Storzen — Cart Recovery
for WooCommerce

What is Storzen Cart Recovery?

Storzen Cart Recovery for WooCommerce gives store owners everything needed to recover abandoned carts — capture system, automated email sequences, one-click recovery links, and full analytics — all bundled into one lightweight, self-hosted WordPress plugin. No SaaS subscriptions, no phone-home requests, no third-party API dependencies.

The plugin tracks both guest and logged-in carts, detects abandonment based on a configurable inactivity threshold, queues automated recovery emails via WP-Cron, and presents the entire recovery funnel through a clean, modern admin dashboard built with conversion optimisation in mind.

System Requirements

Storzen Cart Recovery is designed to work on modern WordPress + WooCommerce stacks with minimal overhead.

Installation

From WordPress.org

1. In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New.
2. Search for "Storzen Cart Recovery".
3. Click Install Now, then Activate.
4. You'll see a new Cart Recovery menu item in the WordPress admin sidebar.

Manual Installation (ZIP upload)

1. Download the latest ZIP from wordpress.org/plugins/storzen-cart-recovery-for-woocommerce.
2. Go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
3. Choose the ZIP, click Install Now, then Activate.

Via WP-CLI

# Install and activate from the .org repository
wp plugin install storzen-cart-recovery-for-woocommerce --activate

# Or install from a ZIP file
wp plugin install ./storzen-cart-recovery-for-woocommerce.zip --activate

5-Minute Setup

After activation, the plugin works out of the box with sensible defaults. The setup below covers the three most important configuration steps.

Step 1 — Configure Sender Information

Go to Cart Recovery → Settings → Email Sequence and update the sender details that customers will see in their inbox.

• From Name: Your store name (shown in inbox)
• From Email: An address on your store's domain (avoid Gmail / Yahoo for deliverability)
• Reply-To: Optional address where customer replies should go

Step 2 — Set Inactivity Threshold

Go to Cart Recovery → Settings → General and adjust the inactivity threshold. After this many minutes of cart inactivity, the cart is marked as abandoned and email queue is scheduled.

Step 3 — Enable the Email Sequence

On the same settings page, toggle on Enable Automated Sequence and configure the two email steps:

• Email 1: Sent 1 hour after abandonment with subject "You left something behind"
• Email 2: Sent 24 hours after abandonment with subject "Your cart is waiting for you"

Each step has its own subject, template selector, and delay. Click Save Settings and you're live.

How Cart Tracking Works

The plugin captures cart data via two AJAX entry points and stores everything in a dedicated database table — no external services involved.

What Gets Captured

• Cart contents (serialised cart items array)
• Cart total and currency
• Customer email (when available — checkout, login, exit-intent popup)
• First name and last name (if provided)
• Visitor IP address (for analytics; configurable retention)
• User agent (for device analytics)
• Created at, updated at, and abandoned at timestamps

Capture Triggers

The plugin uses both standard WooCommerce hooks and AJAX listeners:

• Cart updates — captured via woocommerce_cart_updated and AJAX storzen_cr_save_cart
• Email capture — checkout email field, login, or exit-intent popup via AJAX storzen_cr_capture_email
• Order placed — cart marked as recovered via woocommerce_thankyou when the customer email matches an abandoned cart

Cart Status Flow

// Cart status transitions
active      → user is browsing / updating cart
abandoned   → inactivity threshold reached, emails queued
recovered   → matching order placed
lost        → retention period exceeded with no recovery

Excluding User Roles

Under Settings → General → Tracking Scope, you can exclude certain roles (e.g. Administrator, Shop Manager) from being tracked. This prevents test carts created during development from polluting your analytics.

The Recovery Sequence

When a cart is marked as abandoned, the plugin schedules a 2-step email sequence based on your configured delays. Emails are queued in a dedicated database table and dispatched via the WordPress cron system.

How It Works

1. Cron job storzen_cr_check_abandoned runs every 5 minutes and finds carts past the inactivity threshold.
2. For each newly-abandoned cart with a valid email, two queue rows are created — one per email step, with their respective scheduled_at timestamps.
3. Cron job storzen_cr_send_queue runs every 5 minutes and dispatches pending emails whose scheduled time has passed.
4. If the customer completes checkout before all emails fire, remaining emails are automatically cancelled.

Configuring the Sequence

Each of the two email steps has its own configuration block under Settings → Email Sequence:

Recovery Email Templates

The plugin ships with two responsive, mobile-ready HTML email templates. Both are pre-styled and personalised with the customer's name, cart items, prices, store logo, and a recovery CTA button.

Template 1 — Friendly Reminder

Soft, friendly tone. Good for the first email (1h after abandonment). Subject line: "Hey [Name], you left something behind!"

Template 2 — Urgency Reminder

Direct, urgency-focused tone with red CTA. Good for the second email (24h after abandonment). Subject line: "[Name], your cart is still waiting!"

Template Preview

Go to Cart Recovery → Email Templates to preview both templates side by side, with desktop and mobile viewport toggle. The preview uses sample data — real emails will use actual customer names and cart items.

One-Click Recovery Links

Each recovery email includes a single-click button that, when clicked, restores the customer's cart and redirects them straight to checkout — no login required, no items to re-add.

How the Link Works

Recovery URLs use HMAC-SHA256 signatures, not WordPress nonces. This means:

• No expiration — the link works for the configured retention period (default 30 days)
• Tamper-proof — any modification to the URL breaks the signature and rejects the request
• Safe to share — emails can be forwarded; the link still only restores that specific cart
• No session needed — works for guest carts where the original session is long gone

URL Format

// Example recovery URL
https://yourstore.com/?storzen_cr=abc123_def456...

// Token format (URL-encoded)
{hex(payload)}_{hmac}

// Payload contents
{cart_token}|{email_id}

// HMAC computed using wp_salt('auth')
hash_hmac('sha256', $payload, wp_salt('auth'))

Open Tracking Pixel

Each recovery email also contains a 1×1 transparent GIF tracking pixel that records the open event when the customer views the email. The pixel URL is also HMAC-signed using a separate token.

The Dashboard

The Dashboard gives you an at-a-glance view of your recovery performance. All metrics are computed from the plugin's own database tables — no external analytics service is contacted.

KPI Cards

30-Day Trend Chart

An inline SVG chart shows abandoned vs. recovered carts per day for the past 30 days. The chart is rendered via the bundled storzen-cr-chart.js library — no Chart.js or external CDN dependency.

Recent Activity Feed

The Dashboard's right column lists the 5 most recently abandoned carts with customer name (or "Guest"), email, cart value, status badge, and time-ago label. Click any row to jump to that cart's detail in the Abandoned Carts list.

Exit-Intent Email Capture

The optional exit-intent popup triggers when a visitor with items in their cart moves their cursor toward the browser close button (or, on mobile, scrolls up fast). It captures the email address before they leave, even if they never reach the checkout page.

Enabling the Popup

Go to Cart Recovery → Settings → General → Tracking Scope and toggle Enable Exit-Intent Popup. Once enabled:

• Popup loads only on pages that have a non-empty WooCommerce cart
• Triggers once per session (no repeat annoyance)
• Can be dismissed; dismissal is remembered for the session
• Captured email is immediately associated with the current cart

All Settings Explained

General Tab

Email Sequence Tab

Developer Hooks

The plugin exposes several hooks so you can extend behaviour without editing core files.

Actions

Filters

Database Tables

The plugin creates three custom tables on activation via dbDelta(). All tables use the {wp_prefix}storzen_cr_ namespace.

{prefix}_storzen_cr_carts

Primary cart capture table. One row per tracked cart.

CREATE TABLE {prefix}_storzen_cr_carts (
  id             BIGINT UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
  cart_token     VARCHAR(64)  NOT NULL UNIQUE,
  user_id        BIGINT UNSIGNED NULL,
  email          VARCHAR(190) NULL,
  first_name     VARCHAR(190) NULL,
  last_name      VARCHAR(190) NULL,
  cart_contents  LONGTEXT     NULL,
  cart_total     DECIMAL(20,4) DEFAULT 0,
  currency       VARCHAR(10)  NULL,
  status         VARCHAR(20)  DEFAULT 'active',
  ip_address     VARCHAR(45)  NULL,
  user_agent     TEXT         NULL,
  abandoned_at   DATETIME     NULL,
  recovered_at   DATETIME     NULL,
  created_at     DATETIME     NOT NULL,
  updated_at     DATETIME     NOT NULL,
  INDEX (status), INDEX (email), INDEX (updated_at)
);

{prefix}_storzen_cr_email_queue

Email queue table. One row per scheduled recovery email.

CREATE TABLE {prefix}_storzen_cr_email_queue (
  id             BIGINT UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
  cart_id        BIGINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
  step           TINYINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
  subject        VARCHAR(190) NOT NULL,
  template       VARCHAR(50)  NOT NULL,
  status         VARCHAR(20)  DEFAULT 'pending',
  scheduled_at   DATETIME     NOT NULL,
  sent_at        DATETIME     NULL,
  created_at     DATETIME     NOT NULL,
  INDEX (status, scheduled_at), INDEX (cart_id)
);

{prefix}_storzen_cr_events

Event log table. One row per recovery event (email opened, link clicked, etc.).

CREATE TABLE {prefix}_storzen_cr_events (
  id             BIGINT UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
  cart_id        BIGINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
  email_id       BIGINT UNSIGNED NULL,
  event_type     VARCHAR(50)  NOT NULL,
  event_data     LONGTEXT     NULL,
  created_at     DATETIME     NOT NULL,
  INDEX (cart_id, event_type)
);

Privacy & Data Handling

The plugin is designed to be privacy-respecting by default. All data stays on your server and is never transmitted to the plugin author or any third party.

Data Collected

• Cart contents (products and quantities)
• Customer email, first name, last name (captured at checkout or via the optional exit-intent popup)
• Visitor IP address (for abandonment analytics; configurable retention)
• User agent string (for device analytics)
• Email open and recovery-link click timestamps

Data Retention

Abandoned cart records are automatically deleted after the configured retention period (default: 30 days). You can change this under Settings → General → Retention Period. Recovered cart records are kept indefinitely for reporting.

Personal Data Export & Erase

The plugin integrates with WordPress's built-in Tools → Export Personal Data and Tools → Erase Personal Data features. When an admin runs these tools for a specific email address, the plugin includes / removes all matching cart and event records.

Frequently Asked Questions