Abandoned cart trigger

An abandoned cart trigger is an Inrō automation trigger that fires when a shopper starts a checkout in your Shopify store and does not finish it. Some time after the checkout starts, Inrō checks it. If no order came from it, your scenario DMs the shopper on Instagram, for example with a link back to their cart.

How does Inrō know a checkout was abandoned?

Once you connect your store in Inrō's Shopify and other integrations, Shopify tells Inrō each time a checkout is created. A cart that never reaches checkout sends no event, so it never fires the trigger.

Some time later, Inrō asks Shopify whether an order came from that checkout. If one did, nothing happens. If not, scenarios with the trigger A Shopify cart is abandoned run for the shopper's contact.

Your message can use the cart's details as variables, such as the cart total and the cart recovery URL, {{shopify_cart.abandoned_checkout_url}}. Send that link on a button template, or show the product on a card template.

How is the shopper matched to an Instagram contact?

Inrō has to tie the checkout to a contact you already have. It looks for:

• Email. The checkout email matches the email saved on a contact in your Instagram CRM inbox.
• A link from your DMs. Inrō recognises shoppers who reached your store from a link Inrō sent them in a DM.

With no match, nothing fires. A shopper who never wrote to you cannot be reached this way.

Will the DM reach the shopper?

Only inside Meta's messaging window. Per the Meta for Developers documentation on the Instagram Messaging API, a business can message someone on Instagram only after they have messaged it, and has 24 hours to respond to each message (Meta, checked 1 October 2026).

Since the cart check runs some time after the checkout, the DM goes through only if the contact's 24-hour messaging window is still open when it sends. If Meta refuses it, the DM is not sent and the run shows the reason, such as "DM request was not accepted".

Is it the same as cart recovery?

No. The trigger is the entry point: it decides who gets a DM and when. What the message says, whether to add a discount and what to measure are covered in the guide to Instagram DM cart recovery. For product and checkout links sent in DMs, see Inrō's Shopify automation. Other entry points are in the Inrō automation glossary.