Browse Abandonment

What is browse abandonment?

Browse abandonment occurs when a visitor views a product page on your Shopify store but leaves without adding the product to their cart. Unlike cart abandonment (where a customer has actively selected an item), browse abandonment captures visitors in an earlier stage of the purchase journey - they have shown interest but not yet committed to intent. A browse abandonment flow is an automated email or SMS sequence that re-engages these visitors by surfacing the products they viewed.

Browse abandonment vs. cart abandonment

Browse abandonment and cart abandonment flows target visitors at different intent levels and require different messaging approaches. Cart abandonment targets high-intent visitors who took a concrete action (adding to cart) and should be direct and transactional - the product, a clear CTA, and optionally a time-limited offer. Browse abandonment targets lower-intent visitors who may still be in research mode, and typically benefits from a softer approach: product information, social proof, editorial content about the product's benefits, and a reminder of the brand's value proposition. Discounting in browse abandonment flows is less common and less necessary than in cart abandonment, because the visitor has not yet signalled the degree of intent that justifies a margin concession.

Setting up browse abandonment in Klaviyo

In Klaviyo, a browse abandonment flow is triggered by the Viewed Product event - fired by the Klaviyo pixel on your Shopify store when a known subscriber views a product page. Because the trigger requires email identification (the visitor must be a known Klaviyo contact), browse abandonment flows only reach subscribers who are already on your list, making list quality and growth a precondition for browse abandonment revenue. A typical browse abandonment flow sends one to two emails, starting 1-4 hours after the product view, and is suppressed for contacts who have added to cart (since they should be in the more urgent cart abandonment flow instead). Together with the cart abandonment and post-purchase flows, browse abandonment forms the third pillar of Shopify email automation.