Setting Up an Abandoned Browse Workflow

To set up and manage an abandoned browse workflow, you need to:

1. Create an abandoned browse email.
2. Create a segment.
3. Create a workflow.
4. Launch the workflow.
5. Test triggered emails.
6. View reports.

1. Create an Abandoned Browse Email

• Go to Messages and click Create email. In Basic, select the template Abandoned Browse and edit it as needed. This template contains all basic variables (product image, name, price) by default. If you need any additional variables (for example, contact name) add them manually (see the below guideline).

A variable is used to add customized details to your emails at the moment when they are generated. For example, when you send an abandoned browse email, the variables image, name and price will be automatically completed with data from the data source you’ve previously uploaded to the system.

You can choose any other template from Gallery or use your custom template and edit them as needed. This way, make sure you specify all the variables for the block with recently viewed products and recommended products if you have it.

• Create a data source and assign it to the email. The abandoned browse template typically contains two blocks with products – abandoned browse items and recommended items. You need to create different data sources for each of them.

If you have added your custom variables, make sure they also correspond to the parameters of the data source so that the content is added properly to the email.

Important! You can show up to 3 items in the block with recently viewed products.

Read a full guideline on how to create a data source and assign it to the email.

We recommend adding to your abandoned browse emails a corresponding tag (for example, browse). This will allow a faster search of emails and triggers and more convenient report assessment.

2. Create a Segment

Before creating the workflow, you need to create a segment that will include all contacts who have abandoned the browse on your site.

• Go to Contacts > Segments, click Add segment and choose Dynamic. Enter the name and optionally purpose and tags, and click Next.
• In Include, click Add card and select the following conditions: Events > Lost views > Required fields > Product in stock > yes. Change last weeks to last days.

• In Exclude, click Add card and select the following conditions: Online orders > All. Change last weeks to last days.

Your segment should look as follows. Click Done.

3. Create a Workflow

• Go to Automation > Workflows and click New workflow. Create a workflow with the following blocks: Start, Email, End.

Email

For the block Email, in Message, select the created abandoned browse email. In Contact ID, enter ${ContactId}.

Note. For the period of the preliminary trigger testing, consider adding in Contact’s email your own email address. This way, you’ll receive abandoned browse emails to your Inbox and will be able to test them.

4. Launch the Workflow

• Go to Automation > Workflows, select the created abandoned browse workflow and click Start/Stop configuration.

• Click Regular and in Segment select the created abandoned browse segment. Leave the default start date (that is the day of configuration).
• In Start schedule, select once an hour.
• In Process unique events, select start no more than once in 7 days. Click Apply.

Important! The condition Once in every 7 days restricts sends to the same contact. Based on it, one contact can receive only one abandoned browse email per week. Such restriction helps minimize spam complaints and unsubscribes because people don’t like receiving reminders after each site visit. However, you can specify any condition you like.

• Click Activate and confirm the action. The workflow status will change to active.

Such configuration launches the workflow once an hour. After the launch, the segment is refreshed and new contacts are added to it. The workflow is launched to the refreshed segment 60-120 minutes after a user visited the site

5. Test Triggered Emails

• To test triggers for an abandoned browse, go to the corresponding website (which data sources you’ve uploaded in the system), from the email or browser, sign in if needed, view products and leave without adding them to the cart.
• To check whether the system tracked the triggered action, go to your personal profile > Settings > Data sources and click the data source you’ve assigned to the abandoned browse email.

• In Contact, enter your email address. If the action was recorded, you’ll see the items you've browsed.

You can send a test abandoned browse email to your address in 2 ways:

• As a single test email. Go to Messages, select the corresponding template, click Test, and send the email to your address. You can send the test email to several addresses.

• From the workflow. Go to the created workflow and add there the Task block. In Task name, select Get contact. In ContactId, enter ${ContactId}.

• In the workflow general list, click the menu on the right and select Launch one time. In ContactId, enter test contact’s ID (go to Contacts > All contacts to copy it) and click Start.

6. View Reports

To see reports on single emails (tests), go to Campaigns > Single reports and select the necessary email. Hover over the message title or click it to view a full version. You’ll be able to see what email was generated and what products were added to the blocks with variables.

To see reports on campaigns sent from the workflow, go to Campaigns > Reports and click the necessary campaign.

Here, you can see statistics of campaign performance like opens, clicks, results by domain, etc. You won’t be able to see the generated blocks as each contact will receive their own version.