Why did I only get one abandoned checkout email after my customer abandoned their cart three times?
Shopify sends only one abandoned checkout email per shopper even after several abandonments in a row. Here is why, and how to add more recovery touchpoints if you need them.
What's going on
A merchant notices that a shopper abandoned checkout three separate times over a couple of hours: browsing, entering their email, backing out, coming back, entering it again. Only one abandoned checkout email ever went out. It looks like emails are silently failing, so the natural instinct is to check spam folders, dig through notification settings, or suspect a broken integration.
In reality, this is how Shopify's native abandoned checkout recovery is designed to work. Shopify defines an abandoned checkout as one where a customer provided contact information but did not complete the order within a set window of time. When the same email address triggers multiple abandoned checkout events close together, Shopify's automation treats them as one ongoing abandonment tied to that shopper rather than firing a separate email for every attempt.
Why it happens
Shopify's abandoned checkout automation keys off the customer's email address, not the individual checkout session. When several checkout attempts from the same address happen close together, the platform consolidates them into a single abandonment record instead of queuing a separate notification for each attempt. This is a fixed rule in the native notification and automation system, not a per-store setting you can toggle.
A second, more common cause of the same symptom is test methodology. Repeatedly testing with the same email address, in the same browser session, or by refreshing an existing abandoned checkout instead of starting a genuinely new one will always look like a single shopper to Shopify, producing exactly one email regardless of how many times the page was reloaded.
5 ways to fix it
Confirm this is expected behavior, not a bug
Shopify's built-in abandoned checkout automation keys off the shopper's email address and treats repeated abandonments close together as one ongoing event, not separate ones. If the same person starts checkout two or three times in a short span, Shopify sends a single recovery email rather than one per attempt. There is no admin setting that changes this for the native tool, so it is not worth hunting for a toggle that does not exist.
Rule out a testing artifact before assuming email is broken
The most common cause of this exact symptom is test methodology, not a delivery problem. Testing repeatedly with the same email address, the same browser session, or by reloading an existing abandoned checkout instead of starting a fresh one will always look like a single shopper to Shopify, producing exactly one email no matter how many times the page was reloaded. Retest with a genuinely distinct email address and a clean session (a new incognito window or another device) before concluding anything is wrong.
Review your abandoned checkout notification settings
In Shopify admin, the abandoned checkout email settings let you choose how long Shopify waits after an abandonment before sending the recovery email. Check that delay setting, since a longer wait can make it seem like nothing sent if you are checking too soon after a test. Where exactly this setting lives and what options it offers can vary by plan and by when your store was set up, so look under your notification or marketing settings rather than assuming a fixed menu path.
Build a multi-step sequence with Shopify's marketing automation tools
If you want more than one touchpoint per abandonment, such as an early reminder followed later by a discount nudge, look at the automation templates in Shopify's marketing tools rather than the basic abandoned checkout notification, which is limited to a single email. Multi-step automation options and their availability have changed over time and vary by plan, so check what your store currently offers before assuming a specific feature is or is not included.
Move to a dedicated email or SMS platform for repeat-abandoner logic
If you need different treatment for shoppers who abandon multiple times in a week versus first-time abandoners, that level of segmentation is beyond what Shopify's native tool tracks. Apps like Klaviyo, Omnisend, and similar platforms that plug into Shopify's checkout events can build flows keyed on abandonment frequency rather than just the most recent event, at the cost of a subscription and separate email deliverability setup.
Bottom line
Getting one email instead of several is not a glitch to fix, it is how Shopify's native abandoned checkout automation is built: one recovery email per shopper per abandonment window, deduplicated by email address. Before changing anything, rule out testing artifacts like reusing the same email or session. If your real goal is a multi-touch recovery sequence or frequency-aware targeting of repeat abandoners, that calls for either Shopify's own marketing automation tools or a dedicated email marketing platform, not a bug fix. No BesPoP app is the right tool for this particular issue.
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