Recover Abandoned Carts With SMS and WhatsApp, Not a Shrunk Email
You set up an email series but the open rate is low, the problem isn't the copy, it's the channel. Email loss piles up over the course of a day, a phone screen is instant. Most sellers miss that difference and just copy the email straight into a text, the result is a long, boring message nobody reads in one go. A short channel needs its own discipline: character count matters, consent is mandatory, timing shifts by the hour, not the day. This prompt treats SMS and WhatsApp as a standalone recovery channel with its own rules, not a smaller version of the email.
You are a conversion copywriter who specializes in short message channels (SMS and WhatsApp). Your specialty: cart recovery sequences built for the channel's own constraints (character limit, consent, instant read), not a copy of the email. Your job is NOT to shorten a long piece of text, it's to build a three message sequence from scratch that fits the nature of the channel. Email gets opened over the course of a day or forgotten, a phone notification gets seen in seconds and dismissed in seconds. That's why tone, length, and timing on a short channel run on completely different rules than email, and you're the specialist who writes with that difference in mind. I'll give you the following: - Product and cart total: [what's being sold, e.g. wireless charging stand, $29] - Channel: [SMS / WhatsApp / both] - Consent status: [has the customer given explicit opt-in for the channel, yes/no] - Brand tone: [warm / corporate / playful] - Incentive if any: [small discount, free shipping, write "none" if there isn't one] DELIVER THE OUTPUT IN EXACTLY THIS ORDER, WITH THESE EXACT HEADERS: ═══ MESSAGE 1 · REMINDER (≈1 hour later) ═══ Short text with the character count noted. Goal: a gentle, familiar-toned reminder. NO incentive. ═══ MESSAGE 2 · CURIOSITY AND STOCK (≈20-24 hours later) ═══ Short text with the character count noted. Goal: bring them back with a single question or stock information. NO incentive. ═══ MESSAGE 3 · CLOSE (≈48 hours later) ═══ Short text with the character count noted. Goal: a real time limit plus a measured incentive if needed, plus a single link. ═══ TIMING AND CONSENT NOTE ═══ Send times, where the opt-out line goes, the rule against sending late at night. ═══ THE INTRUSION LIMIT ═══ How many messages before you stop, how the sequence closes if the customer never clicks. ═══ COMMON MISTAKE ═══ Explain why copying the email text word for word into an SMS fails, and what to do instead. Also briefly cover how sending late at night or too often raises the opt-out rate. RULES: - Don't use fabricated statistics or unproven urgency like a fake "only 2 left in stock". Write urgency only if it's real. - Every message has to actually fit the platform's character limit (keep SMS short, WhatsApp can flex a little more but still stay short), don't just shrink the email sentence as is. - If consent wasn't specified, flag it at the top of the output, don't suggest sending without it. - Every message has a single purpose and a single link/CTA, never two different offers in the same message. - Write in natural English that matches the brand tone.
How to use it
- Give the product, cart total, whether the customer has opted in to SMS/WhatsApp, and any real incentive you actually have. If consent status is clear, it feeds straight into the send timing too.
- Run the prompt, get the three message sequence. Check the character count and tone of each message: an SMS should read like a short note from someone who knows you, not a formal notification. Flag any line that sounds like an ad and cut it down.
- Load the sequence into your sending tool (SMS API, WhatsApp Business), watch the open and click rate on the first two messages. If it feels intrusive (opt-outs climbing), cut the frequency and drop the third message.
Example / tip
Input: Product, wireless charging stand $29, channel WhatsApp, consent yes, no incentive. AI output (shortened): Message 1, sent 1 hour later, 'Hey [name], saw your charging stand is still in your cart, want me to check if I can get it to you: [link]'. Message 2, sent 20 hours later, a single question line that reminds them about stock. Message 3, sent 48 hours later, gives a real cart expiry window in one short line and closes with a single link.
Usage example
Copy the prompt as is, fill in the bracketed fields for your own business, and paste it into ChatGPT or Claude. The more concrete your input, the more useful the output. Take the first draft, ask for a one-sentence fix on whatever you don't like, then give it a final pass in your own voice.
When not to use it
If you don't have explicit SMS/WhatsApp consent from the customer, don't run this prompt, set up the opt-in flow first, sending without consent carries legal and brand risk (check your local SMS/WhatsApp marketing consent rules, TCPA-style in the US, GDPR-style in the EU). This prompt also isn't a replacement for the email series, loading both channels from the same trigger at the same time overwhelms the customer, use them as complements, not backups for each other.
Output quality checklist
- Does every message actually fit an SMS/WhatsApp character limit, or is it padded out
- Do the messages read like a note from someone you know, not an ad
- Is the timing genuinely hour-based, not a copy of the email's day-based rhythm
- Is consent and the opt-out line defined somewhere, in the messages or in the system
