Build a Journey for Abandoned Browse
Turn abandoned browse visitors into sales with targeted multi-channel messaging.
Browse abandonment journeys help you re-engage customers who viewed products on your website or app but left without making a purchase or adding items to their cart. By using Bird's pre-built browse abandonment template, you can quickly set up an automated journey that reminds customers about the products they viewed and encourages them to return and complete their purchase.
This guide walks you through setting up a browse abandonment journey using Bird's template feature.
Before you start
Here's what you need to know before you start:
You'll need to have an e-commerce platform like Shopify installed as an integration. Learn to install integration.
Step one: Create an abandoned browse template
Start by creating an abandoned browse recovery template for either WhatsApp, SMS or Email etc.
This message template will be sent later, by the journey that we'll set up in step two.
1. Go to the message template builder
Create a message template by clicking Content > Message templates in the sidebar.
From here, create and design a WhatsApp message template from scratch by clicking Create new message project and selecting WhatsApp as the platform.
Under 'Interaction', select WhatsApp approved. You can learn more about this interaction type in our guide.
Under 'WhatsApp Business Account', check the box next to the account you want to link this template to.
Under 'Category', select Marketing.
Select your message type. We'd recommend starting with Text to keep it simple.
Name your template, then click Get started now.
WhatsApp Business Accounts
If you have more than one WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) installed in Bird, you'll need to select one of them during the message template setup process.
In step six, you'll need to choose the WhatsApp number that you want to send your message from. This number must be connected to the WABA that you selected in step one.
Here's an example of the type of abandoned browse WhatsApp message you could create:
2. Add variables
To get your customers back to their product page as soon as possible, you'll need to provide them with a link.
To do this, add a variable to your WhatsApp template. You'll populate this later, when you set up your abandoned browse journey.
Click the Settings icon at the top of your screen.
In the panel on the right-hand side of your screen, click the Variables tab.
Click Add new variable.
In the 'Name' field, enter
product_url.[Optional] Add a description for this variable.
In the 'Example values per locale' section, enter
https://yourstorename.myshopify.com/product.Click Save variable.
Go back to the message editor.
In the main text body, type two curly brackets
{{where you want the Product URL to appear, then select your newly createdproduct_url. Your message should look like this in the Editor and the Preview:
You can also add other variables like
product_name,product_image_urlClick Publish to set your WhatsApp message template live.
You'll need to wait for WhatsApp to approve your message template before you can use it in your abandoned browse recovery flow.
1. Go to the message template builder
Create a message template by clicking Content > Message templates in the sidebar.
From here, create and design an SMS message template from scratch by clicking Create new message project and selecting SMS as the platform.
Select your message type. We'd recommend starting with Text to keep it simple.
Name your template, then click Get started now.
Here's an example of the type of abandoned cart SMS message you might create:
2. Add variables
To get your customers back to their shopping cart as soon as possible, you'll need to provide them with a link.
To do this, add a variable to your SMS template. You'll populate this later, when you set up your abandoned cart journey.
Click the Settings icon at the top of your screen.
In the panel on the right-hand side of your screen, click the Variables tab.
Click Add new variable.
In the 'Name' field, enter
product_url.[Optional] Add a description for this variable.
In the 'Example values per locale' section, enter
https://yourstorename.myshopify.com/productClick Save variable.
Go back to the message editor.
In the main text body, type two curly brackets
{{where you want the cart URL to appear, then select your newly createdproduct_url. Your message template should look like this in the Editor and when you Preview your message:
You can also add other variables like
product_name,product_image_urlClick Publish to set your SMS message template live.
For Abandoned Browse Email for Shopify you can use Viewed Product trigger which will give you the options to personalize your email with following dynamic elements:
Product Image: To add dynamic product image from the browsed product, you can add an image element and in place of Image URL Source, you can type in
{{event.properties.product_image_url}}Product Link: To add dynamic product link to the product image from the browsed product, you can add an image element and in place of Image URL Link, you can type in
{{event.properties.product_url}}Product Name: To add dynamic product name from the browsed product, you can add a text element and type in the variable
{{event.properties.product_name}}Product Currency: To add dynamic product price currency from the browsed product, you can add a text element and type in the variable
{{event.properties.currency}}Product Price: To add dynamic product price value from the browsed product, you can add a text element and type in the variable
{{event.properties.price}}Product Link: To add personalized product link which was viewed, you can add a button element and type in the variable
{{event.properties.product_url}}in the link field
To preview how the email would like live when sent from a journey with Cart Updated trigger, you can do the following steps:
Switch to Preview section in Email editor
Toggle to Event under Preview info
In the event dropdown, select Product Viewed to preview how the email would look based on latest event received through the integration.
Step two: Find the Abandoned Browse journey template
Now that you've created your recovery message, it's time to set up your journey. This is where the automation happens!
We've set up abandoned browse recovery journey templates for Email but you can also add other channels with Send Message step.
Choose the correct journey template for the channel you're using.
In the sidebar, click Journeys.
Click Create journey.
Click the Abandoned Browse recovery journey template that you want to use (SMS or WhatsApp).
Give your journey a name.
Click Use Journey.
Step three: Configure the 'Product Viewed' journey trigger
The journey is automatically set up to run when a 'Product Viewed' event is received from your Shopify store.
If you have multiple Shopify stores installed in Bird, you may need to click the trigger and use the 'Connector instance' dropdown to select the specific store that you want to use to trigger this journey.
Want to set up abandoned browse reminders for every Shopify store you own? You'll need to set up a new journey for each of your stores.
Step four: Decide how long to wait before sending the recovery message
By default, the journey will wait for 2 hours after it receives the 'Product Viewed' before sending a recovery message to the customer.
This is a good starting point, but you can customize the wait time if you want to. You can even choose to send the reminder at a specific time of day.
For example, if your store sells lower-value products that don't require much of a consideration time, a shorter wait time may work for you. Likewise, if your products are higher-value, and your customers take longer to consider making a purchase, you may want to give them some more time before sending a recovery message.
Don't rush your customers
How many times have you viewed a product, only to be distracted by the doorbell ringing? If your customers get a reminder message every time they leave the product page for longer than ten minutes, you'll risk annoying them.
Don't wait until they completely forget
On the flip side, you don't want to wait until your customers have completely forgotten why they even needed a new frying pan. If you wait too long, they might go to a competitor instead, and you'll miss out on valuable revenue.
Step five: Add your message template to your journey
The email template is by default added to the Send Message step
If you want to change it or add more Send Message steps with other channels, you can do so.
Remember the recovery message template you made in step one? Now's the time to add it to your journey, and populate the product_url.
Select the 'Send a message' step.
Choose the WhatsApp channel you want to send your recovery message from. If you have multiple channels/channel instances installed, you might have to scroll a little to find the right one.
From the 'Template' dropdown, select the template that you made in step 1.
In the 'Template variables' section, click the curly brackets (
{}).Select the Shopify event, then click Product URL and other variables.
In the 'Default' field, which is used as a fallback, enter the URL of your Shopify store.
Click Save.
Select the 'Send a message' step.
Choose the SMS channel you want to send your recovery message from. If you have multiple channels/channel instances installed, you might have to scroll a little to find the right one.
From the 'Template' dropdown, select the template that you made in step 1.
In the 'Template variables' section, click the curly brackets (
{{}}).Select the Shopify event, then click Checkout URL.
In the 'Default' field, which is used as a fallback, enter the URL of your Shopify store.
Click Save.
Step six: Publish your abandoned browse recovery journey
Ready to set everything live? Click Publish in the top right hand corner to set your journey live.
Success! You've just published your abandoned browse recovery journey. Now, customers who view the product pages will receive a browse recovery message, reminding them to return to the product.
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