Abandoned cart text messages
A text gets read within minutes, which is exactly why it is easy to get wrong. Templates you can use, the character limits that decide what you pay, and the consent rules that decide whether you should be sending at all.
Start with consent, not templates
Most guides on this subject open with the messages. That is the wrong order, because in the United States sending the perfect text to someone who never agreed to receive it is the expensive mistake, not the badly written one.
A phone number at checkout is not consent
A shopper giving you a number for delivery updates has agreed to delivery updates. Marketing messages need prior express written consent, obtained separately and unambiguously.
The opt-in has to be its own choice
A separate tick box, not pre-ticked, not bundled into the terms, with wording that says you will send marketing messages. Record what it said and when they agreed, because that record is the whole defence.
STOP means stop everywhere, immediately
An opt-out on one channel should suppress the shopper on all of them. A customer who replies STOP to a text and then receives a WhatsApp message has been ignored, and they will read it that way.
Outside the US the rules differ
The UK, EU and most other markets have their own consent regimes, and some restrict sending hours. Check the market before you send into it rather than assuming your US setup travels.
This is a summary written by people who build recovery software, not lawyers. US texting rules carry real penalties per message and are enforced. Take advice before you switch anything on.
Templates
Each one names the store, carries one link, and stays inside a single message segment where it can. The reasoning matters more than the wording, because your product and voice are not ours.
First message, 30 to 60 minutes
Names the store first, because an unknown number asking you to click a link is a scam until proven otherwise. One item, one link, opt-out included.
Payment failed instead
Says plainly that no money moved. That is the first thing a shopper worries about and the thing a generic cart reminder never answers.
Second message, next day
Invites a reply instead of pushing a link again. On a text, a reply costs the shopper nothing, and many abandoned carts are a single unanswered question.
High value cart
On an expensive basket the hesitation is usually risk rather than price, so lead with the thing that removes risk.
Final message
Only send this if the cart genuinely gets released. Shoppers check, and a deadline that does not happen teaches them to ignore the next one.
With an incentive, if margin allows
Never the first message. A store that always texts a discount after abandonment teaches shoppers to abandon deliberately.
Length decides what you pay
A text is not billed per message. It is billed per segment, and the segment size depends on which characters you used.
| What you write | Single message | Each extra segment |
|---|---|---|
| Plain text only | 160 characters | 153 characters |
| Any emoji, or a curly quote | 70 characters | 67 characters |
That second row catches people constantly. A single emoji, or an apostrophe pasted from a word processor as a curly quote, switches the whole message to the wider encoding and can turn one segment into three. If your texting costs jumped without your volume changing, look at your punctuation before you look at your carrier.
One more thing that eats characters: the opt-out and the link. Write the message body to about 110 characters and you will usually land inside one segment once both are added.
What works, and what gets you blocked
Do
- Name your store in the first few words, before the link.
- Send one link, going straight to the cart, not the homepage.
- Let people reply, and make sure somebody or something answers.
- Gate texts on cart value, since they cost more than email.
- Send inside normal waking hours in the customer’s own timezone.
Never
- Send from a plain unbranded number with no context.
- Use a shortener that hides the destination. It looks like fraud and carriers filter it.
- Write in capitals or stack exclamation marks.
- Send a third or fourth message. Opt-outs are permanent.
- Text someone whose only interaction was giving a delivery number.
When a text is the wrong choice
A text is read almost immediately, and that is its whole advantage. It is also its whole risk, because it arrives somewhere personal and the shopper did not invite you there in the way an inbox implies.
Email is the right default for volume. It costs almost nothing, nobody resents receiving one, and you can send three without damaging anything. Use it on every abandoned cart.
Text earns its place on carts worth enough that a more direct approach is justified, and on failed payments where the shopper is probably confused and wants an answer quickly. On a low-value basket the cost per recovery stops making sense before the message is even written.
The pattern that tends to work: email everyone, text the carts above a value you choose, and reserve anything more direct than that for the highest-value orders where a single recovery pays for many attempts.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need permission to text someone about an abandoned cart?
In the United States, yes. Marketing texts require prior express written consent, and a checkout that collects a phone number for delivery updates has not obtained it. Add a clear, separately ticked opt-in at checkout that says you will send marketing messages, keep a record of when and how it was given, and honour STOP immediately across every channel rather than just the one it arrived on. Rules differ by country, so check before sending outside the US.
How long can an abandoned cart text be?
A single standard message is 160 characters. Go past that and it is split into segments of about 153 characters each, and you are charged per segment. Using an emoji or a curly quote switches the message to a different encoding where the limit drops to 70 characters, which is how a short-looking message quietly costs three times what you expected.
When should the first text go out?
Between thirty and sixty minutes. Sooner feels like surveillance, because the shopper may still be in the tab. Much later and the intent has cooled. This is faster than the usual advice for email, since a text is read within minutes and does not sit waiting to be noticed.
How many texts should I send?
Two, or three at the very most. Texts arrive somewhere personal, so tolerance is much lower than in an inbox. A third message that would be harmless as an email reads as harassment on a phone, and opt-outs are permanent.
Is WhatsApp better than SMS for cart recovery?
It depends where your customers are. WhatsApp carries images, longer text and a real conversation, and costs less per message in many countries, but it only works if the shopper uses it. In the US, SMS has near-universal reach and WhatsApp does not. In much of Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia the position reverses. Decide by where your customers actually are rather than by which is nicer to use.
What does an abandoned cart text cost?
It depends on the country, the carrier and the number of segments, so any single figure would be misleading. What is consistent is that a text costs meaningfully more than an email and much less than a phone call. That is the reason to gate it on cart value rather than sending it on everything.
Cartio sends these for you
It picks the channel by cart value, handles consent and opt-outs across every channel at once, and answers the replies rather than leaving them sitting there.
Launch is $0 a month and 12% of what Cartio recovers.