How to Turn Abandoned Carts Into Sales With Store Credit Incentives

Roughly 70% of Shopify abandoned carts never come back on their own. That's a platform-wide number - Baymard Institute's aggregate across dozens of studies puts the global average right around there, and Shopify's optimized checkout only pulls it down a couple of points. Most merchants respond to Shopify abandoned carts with the same move: a discount code in a recovery email. It works, but it trains customers to abandon Shopify carts on purpose and wait for the coupon, and it erodes margin on every order it touches.

Store credit fixes the second problem without giving up the first. Here's how an abandoned cart in Shopify gets tracked, why store credit outperforms a blanket discount for cart recovery Shopify stores rely on, and how to set it up without stacking five tools.

Shopify abandoned carts: the numbers that matter

The gap between "good" and "average" recovery on Shopify abandoned carts rarely comes from a better email template - it comes from what's inside the email. A growing number of cart recovery Shopify programs are finding that store credit converts better than a flat discount, because it doesn't just win back one sale, it funds the next one too.

How an abandoned cart in Shopify gets tracked natively

What counts as abandoned vs. what never gets tracked

Every abandoned cart in Shopify that reaches checkout (the customer entered at least an email) shows up under Orders → Abandoned checkouts, with cart contents, customer info, and total value for the last 90 days. A distinction worth knowing: a cart abandoned before checkout starts isn't logged as an abandoned cart in Shopify at all, since there's no email to reach. "Abandoned checkouts" is the recoverable subset of all Shopify carts, and it's the one your cart recovery Shopify strategy should build around.

Turning on native recovery

Turn on recovery for these Shopify abandoned carts under Settings → Checkout → Abandoned checkouts, or through Apps → Messaging → Automations on the newer template. Native recovery has a hard ceiling: one email, one delay, no sequence, and abandoned checkouts on POS or third-party channels aren't included at all. For a single touch, that's fine. For real volume across Shopify carts, most merchants add a second layer - usually a Shopify abandoned cart app - on top.

Why store credit beats a flat discount for cart recovery Shopify stores run

The retention advantage

A discount code recovers the cart in front of you and nothing else - the moment it's used, its job is done. Store credit recovers the cart and leaves a balance the customer is more likely to spend again soon, because unlike a discount code that expires the second it's redeemed, credit sits in their account as a reason to come back.

The margin math

The other advantage is margin. A 15% discount code cuts straight into the price of the order. A smaller store credit incentive, issued only if they complete the purchase, costs less per recovered cart and still closes the sale. You're not discounting the item they were already about to buy - you're funding a future one.

This matters most at volume. If your store processes real weekly Shopify abandoned carts, the difference between discounting every recovery and crediting some compounds fast - one keeps margin leaking on every one of your Shopify carts, the other keeps a portion inside the business.

Setting up a store credit incentive for abandoned carts

1. Segment before you incentivize. Not every abandoned cart in Shopify needs the same nudge - high-value carts and repeat customers respond well to store credit; low-value, first-time carts often just need a plain reminder.
2. Use the first email as a pure reminder. Leading with an incentive teaches customers that abandoning Shopify carts gets rewarded. Send it within 1–2 hours, no offer attached.
3. Introduce store credit at the second or third touch. Around 24–48 hours, apply credit automatically if they complete the order, rather than a code they have to remember.
4. Make the credit visible everywhere they might finish the order - checkout, the customer account page, and Shopify POS if you sell in person too.
5. Track redemption, not just recovery. A recovered cart that never sees its credit redeemed later is only half the win. The next purchase that is credit-funded is when store credit earns back its cost.

Do you need a Shopify abandoned cart app?

Not every store running abandoned carts for Shopify recovery needs a paid tool on top of native automation - but most that process real volume do.

What native tools and generic apps miss

Shopify's native tools handle tracking and a single recovery email, then stop - no sequence, no store credit trigger, no cross-channel balance. This is where a dedicated Shopify abandoned cart app earns its place. Most abandoned carts for Shopify apps focus on email sequencing and SMS, covering the reminder side well but leaving the incentive as a generic discount code - the same one every other store running an abandoned carts for Shopify app already sends. Picking the right Shopify abandoned cart app comes down to whether the incentive builds retention or just closes one sale.

Where Rewardify fits differently

Rewardify Credit & Loyalty approaches cart recovery Shopify merchants actually need differently: instead of another discount engine, it issues store credit as the recovery incentive, and that credit joins the same balance customers already use for returns, birthdays, referrals, and VIP tiers. A shopper who abandons a cart and comes back isn't starting a disconnected transaction - they're spending from an account you're already building loyalty into. Unlike most abandoned carts for Shopify apps built purely around email, the flow runs automatically through Shopify Flow, one trigger inside a system you're already running, not a separate Shopify abandoned cart app on its own schedule. If your current abandoned cart in Shopify setup relies on native automation or a single-purpose discount app, Rewardify Credit & Loyalty is worth comparing against what you're running now.

Common mistakes with abandoned cart recovery

• Leading every email with a discount. It recovers the immediate sale but teaches visitors to abandon Shopify carts on purpose.
• Sending only one email. Shopify's native tool caps at a single message; a 3-email sequence recovers more Shopify abandoned carts than one ever will.
• Ignoring mobile. Mobile abandonment runs well above desktop, and a non-optimized recovery email loses a large share of that audience.
• Not segmenting by cart value. A $20 cart and a $400 cart shouldn't get the same incentive - treating every abandoned cart in Shopify the same over- or under-spends.
• Sticking with native tools past the point they help. A Shopify abandoned cart app with sequencing and a store credit trigger outperforms native automation alone.

FAQ

What's a good recovery rate for Shopify abandoned carts? A well-run email sequence typically recovers 10–17% of Shopify abandoned carts. Adding on-site nudges, SMS, and a stronger incentive at the final touch can push cart recovery Shopify results toward 15–25%.

Does Shopify track every abandoned cart, or just some? Only carts that reach checkout and capture an email address are logged as an abandoned cart in Shopify. Shopify carts abandoned before checkout starts aren't tracked, since there's no way to reach that shopper.

Is a Shopify abandoned cart app worth it if I already use Shopify's native emails? If you're only sending Shopify's single native email, an abandoned carts for Shopify app usually pays for itself - native recovery has no sequence, no SMS, and no way to trigger a targeted incentive like store credit automatically.

Should I offer a discount or store credit to recover a cart? For most Shopify abandoned carts, store credit costs less per recovery than a straight discount and gives the customer a reason to return, since the balance doesn't disappear the moment it's used. A discount closes one sale; credit tends to fund a second.

Can store credit recover both online and in-store Shopify carts? Yes, if the credit is issued through a platform built to follow the customer across channels - native store credit works at checkout and on the customer account page, and apps like Rewardify extend that same balance to POS and draft orders too.

Conclusion

Shopify abandoned carts aren't a problem you fix once - they're a recurring cost, and the incentive you use to win back an abandoned cart in Shopify either leaks margin every time or slowly builds a customer who spends with you again. A discount code does the first job. Store credit does both.

If your current setup is a single native email or a bolt-on abandoned carts for Shopify discount app, Rewardify Credit & Loyalty turns cart recovery Shopify programs into part of the same loyalty balance your customers already use for returns, VIP perks, and referrals - one system instead of three. Install Rewardify on the Shopify App Store and start recovering Shopify abandoned carts with an incentive that pays you back twice.