Cart retargeting is now available in Customer Journey. Within a single journey, you can send personalized "Unpaid Items" dynamic product messages across LINE and Email, combined with flexible nodes such as wait, branching, and cooldown — building a complete omnichannel retargeting flow without managing the Cart Retargeting tool (LINE only) and Customer Journey separately.
"Unpaid Items" is a dynamic product module: at the moment a message is about to be sent, the system queries the contact's cart in real time and automatically populates the items they added to cart but have not yet checked out. It can be used in both LINE message nodes and Email message nodes.
1. Feature Overview
Previously, cart retargeting required the standalone Retargeting tool (LINE only, a fixed single-channel flow with no branching or purchase detection), while multi-channel automation with flexible nodes required Customer Journey. Managing both tools separately created operational overhead and limited omnichannel retargeting.
Cart retargeting is now a native part of Customer Journey. You can:
- Insert the Unpaid Items dynamic product module into LINE and Email message nodes, populating each contact's unpaid items at send time.
- Use the Wait for Condition node to detect purchases, so converted contacts automatically exit the retargeting flow.
- Combine Journey Cooldown, conditional branching, and channel reachability to orchestrate a full omnichannel retargeting flow.
Comparing the two ways to use it
Both use the same Unpaid Items recovery logic; the difference lies in channel coverage and journey orchestration flexibility:
| Legacy Retargeting (LINE only) | Retargeting in Journey (new) | |
|---|---|---|
| Channels | LINE only | LINE and Email message nodes, extendable with the journey's channel reachability node |
| Flow design | Fixed single flow, no branching | Freely combine journey nodes (conditional branching, wait, cooldown, and more) |
| Trigger timing | After an item is added to the cart, the message is sent in batches only once a configured waiting interval (about 2 hours by default) has elapsed | The cart event triggers entry into the journey in real time — the first action begins within seconds to about 1 minute; add a wait node if you want to delay |
| Exit after purchase | Checks for unpaid items only once when the wait ends, not continuous detection | Uses the Wait for Condition node to detect purchases in real time; converted contacts automatically exit the journey |
| Re-entry cooldown | No re-entry cooldown | Configurable 1–720 hours (up to 30 days); the same contact will not re-enter the same journey during the cooldown (adjustable after publishing, affecting only newly entering contacts) |
| Dynamic products | LINE dynamic product carousel (up to 10 items) | Both LINE and Email support the dynamic product carousel (up to 10 items), querying the cart at send time |
| Reporting | Message and revenue performance | Journey report, with the new AOV (Average Order Value) metric |
2. Eligible Plans and Prerequisites
📕 Access to the Unpaid Items module (LINE and Email) follows the same plans as the existing standalone Retargeting module — no plan upgrade is required to use it in Customer Journey. The feature is rolled out in stages; if it is not yet visible in your account, please wait or check with your dedicated contact.
Required
-
Install the Web SDK: for real-time tracking of
add_to_cartandpurchaseevents and to retrieve each contact's cart product info in real time.
👉 See: Tutorial｜Web SDK Installation Verification and Event Tracking Check - Connect GA4: revenue-related metrics in the Journey performance report (such as revenue, orders, and AOV) require a GA4 connection to display.
Strongly recommended
-
Set up and maintain an up-to-date Product Feed: used to fill in missing product fields from event data (such as image, name, and price), improving the match rate and display completeness of Unpaid Items.
👉 See: Tutorial｜How to Upload Product Feed Data? -
Enable the Email channel, set email as a Unify Key, and activate the Smart Redirect Tool (SRT): to expand cross-channel reach and identifiable contacts, allowing the journey to reach the same person across LINE and Email.
👉 See: Feature Description｜Smart Redirect Tool - Website Redirection and Identity Integration, Tutorial｜Unified Contact Profile and Separated Contacts
The contact must be a friend of the Official Account, and their website cart activity must be linked to their LINE identity (for example by clicking into the site from LINE via a tracking link, via the Smart Redirect Tool (SRT), or by the website passing email / phone / Customer ID through the Web SDK identify call). Contacts who don’t meet this won’t be reachable on LINE; if they have a subscribed email, use the Email node instead. See the FAQ below for details.
3. Using "Unpaid Items" in a LINE Message Node
In a LINE message node within the journey, click "Add module" and select the Unpaid Items module. At send time, the system queries the contact's cart in real time and automatically populates the unpaid items into a dynamic product carousel — based on the number of unpaid items in the cart, showing up to the 10 most recently added items. Each product card populates dynamic parameters — card title (product name) and card description (product price) — with "View Item" and "Go to Cart" buttons.
Send behavior (LINE)
| Situation | System behavior |
|---|---|
| Cart is empty | The entire LINE message node is skipped |
| Some products cannot be matched | Only the matched product cards are sent |
| All products cannot be matched | The Unpaid Items module is skipped; other modules in the same message are sent normally |
Adding the "Unpaid Items" module affects how this message is sent: if the contact's cart is empty, the message will not be sent; if product information cannot be matched, the Unpaid Items carousel is skipped while other message modules are sent normally. We recommend pairing it with an "Add to Cart" trigger and including a static module so the message can still be delivered when product information is unavailable.
4. Using "Unpaid Items" in an Email Message Node
In an Email message node within the journey, use the drag-and-drop editor and drag the Unpaid Items block from the content elements into the layout. At send time, the system queries the contact's cart in real time and renders the products, with each product card showing the product image, product name, product price, and a "Shop Now" button.
Email Unpaid Items is only supported in the drag-and-drop editor (not the HTML editor), and is not available in Email Broadcast — it can only be used in Email nodes within Customer Journey.
Send behavior (Email)
| Situation | System behavior |
|---|---|
| Cart is empty | The entire email is skipped |
| Some products cannot be matched | Only the matched product cards are sent |
| All products cannot be matched | The entire email is skipped |
Adding the "Unpaid Items" block affects how this email is sent. The cart status is queried in real time at send time; if the cart is empty or product information cannot be matched, this email will not be sent. We recommend pairing it with an "Add to Cart" event trigger.
5. Cart Retargeting Quick Templates
So you don't have to design a retargeting email from scratch, the system provides pre-built cart retargeting quick templates with the "Unpaid Items" block already inserted — ready to use or customize.
Path: Message Center → Template Library → Email → Create Template → Select Email Template → "Quick Templates"
Three cart retargeting templates are available:
- Cart Retargeting Template (Gentle Reminder)
- Cart Retargeting Template (Sweet Deal)
- Cart Retargeting Template (Flash Urgency)
Quick templates are only available in the Customer Journey editor and are disabled in Email Broadcast. When you apply a template, the message being edited will switch to the selected template and existing content will not be retained.
6. The "Retargeting" Badge on the Journey Canvas
When a message node contains the "Unpaid Items" module, the node on the journey canvas displays a "Retargeting" badge, helping you quickly identify which nodes are cart retargeting nodes. Hovering over the node shows a tooltip: this node includes the Unpaid Items module, and contacts with an empty cart will not receive this message.
7. Scenario: Build an Omnichannel Cart Retargeting Journey
Here is a common omnichannel cart retargeting journey that retargets contacts who added items to cart but didn't purchase, and exits them automatically on conversion:
- Create a journey, set a Cooldown (e.g., 24 hours), and use "Add to Cart" as the entry trigger.
- Add a "Wait for Condition" node to detect purchase (e.g., wait 1 day): buyers take the "Yes" path and exit; non-buyers take the "No" path and continue.
- On the "No" path, add a "Channel Reachability" node: if LINE is reachable, send a LINE message with the Unpaid Items module; if not, send an Email with the Unpaid Items block instead.
- After publishing, the journey runs automatically for all qualifying contacts.
👉 For detailed settings on Cooldown and the Wait for Condition node, see: Feature Description｜Omnichannel Customer Journey
8. Get Started Fast with a Quick Template
Don't want to start from scratch? When creating a journey in Customer Journey, simply choose the Quick Template "Abandoned Cart Recovery" — it comes pre-filled with Cooldown, the "Add to Cart" trigger, a Wait for Condition (purchase) node, and an Unpaid Items node; just customize the message content and settings, then publish. If you currently use standalone Retargeting, the Journey version supports multiple channels, flexible branching, and unified management — a more complete option.
If a journey containing LINE Unpaid Items overlaps with an active standalone Retargeting campaign on the same channel, a warning is shown when publishing (running both at the same time may cause contacts to receive duplicate reminders). This warning does not block publishing; to avoid duplicates, we recommend switching to journey-based retargeting.
9. Performance Tracking
The performance of a cart retargeting journey can be viewed in the Customer Journey report. In addition to interaction metrics such as messages sent, opens, and clicks, once GA4 is connected you can obtain revenue metrics including add-to-cart count, orders, revenue, and AOV (Average Order Value — revenue ÷ orders).
👉 For metric definitions, see: Feature Description｜Omnichannel Customer Journey
10. Notes
Product information for Unpaid Items is populated in the following priority order:
1. Data passed in the
add_to_cart event payload2. Product Feed — used to fill in missing fields (such as image, name, or price)
Because event payload data is often incomplete, we strongly recommend setting up and maintaining an up-to-date Product Feed to improve the match rate and deliverability.
Cart data is retained for 90 days. Adding an item resets the retention window; removing an item removes that product from the cart (it will no longer be retargeted) but does not reset the retention window.
The Wait for Condition node only counts events that occur after the contact enters the node; past purchase or add-to-cart events are not counted.
FAQs
Q: A member added items to cart on the website but isn’t a LINE friend yet — will they receive the LINE message?
No. To send “Unpaid Items” via LINE, the member must be a friend of the LINE Official Account (the system only sends to friends). In addition, their website cart activity must first be linked to their LINE identity so the system knows the cart belongs to them. This link can be established in several ways: by clicking into the site from LINE via a tracking link (UTM), through the Smart Redirect Tool (SRT), or by the website passing email / phone / Customer ID via the Web SDK identify call (which then unifies via Unify Keys). So a visitor who hasn’t added the OA as a friend, or whose website activity was never linked to a LINE identity, will not receive the LINE Unpaid Items message. If you already have their subscribed email, you can reach them through the Email node instead.
Q: I already have standalone Retargeting. Do I still need to build a journey version?
Both can run at the same time. The journey version adds multi-channel reach (LINE + Email), flexible nodes (wait, branching, channel reachability), and automatic exit on purchase detection. If you need these capabilities, we recommend migrating to the journey version. When you publish a journey that overlaps with an active standalone campaign, a coexistence warning is shown, but neither side is paused automatically.
Q: What is the difference between LINE and Email Unpaid Items send behavior?
Both behave the same when the cart is empty or some products cannot be matched (empty cart is skipped; partially matched sends only the matched cards). The difference is when the cart has items but the system cannot match any product info: LINE skips the Unpaid Items module and sends other message modules normally, while Email skips the entire email.
Q: The contact added items to cart, so why didn't they receive the message?
Unpaid Items queries the cart only at the moment the message is about to be sent. If the contact's cart is empty at send time (for example, already cleared or checked out), the entire LINE or Email message node is skipped. We recommend pairing it with a "Wait for Condition (purchase)" node so contacts who have purchased exit early via the "Yes" path.
Q: What if the contact purchases before the Unpaid Items message is sent? How do I set the wait window?
Add a "Wait for Condition (purchase)" node before the Unpaid Items node and set the maximum wait time (up to 30 days). If the contact purchases within the wait window, they take the "Yes" path and will not receive the retargeting message; otherwise they take the "No" path and continue to receive reminders. Note that this node is forward-looking — it only counts purchases that occur after the contact enters the node.
Q: What do the SDK, GA4, and Product Feed each handle?
SDK: tracks add_to_cart / purchase events in real time and updates the cart in real time — the foundation for real-time triggering and Unpaid Items matching (installation recommended). GA4: provides revenue metrics in the journey report (revenue, orders, AOV); GA4 can also retrieve cart product info, but its events can be delayed by up to 72 hours, so by send time the customer may have already checked out or the cart may have changed — for real-time tracking and sending, SDK is recommended. Product Feed: fills in product fields missing from event data (image, name, price) to improve match rate and display completeness (strongly recommended).
Q: The contact has an email address — why is the Email node still skipped?
The email field in a Contact Profile does not equal a sendable email eligibility. The contact must be imported into the Email channel and have opted in to be able to receive emails. In addition, if the cart is empty or all products cannot be matched at send time, the email is also skipped.
Q: What are the prerequisites for AOV (average order value) and other revenue metrics?
A GA4 connection is required. AOV is calculated as revenue ÷ orders, and both revenue and orders come from GA4 purchase / revenue events; revenue metrics are not displayed when GA4 is not connected.
Q: Will the old standalone Retargeting and the journey version send duplicate messages? How do I avoid it?
Yes. The two run independently, and if they run on the same channel at the same time, contacts may receive duplicate reminders. A coexistence warning (non-blocking) is shown when publishing an overlapping journey. To avoid duplicates, we recommend migrating standalone Retargeting to the journey version and using Journey Cooldown to control re-entry frequency.
Q: Can SMS or WhatsApp nodes also be used in a Cart Retargeting journey?
Yes. SMS and WhatsApp message nodes can be part of a Cart Retargeting journey — for sending regular messages, conditional branching, or bridging other channels. However, only LINE and Email nodes currently support the “Unpaid Items” dynamic product content; SMS and WhatsApp nodes will not include dynamic products.
Q: Why is a cooldown required, and why is the minimum 1 hour?
The cooldown prevents the same contact from re-entering the same journey within a short period.
- Why it’s needed: cart events can be frequent (a shopper may add several items within minutes); without a cooldown, every add-to-cart could re-trigger the journey and send duplicate reminders.
- Minimum: 1 hour (it can’t be shorter, and can’t be turned off).
- Default if you don’t set one: 1 hour for general triggers, 24 hours for GA-sourced.
- Effect: no re-entry during the cooldown; they can enter again only after it expires.
Q: What happens if a contact adds another item to the cart (triggers again) during the cooldown?
They won’t re-enter, and it won’t be deferred to send later.
- The repeat trigger during the cooldown is ignored: no new entry is created, and it is not queued to run after the cooldown.
- To re-enter: a new add-to-cart must occur after the cooldown expires.
- Example: a shopper adds product A (entering the journey) → adds product B 5 minutes later (within the default 1-hour cooldown) → they enter once and receive one message; the second add within the hour creates no second entry.
Q: What’s the difference between the journey’s “Cooldown” and the “wait” nodes inside the journey?
They are two independent layers and can be used together.
- Cooldown: a journey-level setting that controls “how soon the same contact can re-enter this journey” (preventing repeated entry). Configurable 1–720 hours.
- Wait nodes inside the journey: steps in the flow that control “the pacing after entering” — e.g. a time delay (wait a fixed period), or “Wait Until” (wait for an event such as a purchase, or until a timeout — up to 30 days — then branch Yes/No).
In short: Cooldown governs “whether / how soon they can re-enter”; wait nodes govern “how the flow proceeds and how long it waits after entering.”
Q: How does the waiting mechanism differ between the old Cart Retargeting and the journey version?
The waiting logic is different.
- Old (standalone) version: fixed waiting interval + periodic batch scan — an item must stay in the cart for the interval you set (about 2 hours by default), then a scheduled job (every 5 minutes) scans and sends eligible contacts in batches. The wait is a fixed threshold before sending.
- Journey version: real-time entry + node-controlled waiting — the add-to-cart event makes the contact enter the journey immediately (seconds to ~1 minute); any subsequent wait is designed with wait nodes inside the journey (time delay, Wait Until).
In short: the old version “waits a fixed time, then a scan sends”; the new version “enters in real time, then nodes control the pacing.”
Related Articles
📚
- Feature Description｜Omnichannel Customer Journey (Cooldown, Wait for Condition node, metric definitions)
- Feature Overview｜Retargeting (standalone Retargeting)
- Tutorial｜Retargeting Setup
- Tutorial｜How to Upload Product Feed Data?
- Tutorial｜Web SDK Installation Verification and Event Tracking Check
- Feature Description｜Omnichannel Customer Journey & Editor Tutorial (Email)