What is Cart Abandonment Rate?
Cart abandonment rate is the percentage of online shoppers who add items to their shopping cart but leave the website before completing their purchase. The metric serves as a valuable tool for uncovering inefficiencies in your checkout process and other areas of the conversion funnel.
Tracking and addressing cart abandonment is crucial for eCommerce businesses. A high cart abandonment rate can signal issues with your shopping experience that can alienate potential customers and lower your brand’s reputation in the process. In contrast, a lower abandonment rate tends to correlate with higher conversion rates and a higher quality shopping experience for your audience.
Common Reasons for Cart Abandonment
Lowering cart abandonment rates first requires that you know exactly what is causing shoppers to leave with items in their carts. Below are a few of the most common reasons for shopping cart abandonment:
Unexpected Costs
Hidden fees such as shipping, taxes, or duties are among the most common reasons for cart abandonment. Baymard research shows that 48% of shoppers abandon their carts when extra costs are unexpectedly added at checkout. Transparency about pricing throughout the shopping process can help reduce this issue.
Mandatory Account Creation
Most shoppers seek a quick and seamless checkout process. Requiring account creation can frustrate first-time customers, especially if your checkout process includes a lot of forms to fill out. Baymard research shows that 26% of cart abandonments occur because customers are forced to create an account.
Slow Delivery Options
Modern consumers value convenience and speed. Long shipping times can cause many potential buyers to abandon their carts. When evaluating products, many shoppers will compare shipping times of different stores, opting to go with whoever can provide faster delivery.
How to Calculate Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate?
You can calculate cart abandonment rate using the following steps:
- Divide the number of completed transactions by the total number of carts created.
- Subtract the result from 1.
- Multiply by 100 to get the percentage.
Let’s look at an example. Say you have 1,000 customers add items to their cart and only 300 complete the purchase. In this case, your cart abandonment rate is:
(1 − (300 / 1,000)) × 100 = 70%
Most modern eCommerce platforms include abandoned cart metrics as part of their analytics offering. This saves you from having to manually gather the necessary data and perform the calculations yourself.
Tips for Lowering Abandonment Rates
Here are some quick tips to help lower cart abandonment rates:
Offer Guest Checkout Options
Allowing customers to complete their purchases without creating an account eliminates unnecessary steps and friction during checkout. Guest checkout also appeals to users who prefer not to store sensitive information online.
Implement Abandoned Cart Recovery Strategies
Implementing an abandoned cart recovery strategy can help you recover purchases from some of the individuals that leave with items in their carts. Some common abandoned cart recovery tactics include:
- Email reminders: Send automated messages reminding users of the items left in their cart, often paired with incentives like discounts or free shipping.
- SMS notifications: A quick, personalized text can prompt customers to complete their purchase.
- AI chat: Use a conversational AI chat tool like Rep AI to engage users in real-time live chat messages offering assistance and a reminder to complete their purchase.
