Abandoned cart text messages for Shopify: templates and rules

An abandoned cart SMS is a short text that sends a shopper back to the checkout they left. For a Shopify store selling in the US, it works when four things are true: the shopper opted in to your texts, your number is registered with the carriers, the text arrives inside allowed hours, and it carries one link straight back to the cart. This guide covers each of them, with five abandoned cart text message examples and a way to measure what they recover.

The rules quoted here come from the FCC's rule at 47 CFR 64.1200, the CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices, the Florida Statutes, Twilio's A2P 10DLC documentation and Shopify's help center, all read on October 19, 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.

SMS abandoned cart basics: what counts on Shopify

Shopify's help center defines an abandoned checkout as one where the customer entered their contact information but did not pay, and that "remains incomplete for more than ten minutes" (Shopify Help Center, page on the legacy abandoned checkout experience).

In 1, a checkout counts as abandoned after ten minutes; in 2, recovery covers only the Online Store and the Buy Button.

Two details from that page matter for SMS:

• Shopify's own recovery is an email. The built-in automation emails the cart link. If you let customers enter a phone number instead of an email address and they do, Shopify says "the email can't be sent".
• Only some channels count. Recovery works for the Online Store and the Buy Button sales channels, not for Shopify POS or third-party sales channels.

So a Shopify store that wants to text cart reminders needs an app that receives the abandoned checkout event and sends the SMS. That is what an SMS automation tool does.

Who can you text? Consent under US rules

A cart reminder exists to finish a sale, so treat it as marketing:

• Carriers. The CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices (May 2023), which US carriers and messaging providers apply to the traffic they carry, say messages "should be sent only after the Consumer has opted-in to receive them". Entering a phone number on a website counts when the call to action says what the shopper signs up for.
• Federal rule. The FCC's rule at 47 CFR 64.1200 defines "prior express written consent" for telemarketing sent with an autodialer, and sets how consumers revoke consent to calls and text messages. Ask your counsel whether your sending setup falls under the autodialer provisions; a recorded opt-in for every marketing text is the safe practice.
• States. Florida's telemarketing law defines a "telephonic sales call" as including a text message, and accepts checking a box indicating consent as an act that demonstrates express consent (Fla. Stat. 501.059).
• Google's classification. For RCS, the rich successor of SMS, Google lists "a reminder about an abandoned shopping cart" under promotional messages, not transactional ones (Agent use cases and business rules).

The practical rule: send cart reminders by SMS only to shoppers who ticked your SMS marketing box. Our guide to SMS opt-in and consent covers TCPA and carrier rules in detail.

Shopify abandoned cart SMS: how consent is collected

Shopify adds an SMS marketing checkbox to the checkout. In the admin, go to Settings > Checkout, then in the Marketing opt-in section select Checkout only under SMS (Shopify Help Center). Two points on that page change how cart reminders work:

1. The preference is saved when the checkout is submitted. Shopify writes: "For the customer's SMS or WhatsApp marketing subscription preference to be saved, the customer needs to submit the checkout." A shopper who leaves before that step may have typed a number, but no recorded consent goes with it.
2. Your consent text must mention reminders. Shopify says that if your store sends abandoned cart reminders, you need to change the text next to the consent checkbox, which by default speaks of news and offers.

In 1, the SMS marketing preference is saved only when the checkout is submitted; in 2, where the setting lives in the admin.

To grow the list of shoppers you can remind, add a signup form that asks for the phone number with its own unchecked consent box before checkout (a popup or a footer form). Consent given on earlier orders stays on the customer profile.

A2P 10DLC: register before you text US numbers

US carriers require registration for business texting from ordinary 10-digit numbers. Twilio's A2P 10DLC documentation explains that A2P 10DLC is the standard US carriers put in place so that SMS traffic to US users through long code numbers "is verified and consensual", and that anyone sending SMS or MMS from an application over a 10DLC number to the US must register. Unregistered traffic pays additional carrier fees, while registration brings lower filtering and higher throughput. Toll-free numbers and short codes sit outside A2P 10DLC and have their own processes.

If you send through an app, ask which number type it uses for US recipients and who handles the brand and campaign registration. Our 10DLC registration guide lists the steps, fees and timelines.

When to send: quiet hours

No official source sets the best delay. What the rules set is the window you must stay in:

Ask your counsel which state rules apply to your texts, and schedule in the recipient's time zone, not yours. A setup many stores start from, to adapt with your own tests:

• First reminder within a few hours of the abandoned checkout, while the shopper still remembers the cart.
• One last reminder the next day if no order came in, at a different time of day.
• Then stop, and exclude anyone who has ordered in the meantime. Each extra text is one more chance for a STOP reply.

If a reminder would land outside the window, hold it until the morning rather than skip it.

Abandoned cart text message templates

Keep each one to a single SMS: brand name first, one sentence, the link, the opt-out. Replace the brand, names and links with your own.

1. The simple reminder (first text)

Atelier Nova: your cart is waiting, Sarah. Finish your order here: ateliernova.com/cart Reply STOP to opt out

2. The last call (next day)

Atelier Nova: last reminder, your cart is still saved today: ateliernova.com/cart Reply STOP to opt out

3. The reassurance (high-ticket items)

Atelier Nova: questions before you order? Free returns for 30 days. Your cart: ateliernova.com/cart Reply STOP to opt out

4. The low stock nudge (only if true)

Atelier Nova: only a few linen shirts left in your size. Your cart: ateliernova.com/cart Reply STOP to opt out

5. The help offer

Atelier Nova: trouble at checkout? Reply to this text and we'll help. ateliernova.com/cart Reply STOP to opt out

Only state a return policy, a stock level or a reply option that is true for your store. Think twice before putting a discount in the first reminder: a code sent after every abandoned cart can teach shoppers to wait for it. Test a discount on the second text against no discount, and keep the version that brings more margin.

For texts beyond the cart (welcome, launches, shipping, win-back), see our SMS marketing examples. To check the length of your own text before you send it, use the character counter in Kanal's SMS campaign editor.

How to measure what an abandoned cart SMS recovers

There is no public benchmark you can trust for SMS cart recovery: results depend on your audience, prices and the share of shoppers who gave SMS consent. Measure your own:

1. Recovered orders. Orders placed after the reminder, within a set window (for example 48 hours).
2. A holdout group. Leave a share of eligible abandoned checkouts without SMS for a few weeks. The difference in recovered order rate is what the text really adds.
3. Net revenue. Revenue from recovered orders, minus discounts and the cost of the texts in dollars.
4. Opt-outs. STOP replies per send. A rising rate says the timing or the frequency is off.

For the wider picture across email, SMS and WhatsApp, see our abandoned cart recovery strategies.

SMS, WhatsApp or RCS for cart reminders?

Many stores use SMS for its reach and a richer channel where the customer can receive it. See our WhatsApp abandoned cart templates and the RCS messaging examples for the same moment on the other channels.

Send abandoned cart SMS from Shopify with Kanal

Kanal installs on your Shopify store in about five minutes and syncs your customers, orders and checkouts. Its abandoned cart SMS flow works like this:

• Trigger: a checkout left unfinished on the store.
• Recipients: only the customers who agreed to receive your texts. Opt-ins and opt-outs sit on each customer's profile.
• Content: a short reminder with the first name and the direct link back to the cart, and a second nudge if needed.
• Measure: the orders and revenue recovered are attributed to the flow.

In 1, the flow starts on an unfinished checkout and only texts customers who opted in; in 2, a first reminder and a last one the next day.

From the same app you can send the reminder on WhatsApp or as an RCS card with a "Resume my cart" button, run SMS campaigns to your segments and switch on other automated texts for order updates and back-in-stock alerts. More than 500 brands use Kanal, rated 5.0 on the Shopify App Store from 132 reviews. On the pricing page, SMS and RCS are part of the Scale plan and above; the texts themselves are billed on top, depending on the destination country.

Start with the SMS marketing software overview, or book a demo to see the flow on your own store.