How WooCommerce Cart Recovery Campaigns Work

The Foundation: Live Capture and Abandonment Triggers The first technical hurdle is capturing email addresses before a cart is abandoned. Most WooCommerce stores use the woocommerce_after_checkout_validation hook to log email inputs in real time, storing them in a custom table (e.g., wp_nexu_abandoned_carts) with a timestamp and cart contents. This bypasses the default wp_posts meta system, which isn't optimized for transient cart data. The abandonment timeout, typically 15 - 20 minutes, is enforced via a WordPress cron job (nexu_check_abandoned_carts) that queries for inactive sessions and flags them for the recovery sequence. Sequencing Logic: Beyond Simple Cron Jobs A three-step campaign isn't just three emails scheduled in sequence. The plugin must dynamically adjust timing based on user behavior, using WordPress's wp_schedule_single_event() for precise delays. For example: Email 1 (30 - 60 min): Triggered by the cron job after the timeout, but only if the cart hasn't been modified