Why one email isn't a flow
A single "you left something in your cart" email, sent once, recovers a fraction of what a proper sequence can. Most stores we look at still run exactly one, sent at a fixed delay, with no variation by cart value or customer history.
The three-touch structure
Email 1 (1 hour): a plain reminder, no discount. Most recoveries at this stage come from people who simply got distracted.
Email 2 (24 hours): add social proof, a review or a trust signal relevant to the item. Still no discount for full-price categories.
Email 3 (72 hours): for carts above your average order value, consider a small, time-boxed incentive. For lower-value carts, a straightforward last reminder usually performs just as well without margin cost.
Segment by cart value, not just time
Treat a 200 kr cart and a 2,000 kr cart differently. High-value carts justify a human touch or a slightly larger incentive; low-value carts rarely need more than the reminder.
Measure against your segment, not a generic "good" number
Recovery rate varies meaningfully by category. Subscription-heavy categories like coffee & tea typically see different recovery dynamics than considered-purchase categories like home & interior. Compare against your own segment benchmark, not a blog post's average.