Abandoned Checkouts

Research consistently shows that a large share of e-commerce revenue is lost at checkout. According to the Baymard Institute (2024), the average documented cart abandonment rate sits at approximately 70%, meaning the majority of shoppers who begin checkout don't complete it.

For every dollar spent on acquiring customers, a significant portion of potential return evaporates at this final stage. Monitoring Abandoned Checkouts in dollar terms — not just as a count of sessions — gives you a clearer picture of the actual revenue impact.

High Abandoned Checkouts can signal:

• A friction-heavy checkout flow — too many steps, required account creation, or confusing form fields
• Unexpected costs — shipping fees, taxes, or fees revealed late in the process
• Limited payment options — missing preferred methods like digital wallets or buy-now-pay-later
• Trust concerns — unclear security signals or unfamiliar payment processors
• Technical issues — slow load times, mobile display problems, or errors during form submission

How to reduce abandoned checkouts

Simplify the checkout experience

Reduce the number of steps required to complete a purchase. Guest checkout, autofill support, and a visible progress indicator all lower the effort required from the customer. On mobile, large tap targets and minimal typing go a long way.

Be transparent about costs early

Surprise costs at checkout are one of the most common abandonment triggers. Display shipping estimates and any fees as early as possible — ideally on the product or cart page — so customers aren't caught off guard at the final step.

Expand payment options

Offer the methods your customers expect. Credit and debit cards remain standard, but digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay), buy-now-pay-later options, and local payment methods can meaningfully reduce drop-off, depending on your market.

Use abandonment recovery emails

Automated email sequences triggered by an incomplete checkout are one of the highest-ROI tactics in e-commerce. A well-timed reminder — sent within one to two hours of abandonment — can recover a meaningful share of lost orders. A follow-up email 24 hours later, optionally including a discount or free shipping offer, can recover additional revenue.

Segment your data

Aggregate Abandoned Checkouts figures tell you how much you're losing. Segmented data tells you why. Break down abandonment by:

• Device type — mobile abandonment rates are typically higher than desktop
• Traffic source — paid traffic may abandon at different rates than organic
• Customer type — new visitors often abandon more than returning customers
• Cart value — high-value orders may require more trust signals before converting
• Geography — shipping costs and payment preferences vary by region

Segmenting this way helps you prioritize which improvements will have the greatest impact.

Abandoned Checkouts vs. cart abandonment rate

These two metrics are related but measure different things.

Both are worth tracking together. The rate tells you how often abandonment is happening; the dollar value tells you how much it costs. A low-rate problem on high-value orders can be more damaging than a high-rate problem on low-value ones.

Connecting Abandoned Checkouts to broader performance

Abandoned Checkouts is a lagging indicator — it reflects what already happened. Pair it with leading indicators to get ahead of the problem:

• Checkout funnel drop-off rates — identify which specific step loses the most users
• Page load time at checkout — slow pages correlate directly with abandonment
• Error rates — track how often form submissions or payment attempts fail
• Session recordings and heatmaps — observe where users hesitate or exit

Reviewing these signals alongside your Abandoned Checkouts total helps you move from identifying the problem to diagnosing its cause.