Playbook
WhatsApp or email first? Decide by cart value, not by habit
Most recovery sequences send email first because email was set up first. Check which channel actually recovers which carts, and reorder the sequence.
Recovery sequences are built once and then trusted. Email goes first because the email tool was connected first. WhatsApp, if it is in the sequence at all, comes second or third. Nobody checked whether that order matches what customers respond to.
For many stores it does not. High-value carts often recover better on WhatsApp, where a message reads like a person, than on email, where it reads like a campaign. Low-value carts are the opposite: a WhatsApp for a $30 cart feels intrusive, and email does the job.
Measure by outcome, per segment
The only fair comparison is the same kind of cart through each channel. Split carts by value band, then look at what each channel recovered within that band. Do not compare the channel that gets the first send to the channel that gets the third; the first send always wins on volume.
Ask Beya:
For carts over $80 in the last 60 days, what share recovered after an email first versus a WhatsApp first?
Look for the flip
The pattern to look for is a crossover: below some cart value email does as well or better, above it WhatsApp pulls ahead. That value is where your sequence should branch. Carts under it keep the email-first flow. Carts over it get a WhatsApp first, and from a person if the customer has bought before.
Check the sends themselves
Before you reorder anything, make sure each step is actually working. A send with normal opens and almost no clicks is a broken link or a template with a missing variable, not a channel problem. One bad Tuesday broadcast can make a whole channel look weak.
Why did last Tuesday’s re-engagement send get opens but almost no clicks?
Timing is a customer trait
Send time is usually set per campaign. It should be set per customer. Some people open at seven in the morning, some on Sunday night. Once you have a few sends of history per customer, use their own window rather than the campaign’s.
Run it with Beya
Beya’s lifecycle messaging joins what Klaviyo, Gmail, and WhatsApp sent with what each customer did next, per cart value and per customer type. When a step underperforms its alternative or breaks outright, it flags the step and the reason, and proposes the change: a reordered sequence for high-value carts, a fixed link, a new send time. You approve it in the thread, and Beya makes the change or hands you the draft where the tool needs your account.
Which channel should go first for carts over $80, based on our own recoveries?