What is a good Cart Abandonment Rate?

A good Cart Abandonment Rate is Below 70%. Top performers achieve Below 60%.

What's the main cause of cart abandonment?

According to Baymard Institute: unexpected extra costs (48%), required account creation (24%), complicated checkout (17%), couldn't see total upfront (16%), and delivery too slow (15%). Address these five issues first.

How effective are abandoned cart emails?

Very effective. They have 45% open rates and 21% click rates on average. About 10% of abandoned cart emails result in a recovered purchase. A good 3-email sequence can recover 5-15% of abandoned carts.

Should I always offer a discount to recover abandoned carts?

No. Start with a simple reminder (1 hour), then address common objections like shipping or returns (24 hours). Only offer a discount in the final email (48-72 hours), and keep it small (10-15%). Many carts recover without any discount.

Core Metrics & KPIs

Cart Abandonment Rate

Q: How do you calculate Cart Abandonment Rate?

Cart Abandonment Rate = [(Carts Created - Completed Purchases) / Carts Created] × 100

The percentage of shoppers who add items to their shopping cart but leave without completing the purchase.

1 min readLast updated Apr 2026

Formula

Cart Abandonment Rate=[(Carts Created - Completed Purchases)/Carts Created] × 100

Example: Abandonment Rate = (10,000 - 2,800) / 10,000 = 72%. If they reduce to 65%: 3,500 purchases × $120 = $420,000 vs. current $336,000

The percentage of shoppers who add items to their shopping cart but leave without completing the purchase.

Why It Matters

Cart abandonment represents your biggest pool of 'almost customers'—people who wanted your product enough to add it to cart but hit a friction point. Reducing abandonment from 70% to 60% doesn't sound dramatic, but it means converting 33% more carts into orders. That's often easier and cheaper than acquiring new traffic.

Formula

Cart Abandonment Rate=[(Carts Created - Completed Purchases)/Carts Created] × 100

Example: Abandonment Rate = (10,000 - 2,800) / 10,000 = 72%. If they reduce to 65%: 3,500 purchases × $120 = $420,000 vs. current $336,000

Benchmarks

Good Performance

Below 70%

Top Performers

Below 60%

Practical Example

Scenario

A fashion brand has 10,000 add-to-carts per month but only 2,800 completed purchases. Their AOV is $120.

Calculation

Abandonment Rate = (10,000 - 2,800) / 10,000 = 72%. If they reduce to 65%: 3,500 purchases × $120 = $420,000 vs. current $336,000

Result

Reducing abandonment by 7 percentage points would generate $84,000 in additional monthly revenue—a 25% increase from the same traffic.

In-Depth Explanation

The average rate is 70.22% according to Baymard Institute—reducing abandonment is one of the highest-ROI activities.

Pro Tips

1Implement abandoned cart email flows with 3 emails: 1 hour (reminder), 24 hours (overcome objections), 72 hours (urgency/incentive).
2Show shipping costs and delivery estimates BEFORE checkout. Unexpected costs are the #1 abandonment reason (48% of cases).
3Add guest checkout. Forcing account creation causes 24% of abandonments. Let them check out first, create account after.
4Display trust signals at checkout: security badges, reviews, clear return policy, and accepted payment methods.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Offering discounts too quickly in abandoned cart emails. Start with a reminder, then address objections—only use discounts as a last resort or you train customers to abandon.

Not optimizing for mobile checkout. Mobile has 85%+ abandonment rates vs. 70% desktop. Simplify forms and add mobile payment options.

Ignoring checkout page speed. A 1-second delay at checkout increases abandonment by 7%. Your checkout should be your fastest page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Tools

Free Shopify Store Audit

Related Terms

Conversion Rate

CVR

The percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action, typically a purchase.

Abandoned Cart Flow

An automated sequence triggered when someone adds items to cart but doesn't checkout.

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