Cart abandonment rate
Cart abandonment rate is the percentage of visitors who add products to the shopping cart but leave your webshop without completing the purchase. For most webshops, it's around 60-80% - and that represents a huge potential revenue stream.
What is the cart abandonment rate?
The cart abandonment rate is calculated by dividing the number of completed purchases by the number of carts created and subtracting that result from 100%. If 1,000 visitors add products to their carts but only 300 complete the purchase, your cart abandonment rate is 70%.
Formula: Cart abandonment rate = (1 - Completed purchases / Created carts) × 100
What is considered normal?
The average across industries is typically 69–70%, according to the Baymard Institute. But it varies:
- Fashion and clothing: 70–75% (size uncertainty)
- Electronics: 65–70% (price comparison)
- Groceries: 50–60% (higher purchase intent)
- Travel: 80–85% (long decision-making process)
Why do customers abandon their carts?
The most common reasons, according to the Baymard Institute:
- Unexpected costs (48%): Shipping, fees, and sales tax that only appear at checkout. The leading cause of cart abandonment.
- Mandatory account creation (26%): Customers who just want to make a quick purchase give up if they have to create an account.
- Checkout takes too long (22%): Too many steps and fields in the checkout process.
- Unclear total cost (21%): The customer cannot calculate the total price in advance.
- Lack of trust (18%): The customer is unsure whether the site is secure for making payments.
- Missing payment method (13%): The preferred payment method is not available.
- Delivery time is too long (12%): The delivery time is too long or unspecified.
How to Reduce Cart Abandonment
Show costs early
Display shipping and delivery costs on the product page or in the cart—not just at checkout. No surprises.
Offer guest checkout
Let customers pay without creating an account. You can always offer account creation after the purchase.
Simplify checkout
Reduce the number of steps and fields to the absolute minimum. Autofill, ZIP code lookup, and real-time form validation speed up the process.
Offer multiple payment methods
MobilePay, Apple Pay, Klarna, and credit/debit cards cover the preferences of most Danish customers.
Build trust
Display trust badges, Trustpilot reviews, security certifications, and clear contact information.
Abandoned cart emails
One of the most effective ways to recover abandoned carts is through automated email reminders. Statistics show that abandoned cart emails have an open rate of 40–45% and a conversion rate of 10–15%.
Shoporama has a built-in abandoned cart email (basket_mail) that can send an automatic reminder to customers who have left products in their cart. The email can include the specific products and a direct link back to the cart.
Measure Your Cart Abandonment Rate
Track the cart abandonment rate in Google Analytics 4 using funnel analysis:
- Create a funnel with the following steps: Product View → Add to Cart → Start Checkout → Purchase
- Identify the step with the highest abandonment rate
- Segment by device (mobile vs. desktop), traffic source, and customer segment
- Compare over time to see the impact of your changes
How to Use Shoporama
Guides that demonstrate the concept in practice
Open baskets - View and restore abandoned shopping carts
Abandoned baskets statistics - understand and reduce lost sales
See how many shopping carts are abandoned, what your recovery rate is and how reminder emails help you save lost...
What is the difference between open basket and closed basket?
Understand the difference between open and closed baskets in Shoporama - stock reservation, customer experience and...
We know online marketing in Shoporama
We've been working with online marketing ourselves for decades. As the only shop system in the country, we have spoken multiple times at conferences such as Marketingcamp, SEOday, Shopcamp, Digital Marketing, E-commerce Manager, Ecommerce Day, Web Analytics Wednesday and many more.