Comparison · E-commerce and subscription · Klaviyo · Abandoned cart

Should an abandoned cart email include a discount for a small Australian online store?

By BREME · Updated 10 November 2026

Who this is for: Owners of small Australian Shopify and online stores, including subscription brands, who see people reach checkout and leave, and want to know whether a discount in the reminder email will win them back or just eat their margin.

What this looks like

Your store analytics show people adding to cart and starting checkout every day, but orders don't keep pace. You set up an abandoned cart email, and the obvious question comes next: do you put 10% off in it to get them over the line?

It is a genuine choice with a cost either way. Without an offer, some people who were wavering on price won't come back. With an offer in every email, you give away margin to people who would have bought anyway, and returning customers learn that leaving a cart is how you get a code. A thread on the Klaviyo Community, where an owner asks how to have the code applied automatically at checkout, is a typical example of reaching for a discount first.

Why the abandoned cart email discount question matters

Most people who leave a checkout haven't rejected you. They were interrupted, comparing, or waiting for payday. A reminder that brings them back to their cart solves that without any discount. Klaviyo's own help article says someone who starts checkout has shown stronger purchase intent than someone who only added to cart, which is why the two get different flows and different timing.

The risk with leading on a discount is behaviour, not just margin. Klaviyo states that a coupon in the first email can train customers to abandon carts. Once regulars learn the pattern, your full-price sales start arriving with a code attached.

No discount, a later discount, or a targeted one

No discount at all suits stores with tight margins, products people buy on need rather than price, and subscription brands where a first-order discount would set the wrong expectation for every renewal. The flow is reminders only: their cart, a clear link back, delivery and returns information, and an easy way to ask a question.

A discount in the final email suits stores where price really is the sticking point, such as giftable or higher-ticket items. The first one or two emails are plain reminders, and only people who still haven't ordered get the offer. This follows Klaviyo's advice to hold incentives for the final email.

A targeted discount suits stores with a mix of new and returning shoppers. A conditional split sends the offer only to people who have never placed an order, so your regulars get a reminder and new shoppers get a reason to try you. Klaviyo's article gives this option too, with a split on whether someone has placed an order.

Side by side: no discount protects margin and habits but recovers fewer price-sensitive shoppers. A final-email discount recovers more of them, at the cost of some margin on people who would have returned anyway. A targeted discount keeps regulars at full price but takes the most setup.

The steps in Klaviyo

1. Start from the pre-built abandoned cart flow in Klaviyo's flow library. It triggers on Started Checkout and includes a 4 hour delay before the first message.
2. Add the flow filter Placed Order zero times since starting this flow, so nobody gets a reminder after they've bought. Add Has not been in this flow in the last [30] days if you want to stop the same person getting the sequence every time they browse.
3. Write email 1 with no discount. Send it 2 to 4 hours after checkout starts. Show their items, one button back to the checkout and your delivery times and returns policy.
4. Write email 2 for 20 to 48 hours after the first. Answer the likely reasons for hesitating: shipping cost, delivery time, sizing, how to contact you. Still no discount.
5. Decide on the offer using the comparison above. If you're offering one, add a conditional split before email 3 on whether the person has placed an order before. Send the offer down the never purchased branch only, or to everyone if you chose a final-email discount.
6. Create the code. Unique codes are created or imported in Klaviyo under Content, then Coupons, and Klaviyo notes that uploading codes doesn't create the discounts in Shopify, so they must already be valid in your store. Static codes are created in Shopify. Generate enough codes for the people you expect to reach.
7. Apply the code through the button link. For a Started Checkout flow, Klaviyo's format is the checkout URL tag followed by &discount= and the code, using ? instead of & if the URL has no question mark. Send yourself a test and check the discount appears at checkout.
8. Turn off your store's own abandoned checkout emails so customers don't get two sets, then set the flow to Live.

How to tell it's working

After four to six weeks, open the flow analytics and compare placed order rate and revenue for each email. If email 1 and 2 recover most of the orders, the discount email is mostly a top-up, and you can test removing it.

Watch two warning signs. If more and more orders come through the discount email from repeat customers, your regulars have learned the pattern, so move the offer to never purchased shoppers only. If your average order value drops, the code is doing more work than the reminder.

Subject: Still thinking it over?

Hi [first name],

You left [product name] in your cart at [store name]. We've saved it for you, so you can pick up where you left off.

[Button: Back to my cart]

Orders placed by [cut-off time] ship the same day from [city], and most arrive in [delivery range]. Returns are [returns policy in one line].

Got a question about sizing or anything else? Just reply and [your name] will get back to you.

[Store name], ABN [number]
[Unsubscribe link]

Subject: A little something for your first order

Hi [first name],

Your cart is still here: [product name].

If you'd like to try us, here's [offer, for example 10% off] your first order with code [unique code]. It's already applied when you use the button below and it's valid until [real end date].

[Button: Use my code]

Thanks for looking at [store name].

[Store name], ABN [number]
[Unsubscribe link]