Summary
Cart abandonment doesn’t have to haunt your ecommerce strategy. In When Shoppers Ghost You: How to Bring Abandoned Carts Back from the Dead, discover how identity resolution and AI-driven personalization can turn lost carts into loyal customers. Learn why shoppers disappear, how to recognize anonymous visitors, and how AI interprets subtle behaviors to re-engage them with the right message at the right time. Don’t let your revenue rest in peace—resurrect abandoned carts and keep conversions alive year-round..
Cart abandonment is one of the most frightening challenges in ecommerce. A shopper browses your site, adds an item to their cart, and just when you think they’re ready to buy… they vanish. No checkout, no conversion—just another cart left for dead.
It’s easy to feel haunted by these missed opportunities, especially when you know abandoned carts account for more than 70% of online shopping journeys. But here’s the good news: getting ghosted doesn’t have to be the end of the story. With the right strategy, you can bring those carts back to life—and turn what looks like lost revenue into loyal customers.
Why Shoppers Disappear
Not every abandoned cart means a lost sale. Sometimes shoppers get distracted. Sometimes they’re comparing prices. Sometimes they’re simply not ready… yet. The problem is, traditional tools like segmentation or static retargeting aren’t built to adapt in real time. They either oversaturate inboxes with generic “you forgot something” emails or miss the opportunity altogether. That’s how revenue slips into the graveyard.
Resurrecting Lost Carts With Identity and AI
The first step in beating cart abandonment is recognizing who’s on your site in the first place. Up to 95% of traffic is anonymous, which means most brands can’t follow up when those visitors leave. Wunderkind’s Identity Network helps turn those ghosts into known customers, unlocking the ability to engage them through owned channels like email and text—where personalization is stronger and costs are lower.
Layer AI decisioning on top of that, and you’re no longer just reacting to obvious signals like an abandoned checkout page. AI interprets subtle behaviors—repeat browsing, timing cues, product affinities—and determines the right message, offer, and channel to bring a shopper back before they disappear for good. It’s not a one-size-fits-all reminder; it’s a living, breathing experience that adapts to the customer in real time.
Evergreen Tips for Winning Back Abandoned Carts
While Halloween gives us the perfect excuse to talk about ghosting, these best practices apply all year long:
 – Act fast, but not desperate. Timing is everything. Reach out soon after abandonment, but tailor the cadence based on intent signals so you don’t come off as pushy.
– Personalize the message. A generic subject line won’t cut it. Reference the exact product they left behind, show social proof, or remind them of limited availability.
– Use the right channel. Some shoppers respond best to email, others to text, others to onsite reminders. Let AI determine the best touchpoint.
– Don’t rely on discounts alone. While an incentive can sweeten the deal, over-discounting trains customers to wait. Dynamic offers based on shopper behavior help protect margin.
Don’t Let Abandonment Haunt You
Cart abandonment will always be part of ecommerce—but it doesn’t have to be a nightmare. By combining identity resolution with AI-driven decisioning, brands can stop getting ghosted and start resurrecting lost revenue at scale.
So as you head into the busiest season of the year, don’t let your carts pile up in the graveyard. Bring them back to life, and keep your personalization strategy alive all year long.
Check out our previous spooktacular blog is this fiendish series: The Ghost of Segmentation Past-and the Rise of Real-Time Relevance