alone. Browse abandonment needs one switch in your theme:

1. Connect Shopify. Install Audienceful from the Shopify App Store, or connect from the Integrations tab if you already use Audienceful. The web pixel that records product views turns on when you connect.
2. Click Enable in theme on the Shopify integration page in Audienceful. It opens your Shopify theme editor at App embeds.
3. Toggle on Audienceful JavaScript and save. No code.
4. Check the integration page. It shows Script installed once the embed is live.

The same embed shows your signup forms and popups, which is also how new shoppers become people Audienceful recognizes. Full steps are in how to connect Shopify.

Timing

Wait a few hours before the first email. Straight away feels like being watched. A day later, they've forgotten. Audienceful's Browse abandonment template is timed like this:

Two emails is plenty.

Email 1: the reminder

Show the product they viewed, say why people like it, and answer the questions shoppers usually ask before buying: is it worth it, and what if it isn't right? Mention your returns policy if it's a good one. Close with one button back to the product page.

Subject lines to try:

• Still thinking about what you saw?
• A closer look at the one you viewed
• Good choice. Here's what to know

Keep the copy about the product, not about tracking. "Still thinking about it?" reads as helpful. "We saw you looking at..." reads as surveillance.

Email 2: what other customers think

A short quote from a real customer and your real rating do more than any line you write yourself. The template has a placeholder quote and rating: replace them with your own, taken from whichever review app or page your store uses.

Subject lines to try:

• Here's what other customers think
• Why people keep coming back for this one
• In their words

Show the viewed product, then a few alternatives

The email should show the actual product, not a generic banner. Audienceful's Product List block does this two ways:

• Dynamic reads the product from the event that started the flow. Each shopper sees the product they viewed, with its image, title, price and a button to its page on your store.
• Feed shows a set of products that refreshes on every send. Set a second block to most-viewed with a 30-day lookback (anywhere from 1 to 365 days works) and you have "other things shoppers are looking at" for people who weren't sold on the first item. If there's no view data yet, most-viewed falls back to best-selling.

Put the dynamic block near the top and the feed lower down, under a heading like "Or have a look at these". The shopper's own product stays the focus, and the alternatives catch the ones who are still browsing. Shopify product feeds explains the feed options.

Browse abandonment email examples

These are examples we wrote, not emails from real brands. Mix and match them with your own products.

1. The helpful nudge. Subject: "Still thinking about what you saw?" The viewed product, three short answers to common questions, one button.
2. The size or fit guide. Subject: "Finding the right fit." For clothing or shoes: the viewed product, your size guide, and a note that exchanges are easy.
3. The comparison. Subject: "Not sure which one?" The viewed product next to two most-viewed alternatives, with one line on who each suits.
4. The customer quote. Subject: "In their words." One real quote from your review app, your rating, then the product.
5. The founder's note. Subject: "Why we make this one." Plain text from the founder about why the product exists, with a reply-to that reaches a person.

Set it up in Audienceful

1. Install Audienceful from the Shopify App Store. Your account is created from your store and billed on your Shopify invoice.
2. Switch on the app embed (Enable in theme, then toggle on Audienceful JavaScript and save).
3. Apply the Browse abandonment template from the Shopify automation templates. It arrives paused, with the product viewed trigger, both waits and both emails set.
4. Edit the copy and add your Product List blocks: Dynamic for the viewed product, a most-viewed feed for alternatives.
5. Add a purchase goal in the automation's settings, so a shopper who buys leaves the flow. If you also run the cart flow, add a condition before email two so shoppers who added to cart hear from that flow instead.
6. Narrow it if you like. Filter the trigger to specific products, such as your higher-priced items where shoppers take longer to decide.
7. Switch it on.

The free plan runs one automation at a time; Essentials runs three and Growth is unlimited. More detail is in the browse abandonment flow help doc.

How to measure it

Audienceful attributes an order to the last email clicked within five days, excludes bot clicks and nets off refunds, so revenue per automation shows what browse abandonment earned. Compare it with your cart and checkout flows. Browse usually reaches the most shoppers at the lowest intent, so judge it on total revenue, not just conversion rate. See revenue attribution for the details.

Audienceful is free up to 1,000 contacts, then paid plans start at $32/month billed yearly ($37.50 monthly) for 3,000 contacts. Install it on your Shopify store and the browse abandonment flow is ready the moment you switch on the app embed.

FAQs

What is a browse abandonment email?

An email sent to a known shopper who viewed a product on your store and left without adding it to their cart. It reminds them of the product and helps them decide, usually without a discount.

Does Shopify track product views for email?

Shopify doesn't send a webhook for product views, so email apps track them on the storefront. In Audienceful, a pixel records views from the moment you connect, and the app embed you switch on in your theme recognizes who the shopper is.

Why aren't my browse abandonment emails sending?

Check that the app embed is on (the integration page should say Script installed) and that the shopper is someone Audienceful recognizes, such as a subscriber who arrived from one of your emails. Anonymous visitors can't be emailed.

Should browse abandonment emails include a discount?

Usually not. Shoppers who only looked are early in the decision, and reassurance or social proof tends to be enough. Keep incentives for the cart and checkout flows.

How is browse abandonment different from a product viewed email?

They're the same thing. "Product viewed email" describes the trigger, "browse abandonment" describes the situation: they looked and left.

Sources

• Shopify Help Center: Creating marketing automations in Shopify Messaging