Get Started with Lapse

What you will build

Lapse catches journeys that start and never finish. In about ten minutes you will have a journey that says:

When add_to_cart happens, but purchase does not happen within 35 minutes of inactivity, emit cart_abandoned.

The cart_abandoned event goes back into Echo like any other event, so a CRM, an ad platform or a Lens table can act on it. In the Tools launcher the module's card is labeled Lapse with the line "Catch Abandoned Journeys".

Before you start

• The property sends events through Echo, and your site already sends the events the journey needs: here add_to_cart and purchase. Lapse cannot watch an event your site does not send.
• You have edit access to the property. Without it, the journey list is read-only.
• Optional but useful: an Echo destination of type Lens on the property. With one, the journey editor can list the event names actually seen on your site instead of you typing them.

1. Connect Echo to Lapse

Lapse receives events through an Echo destination, the same way Lens does.

1. Go to Echo > Destinations and click Add Destination.
2. Pick the Lapse card. There is nothing to configure on it; journeys are defined in Lapse.
3. Leave the Event Filter empty. That forwards every event, which is the recommended setting (see Why forward everything).
4. Turn on Exclude bot traffic. A bot that adds to cart would otherwise open a journey and trigger an abandonment signal.
5. Save the destination.

2. Create the journey

1. Open Lapse from the property's Tools, then click Journeys in the left menu.
2. Under Start a New Journey, click the Cart card ("Added, never bought"). The editor opens pre-filled with the values in the table below.
3. Read the sentence at the top of the editor. It restates the journey in plain English and updates as you edit.
4. Set Status to Active - running. A journey left on Draft - not running is saved but never runs.
5. Click Save Journey. You return to the Journeys list with "Journey saved."

What the Cart template fills in:

3. Send the signal somewhere

Lapse emits cart_abandoned into Echo, and Echo only delivers an event to destinations whose event filter includes it (or that forward everything). If nothing is listening, the Emit panel in the editor shows a red warning: "No Echo destination is listening for cart_abandoned".

1. Go to Echo > Destinations and open, or add, the destination that should receive the signal: a Custom destination pointing at your CRM, an ad platform, or Lens.
2. Add cart_abandoned to its Event Filter, or leave the filter empty to forward everything.
3. Save. Back in the journey editor, the Emit panel now says "An Echo destination is listening for cart_abandoned. It will be delivered."

Check it worked

• The Lapse dashboard shows no red callout at the top. Red callouts mean Echo is not sending events to Lapse, the Lapse destination is filtering out an event the journey needs, or nothing is listening for the emitted event.
• After real traffic, the dashboard tiles change from a dash to numbers: Sessions Entered, Signals Emitted, Completed and Lapse Rate, all for the last 7 days. A dash means nothing has been counted yet, not zero.
• The first signal arrives no sooner than the window length after a real add to cart: 35 minutes of inactivity with this template.

Why forward everything

An inactivity window measures silence, and Lapse can only see the events Echo forwards to it. If the Lapse destination forwards only cart events, a shopper who keeps browsing with a full cart looks idle and is called abandoned while still shopping. Forwarding everything, or at least page_view and session_start as well as the journey's own events, keeps the clock honest. The editor warns when the filter is too narrow.