Checkout recovery

With a 10-30% recovery rate, Paddle's checkout recovery emails work out-of-the-box to continuously recover revenue that would otherwise be permanently lost. Transform abandoned purchases into completed sales, boosting your bottom line without lifting a finger.

Checkout recovery emails are automatically turned on if you signed up for Paddle after May 2, 2025 — no additional setup or integration required.

27%

checkouts left

Over $320 million in sales are lost monthly. Recover those transactions to leave no money on the table.

60 min

follow-up timing

Strategic timing ensures follow-up emails arrive when customers are most likely to return.

additional cost

Preoptimized emails are automatically sent with no technical setup and at no extra cost to you.

Illustration of a standard checkout recovery email without a discount. It shows a message that says 'Looks like you left something behind' with text to incentivize customers to return, details on what they were purchasing, the price of the item, and a button to reopen the checkout.

Illustration of a checkout recovery email with a discount. It shows a message that says 'Looks like you left something behind' with a 10% discount offered at the top, text to incentivize customers to return, details on what they were purchasing, the price of the item with the value of the discount applied, and a button to reopen the checkout with the discount applied.

How it works

Checkout recovery works by automatically emailing customers 60 minutes after they abandon a checkout.

You can optionally offer discounts on abandoned transactions. Customers are more likely to return and make a purchase when you offer a discount. Our testing shows that 10-20% discounts are the most effective.

The content of the email is optimized to maximize conversion rates and includes a link that reopens the abandoned checkout with any discount automatically applied. No further integration is needed — Paddle does the heavy lifting for you.

Customer journey

Customer opens checkout

You can set up either an overlay checkout or use an embedded inline checkout to let customers checkout and purchase products with Paddle.

Illustration showing a checkout implementation. The Paddle Checkout frame is on the left, and the items list is on the right. A transaction has been created for the value of a $3600 as the customer has opened the checkout.

Customer starts entering their details

When a customer begins checkout, Paddle creates a draft transaction. Early in the checkout flow, customers can enter their email address. This links the customer to the transaction and enables Paddle to send them recovery emails.

Illustration showing a checkout implementation with the email field highlighted. The field is filled in with the customers email address.

Customer leaves checkout

If a customer leaves the checkout without completing their purchase, Paddle considers the checkout and transaction abandoned. Paddle automatically tracks abandonment in the background.

Illustration of the top right corner of the checkout screen. It shows the three Mac dots in a browser window with the cursor pointed over the red dot, indicating that the customer is leaving the checkout.

Paddle sends a recovery email

After 60 minutes without purchase, Paddle sends an email prompting the customer to return and complete the transaction. The email includes details of your configured discount and a link to reopen the checkout.

Illustration of an email client. It shows an email to the same email address left in earlier steps. The email has a message that says 'Looks like you left something behind' and details of a discount to reincitivize return. There's a note saing that 60 minutes have passed since the transaction was created.

Customer returns and completes checkout

When the customer clicks the link in the recovery email, the checkout reopens with the discount automatically applied. The customer can then complete their purchase. This recovers the transaction and converts a previously lost sale.

Illustration of a simplified checkout implementation. It shows a tick symbol to indicate that the checkout is completed, and a note saying that the transaction was successfully recovered.