# What is the difference between abandoned cart in automation and ecommerce campaigns?

Recovering abandoned carts is one of the most effective ways to boost sales and recapture lost revenue in your ecommerce store. In GetResponse, you can automate cart recovery using two distinct features: **[Marketing automation workflows](https://www.getresponse.com/help/getting-started-with-marketing-automation)** and **[Ecommerce campaigns](https://www.getresponse.com/help/how-to-create-an-ecommerce-campaign-for-abandoned-cart.html)**.

While both tools help bring shoppers back to complete their purchases, they operate differently in terms of **audience reach**, **consent requirements**, **email footers**, and **setup complexity**. Choosing the right feature depends on your goals, compliance needs, and workflow preferences.

Key differences
---------------

**Feature / Aspect**

**Abandoned cart in automation workflows**

**Abandoned cart ecommerce campaign**

**Primary purpose**

Multi-channel, conditional marketing journeys built visually via flowchart

Fast, streamlined ecommerce triggers

**Audience reach**

Contacts saved in your GetResponse subscriber lists

**All store shoppers**, including non-subscribed customers (via transactional emails)

**Consent & legal basis**

Requires explicit **marketing consent** (subscribers only)

Supports both **marketing** and **transactional** messages based on store consent

**Email footers**

Standard marketing footer with unsubscribe link

**Marketing:** Footer with unsubscribe and [preference center](https://www.getresponse.com/help/what-is-preference-center.html) link  
**Transactional:** Simplified footer with required store info (no unsubscribe link)

**Trigger mechanism**

Matching links to see if someone left after viewing their cart instead of reaching the thank-you page using JavaScript Web Connect, or API event

Native store integration event synchronized directly from your ecommerce platform

**Cart rebuilding link**

Manually configured product elements or custom links

**Automatic cart rebuilding link** (re-populates customer cart on click)

**Reporting & tracking**

Automation statistics, goal tracking, tags, and custom conversions

Detailed ecommerce reports (abandoned vs. recovered carts, attributed revenue)

Detailed comparison
-------------------

1.  **Audience reach & marketing consent**  
    *   **Automation workflows:** Workflows process contacts who are already added to a GetResponse subscriber list. To send marketing messages through automation, your recipients must have active marketing consent.
    *   **Ecommerce campaigns:** You can reach a broader target group. Because store integrations pass checkout data to GetResponse, Ecommerce Campaigns can trigger messages to non-subscribed buyers.
        *   **Subscribed shoppers** with marketing consent receive promotional emails (which can include discount codes or cross-sell recommendations).
        *   **Non-subscribed shoppers** receive a transactional reminder strictly notifying them about their left-behind item.  
            
2.  **Message footers & content rules**  
    *   **Automation workflows:** Every email sent via automation contains the standard marketing footer, including an unsubscribe/change details link.
    *   **Ecommerce campaigns:**
        *   **Marketing messages:** Contain standard unsubscribe footer with an additional link to [contact preference center](https://www.getresponse.com/help/what-is-preference-center.html).
        *   **Transactional messages**: Omit marketing opt-out links (since non-subscribers are not receiving promotional mailings) and display mandatory store business information, complying with transactional email regulations.  
            
3.  **Cart rebuilding & user experience**  
    *   **Automation workflows:** Include the **[Abandoned cart block](https://www.getresponse.com/help/how-can-i-include-abandoned-cart-items-in-a-message.html)** in the email editor to display images, names, and prices of left-behind items. It redirects customers back to your store’s cart URL.
    *   **Ecommerce campaigns:** Generate an **automatic cart rebuilding link**. When a customer clicks the call-to-action button in the email, their cart is instantly reconstructed on your store website (even if they were shopping anonymously or logged out at the time of cart creation).  
        
4.  **Setup & integration**  
    *   **Automation workflows:** Built visually on a canvas. You configure the **Abandoned cart condition** by specifying your cart URL, post-purchase thank-you URL, or API events. This allows for complex follow-up conditions, such as tagging, score adjustments, and alternative paths if a link is opened or clicked.
    *   **Ecommerce campaigns:** Managed directly under **Tools >> Campaigns >> [Ecommerce campaigns](https://app.getresponse.com/ecommerce-campaigns/manage)**. They use a simplified timeline sequence (Trigger → Wait → Send Email) tied to native store plugin events.

Pros and cons
-------------

**Marketing automation workflows** offer maximum customization by allowing you to build branching paths based on contact tags, lead scores, link clicks, or specific website visits. They also provide omnichannel capabilities, letting you add SMS notifications, web push messages, or list management actions directly into your cart recovery sequence. Furthermore, you gain granular control over time and condition logic, enabling custom waiting periods, specific time windows, or multiple conditional checks within a single flow.

On the other hand, workflows are limited strictly to existing list subscribers, meaning they cannot reach guest checkout users or non-subscribed store visitors. They also require more manual configuration, such as defining cart and thank-you URLs or installing tracking scripts if you are not using an API integration.

**Ecommerce campaigns** deliver a higher potential recovery rate because they can reach both subscribed and non-subscribed shoppers using store-level consent rules. They create a seamless rebuilding experience for returning buyers by generating automatic cart reconstruction links that reduce checkout friction. Additionally, they feature a fast, guided setup wizard with pre-built sequences and dedicated revenue attribution reporting right out of the box.

Their primary tradeoff is a strictly linear workflow, which limits you to straightforward delay-and-send timing without support for complex flowchart logic or non-email channels. Additionally, they have a strict campaign duration limit, capping the total sequence duration (including all wait times) at 21 days.

Which feature should you choose
-------------------------------

When deciding between the two approaches, choose **Ecommerce Campaigns** if you want a quick, plug-and-play cart recovery solution that maximizes reach by sending transactional reminders to non-subscribed buyers alongside promotional offers to subscribers.

Conversely, opt for **Marketing Automation Workflows** if you want to incorporate abandoned cart triggers into a broader, multi-channel marketing journey, such as assigning specific tags, sending web push or SMS notifications, or filtering by customer custom fields.  on customer custom fields.

Avoid running an **Abandoned cart automation workflow** and an **Abandoned cart ecommerce campaign** for the same store simultaneously. Running both at the same time may result in customers receiving duplicate cart reminders and inaccurate performance attribution.

Related articles
----------------

[How to create an ecommerce campaign for Abandoned Cart?](https://www.getresponse.com/help/how-to-create-an-ecommerce-campaign-for-abandoned-cart.html)

[How to set properties for the Abandoned cart condition?](https://www.getresponse.com/help/how-do-i-set-properties-for-the-abandoned-cart-condition.html)