Meet
Neura HQ,
Your connected AI Agent Workforce Know more
To buy or not to buy, that is the question.
And this question pops up in the customer’s mind at various stages of their journey. It could be when they add your products to the cart or before they make the purchase.
Understanding when and where that hesitation kicks in can be the difference between a lost sale and a happy customer. That’s why we’re diving into the twin culprits of lost revenue: cart abandonment and checkout abandonment.
Most marketers focus on the former, while very few pay enough attention to checkout abandonment—despite it happening much closer to the finish line.
Read on to understand why shoppers leave and what you can do to prevent it.
While both mean a sale didn’t happen, they occur at different stages of the purchase funnel:
As the name suggests, cart abandonment is when a shopper adds products to their cart but leaves before making it to the checkout. Let’s say a customer called Carter Vanish walks into your store and fills their cart with a lot of products. You’re very excited about the sale, But then—without warning—Carter leaves the cart right in the middle of the aisle and strolls out like nothing happened.
This might not be a common occurrence in a physical store, but the average cart abandonment rate is 70.19% in online stores.
Why does this happen? Let’s find out.
For most people, shopping, especially window shopping, is therapeutic. After a long day, they visit an online store, browse products, and add them to the cart to either compare prices or see what the total comes up to. They don’t really have the intention to buy just yet.
What can you do?
Almost half the shoppers leave their carts because of unexpected additional costs like shipping, taxes, and fees. Sometimes, they just add products to their cart to see what the total comes up to.
What you can do:
Some customers just like to collect things in their cart for later. Instead of using a dedicated wishlist feature (if one even exists), countless customers simply toss items they like into their cart, where they can easily find and review them later. It’s a digital habit that feels as natural as pinning ideas on Pinterest or bookmarking a recipe for “someday.”
What you can do:
Who doesn’t love a sale or a discount? If your store or marketplace has frequent discounts, shoppers might “pre-shop,” adding items to their cart ahead of time and waiting for the sale to hit before checking out. It’s like reserving the products they want for the sale day.
What you can do:
Most customers are worried about payment safety, product authenticity, or whether you'll ghost them post-purchase.
What you can do:
A confusing or no-return policy is often a dealbreaker because no one wants to be stuck with the wrong size or a product that doesn’t match the photos.
What you can do:
If your website or mobile app is difficult to navigate, has a higher load time, or is buggy, shoppers are more likely to bounce.
What you can do:
Let’s talk about the heartbreak that hits closer to the finish line: checkout abandonment. This happens when your customer has added items to their cart and clicked that promising “checkout” button, but for some reason, they leave right before the payment. Brutal.
Say Carter finally returns, pushes his cart to the checkout counter, you scan all his products, and generate the bill. So far, so good. When they’re about to give you their credit card, they walk out.
This is very rare in a physical store, but unfortunately, it happens a lot online. Curious to find out why?
Baymard Institute conducted a quantitative study to understand the reasons for abandonment. Here’s what they found out:
Additional costs like shipping, taxes, and delivery charges often spike the total cost at the checkout stage, driving customers away.
What you can do:
Marketplaces like Amazon have set the bar sky-high with one-day or even same-day delivery. So when your delivery timeline is too long or unclear, customers might decide it's not worth the wait and move on. ‍
What you can do:
As shoppers enter sensitive information, they are often skeptical at the checkout phase. About 25% may abandon if the checkout page doesn’t appear secure, lacks familiar trust signals, or introduces unexpected redirects.
What you can do:
If registration is forced during checkout, customers may quit even after starting the process, especially if they hoped for a guest login option. This is often a deciding factor for second-stage abandonment.
What you can do:
22% of shoppers cite lengthy, multi-step checkouts, excessive form fields, or confusing navigation in the checkout flow as their reason for leaving after starting the process.
What you can do:
13% of customers won’t complete checkout if their preferred payment method is not available.
What you can do:
About 9% of abandonments happen because of card declines or other transaction failures. Sometimes it's due to insufficient funds, but often, it’s because of poor error handling or the lack of alternative payment options. When users don’t understand why a payment failed—or don’t have another way to pay—they simply drop off.
What you can do:
Whether the shopper leaves at checkout or before that, abandonment stings just the same. But the good news is there are plenty of ways to turn things around.
Start by collecting user feedback at key drop-off points to understand why they left. Use exit-intent popups to offer last-minute discounts, highlight shipping or return policies, or simply reassure them. Live support during checkout can help answer last-minute questions and reduce hesitation. And don’t forget to send abandoned cart or checkout reminders through channels like WhatsApp or email.
Ready to recover lost sales?
With ZEPIC, segmenting abandoners, setting up flows, and sending conversion-friendly campaigns is as easy as it gets. Get a demo today!
Cart Abandonment Rate = (1 - (Completed Purchases Ă· Total Carts)) Ă— 100
Let’s say 1,000 carts were created on your store, but only 300 of those resulted in a purchase.
Cart Abandonment Rate = (1 - (300 Ă· 1000)) Ă— 100 = 0.7 Ă— 100
So, your cart abandonment rate is 70%.
Checkout Abandonment Rate = (1 - (Completed Purchases Ă· Checkouts Initiated)) Ă— 100
For example, if 600 customers initiated checkout, but only 400 completed the purchase:
Checkout Abandonment Rate = (1 - (400 Ă· 600)) Ă— 100 = 0.3333 Ă— 100
Your checkout abandonment rate is 33.33%.
Sending the first reminder within 1 hour of abandonment yields the best open and recovery rates.
A second and third message (e.g., at 12 and 24 hours) can boost recoveries without feeling spammy.
Yes, returning visitors and loyal customers tend to abandon less as they trust your brand and are more familiar with your process.
Focusing on building loyalty can help lower abandonment rates.
Roughly 10–15% of users return to complete checkout on their own—even without prompts.
This rises to 20–30% if you use reminders, retargeting ads, or incentives.
%201.png)
.jpg)
.jpg)
