As of 2024, 70.19% of all online retail orders—e.g., shopping carts—had been abandoned instead of purchased. That’s according to data accumulated by independent research firm Baymard Institute.
The pain of shopping cart abandonment affects both small and large ecommerce businesses alike. But it’s only at scale that the pain truly intensifies.
Let’s say your ecommerce site brings in 125,000 visitors per month, your average order value is $100, and your visitor-to-sale conversion rate is 0.92%.
If you increased your conversion rate by a mere 0.5%, you’d add an extra $62,500 of revenue every month. Cumulatively, that’s an extra $690,000 every year.
Numbers like that are exactly why conversion-rate optimization is big business. The question is: Where should you start?
Table of contents
What is cart abandonment?
Cart abandonment is when a customer adds items to their online shopping cart in an ecommerce store, but then fails to complete the purchase. Shopping cart abandonment is common due to things like difficult checkout processes and high shipping costs.
Why does cart abandonment happen?
Why do people abandon carts in the first place? Baymard Institute’s research found the following common reasons:
- Extra costs (48%): Nearly half of shoppers abandon their carts due to unexpected additional costs like shipping, taxes, and fees. Transparency in pricing and free-shipping thresholds can help reduce this number.
- Required account creation (26%): Over a quarter of users abandon when forced to create an account. Offering a guest checkout option while highlighting the benefits of account creation can help mitigate this issue.
- Credit card security concerns (25%): A quarter of shoppers leave due to security concerns. Displaying security badges, SSL certificates, and trusted payment provider logos can help build trust.
- Slow delivery (23%): Delivery speed is the single most important factor for many customers. Offering multiple shipping options and clear delivery timeframes can help manage expectations.
- Complex checkout (22%): A complicated checkout process deters customers. Streamlining the process and letting customers use saved information can improve completion rates. That’s why tools like Shop Pay can convert as much as 50% better than typical guest checkouts.
- Hidden total costs (21%): Shoppers want to see their total cost upfront. Adding a running cart total that includes all fees can prevent last-minute abandonment.
- Unsatisfactory returns (18%): A clear, customer-friendly returns policy is essential for building trust and encouraging purchases, especially for first-time customers.
- Website errors (17%): Technical issues directly impact sales. Regular testing and monitoring can help identify and fix problems before they affect customers.
- Limited payment options (13%): Offering diverse payment methods, including digital wallets like Shop Pay and buy now, pay later (BNPL) options, can help capture more sales.
- Card declines (9%): You can minimize payment declines by implementing clear error messages and providing alternative payment options when declines occur.
What’s the average shopping cart abandonment rate?
The average cart abandonment rate is just over 70%. Baymard Institute estimates that $260 billion in lost orders is recoverable in the US and EU solely through better checkout flow and design. If you’re running a Shopify store, let’s look at ways to reduce cart abandonment and recover lost sales.
Calculating cart abandonment rates
Platforms like Shopify analytics will automatically show you cart abandonment rates. But if you want to calculate on your own, here is the formula.
Cart Abandonment Rate = (Number of Abandoned Carts / Number of Carts Created) × 100
For example, if 100 visitors add items to their carts, but only 40 go through with the purchase, the number of abandoned carts is 60. Plugging this into the formula:
Cart Abandonment Rate = (60 / 100) x 100 = 60%
12 ways to reduce shopping cart abandonment
- Leverage first-party data to personalize shopping experiences
- Send abandoned cart emails
- Start a rewards program
- Use live chat
- Offer many payment options
- Simplify checkout
- Use exit-intent popups
- Run retargeting ads
- Build trust during checkout
- Use social proof
- Make returns easy
- Send push notifications
1. Leverage first-party data to personalize shopping experiences
The decline of third-party cookies has made it harder for retailers to track visitors and run marketing campaigns.
In response, they are turning to first-party data, or information collected directly from shoppers, to power personalized marketing campaigns. Using insights from first-party data, you can highlight the most relevant deals, streamline the checkout process, and provide VIP treatment that persuades customers to stay until the transaction is complete.
Shopify’s platform brings together interactions across all devices, channels, and sessions into a single, coherent profile for each shopper. Thanks to this unified view, your store can:
- Recognize returning customers and adapt instantly to their known preferences.
- Offer custom product suggestions, exclusive discounts, and expedited checkout based on their past behavior.
- Provide a consistently cohesive experience, whether shoppers return the same day or several days later.
Ultimately, this level of personalization addresses the core reasons people abandon carts: too many steps, lack of relevance, or surprise fees. The more you tailor the buying journey to their needs, the more likely they’ll finalize their purchase.
2. Send abandoned cart emails
Most ecommerce marketers dread cart abandonment. But here’s the fun part: cart recovery actually makes you money. Data from Klaviyo found that customers in their dataset generated more than $60 million in sales from cart abandonment email campaigns over a three-month window.
Cart recovery emails also have the best performance across any email marketing strategy. Overall performance metrics for abandoned cart emails in Klaviyo’s dataset included:
- Open rate: 41.18%
- Click rate: 9.50%
- Revenue per recipient: $5.81
If you want to leverage email and SMS abandoned cart recovery, add the Klaviyo app to your store. Klaviyo is an official Shopify strategic partner. Brands like Glossier, Osea, and Loeffler Randal use Klaviyo’s powerful automation features to create profitable email marketing campaigns.
You can also sync Klaviyo to all your Shopify data, such as website activity, tags, catalog, and coupons, and benchmark your business performance against other brands like yours.
3. Start a rewards program
Rewards programs turn regular customers into high spenders. They can lead to customers buying more products from you versus a competitor’s store.
Fortunately, you can start a rewards program easily today with two Shopify apps:
- Smile powers loyalty, referrals, and VIP rewards programs. Creating a program takes minutes, and you’re supported by a 24/7 team of experts.
- LoyaltyLion helps you create an advocate community with referrals, reviews, and other actions.
These apps assist you in encouraging repeat purchases by letting online shoppers earn and redeem points. You can customize your program to match your brand identity and integrate with other partners, like Klaviyo.
4. Use live chat
Live chat is another way to reduce Shopify cart abandonment. You can use live chat to help customers with orders and provide customer support. For example, an agent answers questions customers have about a product, so they’re less likely to abandon it.
Shopify Inbox is a free messaging tool that lets you chat with customers while they shop. You can manage conversations from online store chat, Shop app, Instagram, and Messenger. Significantly, 70% of all Shopify Inbox conversations are with shoppers making a purchase.
While you chat, you can use real-time customer data like products viewed, what’s in their cart, and past orders to tailor each message. You can even recommend products and give discounts without leaving the chat.
5. Offer many payment options
One of the top reasons shoppers abandon carts is because there aren’t enough payment methods. By providing multiple payment options, you can increase the chances of customers completing their purchase.
Notice how Culture Kings offers various express checkout options in its cart. Shoppers can choose between Shop Pay, PayPal, Google Pay, or Meta Pay, or pay with a credit or debit card.
When choosing a payment provider, consider the countries where your business is located and where your customers live. Shopify’s list of payment gateways by country will help you learn which ones are available in your target country and the types of currencies they support.
With Shopify Payments, you can skip lengthy third-party activations and set up payment methods in one click. You can offer a number of express checkout options, and even additional methods of payment like cryptocurrency.
6. Simplify checkout
Quick and easy checkout experiences will lower your cart abandonment rate and recover lost sales. In fact, two in three consumers expect to check out in four minutes or less, according to the latest data.
Set up a side cart to make accessing the shopping cart easy. You can see how Kylie Cosmetics uses a side cart that lets browsers see its products, choose free samples, and browse bestsellers. With Shop app, customers can “favorite” or offer a “save for later” option to purchase later.
After clicking through to the checkout page, shoppers can choose the Shop Pay option and quickly pay for their purchase. All their information is saved, so checkout takes seconds.
To activate Shop Pay:
- From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Payments.
- In the Shopify Payments section, click Manage.
- In the Shop Pay section, check Shop Pay.
- Click Save.
7. Use exit-intent popups
Exit popups entice website visitors and potential customers to take action before leaving your site. Using these popups, you can offer a discount code or free shipping to customers who are about to abandon their cart.
According to data from OptiMonk, cart abandonment popups have an average conversion rate of 17.12%.
Beauty brand Truly uses Privy to prompt a “spin to win” popup for customers leaving their site. You can win a free item or discount just by spinning the wheel, which increases the likelihood of conversion. It’s also a fun and easy user experience that rewards potential customers.
With a Shopify app like Privy, you can track a site visitor’s movements on a page and prompt an event (like a popup or spin to win) when it detects the visitor is about to leave. It also offers templates to create popups quickly, automated A/B testing to see which popups perform best, and tools to grow your email list.
You can also pull products directly into your Privy account, sync your coupon offerings to your campaigns, and more.
8. Run retargeting ads
Most people won’t buy the first time they visit your store. In fact, online retailers generally convert only around 3% of their traffic. This leaves a massive pool of potential customers who need an extra nudge to complete their purchase.
Retargeting displays ads to people who’ve shown genuine interest, like those who visited your site and added items to their cart, but didn’t check out. Because these potential buyers are already familiar with your brand and further along in the conversion funnel, a well-timed reminder or incentive—like a discount code or free shipping—can often seal the deal.
With retargeting ads, you can:
- Remind them of the products left in their shopping cart.
- Incentivize them with a limited-time discount or free shipping.
- Personalize your messaging based on the exact items they showed interest in.
