What is cart abandonment, and why do shoppers leave?
Definition
Cart abandonment is when a visitor adds a product to the cart and leaves without completing the purchase. The Baymard Institute, which tracks published studies, puts the average documented rate at roughly 70%.
Why shoppers abandon
Research keeps returning to the same causes: extra costs such as shipping or tax appearing late, being asked to create an account, a long or confusing checkout, slow pages, and not trusting the store with payment details. Some abandonment is simply browsing and cannot be fixed.
What store owners can change
Show the full cost early, offer guest checkout, keep the form short, give a way to ask for help, and show return and security information at the cart. Follow-up emails to shoppers who left a contact address recover some sales.
How to read your own rate
Compare it with your own history and segment it by device. A sudden rise after a theme or app change points to a technical cause.
Frequently asked questions
Is 70% abandonment normal?
It is the long-run average in published studies. Your own rate can differ by category and price.
Does abandonment email work?
It recovers a share of lost carts when you have consent and a contact address, and it should be one part of a fix, not a replacement for one.