Abandoned cart reminder in Canvas

Build a WhatsApp Canvas that sends a personalized cart reminder when a user adds items to their cart but doesn’t complete a purchase within a defined window.

Requirements

Before building this Canvas, confirm the following are in place:

Requirement	Description
WhatsApp Business Account	Your WhatsApp Business Account is connected to Braze and your subscription group is configured. For information on configuration, see Setting up WhatsApp.
Approved marketing template	You have at least one approved WhatsApp marketing template for cart reminders. For steps on creating a template, see WhatsApp Template Builder.
Cart and purchase events	The events that fire when a user adds an item to their cart and when a user completes a purchase are tracked in Braze.

Build a Canvas with abandoned cart reminders

The Canvas you build does the following:

1. Trigger when a user adds an item to their cart
2. Wait a set period without a completed purchase
3. Send a personalized WhatsApp message with a link to complete the purchase

Step 1: Create the Canvas

1. Go to Messaging > Canvas and select Create Canvas > Start a New Canvas.
2. Name your Canvas (for example, “WhatsApp — Abandoned cart reminder”).
3. Under Entry Schedule, select Action-Based. Set the entry trigger to the event your team uses to track when a user adds an item to their cart (for example, cart_updated).
4. Continue to Target Audience. In the Entry Audience section, go to Entry Controls and select Allow users to re-enter this Canvas so that repeat abandoners remain eligible for future sends.
5. Under Exit Controls, add an exception if a user completes a checkout, to prevent them from getting an unwanted message.

6. Build out the other settings of the canvas to your goals and preferences.

Step 2: Build the Canvas flow

1. Add a Delay step immediately after the entry trigger. Set the delay to your preferred wait window before sending the reminder. A delay of 1–3 hours is common for cart abandonment.
2. After the Delay step, add an Action Paths step to check whether the user has completed a purchase during the delay window:
   • In the first path, add the purchase event your team uses to track completed orders. Name this path something like “Purchased.”
   • Set the evaluation window for this Action Paths step to match the length of your delay.
   • Leave the second path as Everyone Else; this captures users who haven’t yet purchased.
3. On the Purchased path, add an Exit step. Users who completed their purchase don’t need a reminder.
4. On the Everyone Else path, add a Message step and continue to Step 3.

Step 3: Configure the WhatsApp message

1. In the Message step, select WhatsApp as the channel.
2. Select your subscription group.
3. Under Message type, select Template.
4. Select your approved cart reminder template.
5. Fill in the template variables. Use Liquid to personalize with cart data:
   • To reference an event property captured at Canvas entry: {{event_properties.${property_name}}}
   • To include a return-to-cart URL, use a URL button in your template and pass the personalized link as the button variable.
6. Add a default value for every Liquid variable. WhatsApp messages with unresolved variable values won’t be delivered.

Step 4: Set audience and launch settings

1. In the Target Audience settings, confirm your Canvas targets users who are opted in to your WhatsApp subscription group.
2. Add any additional filters relevant to your use case—for example, targeting only users with a minimum cart value.
3. Review your Send Settings:
   • Enable Quiet Hours to avoid sending messages at times unlikely to drive action.
   • Review Frequency Capping settings if users may be entering multiple active Canvases simultaneously.
4. Select Review to confirm your Canvas configuration, then select Launch Canvas.

Step 5: Measure performance

After your Canvas has been running for at least one full send cycle, review the following in Canvas Analytics:

Metric	What to look for
Messages sent	Confirms the Canvas is triggering correctly and messages are being delivered.
Conversion rate	Shows how many users completed a purchase after receiving the reminder. Set your primary conversion event to your purchase event with an appropriate conversion window.
Revenue	If revenue tracking is enabled, review the revenue attributed to this Canvas to assess direct impact.
Opt-outs	Monitor for increases that may indicate messaging frequency or timing needs adjustment.