Cart abandonment is e-commerce’s biggest nightmare
In 2024, the global average shopping cart abandonment rate was a little over 70%. It fell down slightly from last year (less than 1%) but overall we are seeing a steady (but slow) raise.
Even with all that CRO, UX research and everything!
Of course I mean online, even though some people probably abandon their carts at real stores too. Mostly when they realize how much all those organic aubergines will be with the current inflation. And they’re still full of microplastics 😉
Let’s explore why people abandon their shopping carts, and also what I did after I was faced an extra $375 shipping fee, when I was expecting free shipping.
Only 30% of people finish the purchase
It means out of every 100 people who added stuff to their carts, 70 did not complete their purchase.
The abandonment rate varies between product categories. Obviously it’s easier to just window-shop in some categories – like hotels, than others – buying a toothbrush or paying for Netflix.
It’s not surprising then, that the travel sector had a high abandonment rate of nearly 79%.
Some industries like SaaS had a lower rate of around 52.72%. Some, like Luxury goods had a whopping 82+% of abandonment.
Which is understandable. Everyone wants to feel like they already own that ugly gucci status symbol, but paying for it is another story.
Or they went with a loan option and will be paying it off in 256 small installments. Yikes!
Device differences to optimize conversion
Mobile devices had a higher average abandonment rate of 69.02%, compared to 62.11% on desktops.
Take that you mobile first maximalists!
It’s obvious though. Desktops are considered our utilitarian devices. We get on our computers to actually get something done.
Phones are for doomscrolling and chill, so it’s easier to just let something go on a phone. Especially when a notification pops up.
Why do people abandon their cart?
I asked my community this question and there were some really good answers. Let me break them down and elaborate a little bit on each.
Extra costs
The primary reason people leave without paying is extra shipping, handling or customs cost. Nearly 50% of people cite this as their reason.
Here’s a personal example. I’m in Spain and I was purchasing a product from the US. The price was $640 and it even included a discount of 10%.
What a nice nudge, right?
But then when it came to the final payment, the shipping cost got calculated at an extra $375.
Now think about this. I was expecting a $640 payment and now I’m faced with over $1K!
Not only this is extremely expensive shipping, but it also breaks a psychological barrier of a thousand dollars for something that was “almost” half that.
This graph illustrates it well. If it’s an impulsive purchase, then the likelihood of abandoning the cart is extremely high.
If you really, REALLY want it there’s also a threshold for that. Especially when there aren’t many alternatives.
So what did I do? I went ahead with the purchase, but weren’t happy about it.
Having to create an account
Another big issue that over a quarter of people state as the reason is needing to create an account. People just want to buy stuff, not fill even more forms.
Having this as an incentivized option can work (register to get an extra -10%) but always give them the ability for fast-checkout.
Concerned about the credit card form
Many people are also concerned about credit card forms. If it’s not a site they know and trust they are more reluctant to add their card details on it.
I sold over $1M of products via Gumroad.com and when asking the users many said they didn’t feel the site was safe or trustworthy. Even when it’s one of the biggest in it’s category.
They had a PayPal checkout option and that eased up on that anxiety a little but…
I have a beef with PayPal. So I turned it off for my account – I don’t want to support that company and I have my reasons.
The result? A 23% decline in total sales. That’s a lot of revenue “lost” but I made this decision consciously. Sometimes you optimize conversions “down” if something doesn’t align with your morality.
Of course you don’t have to follow my footsteps and can optimize up instead – likely adding well known checkouts like PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay will increase your sales.
Especially when they’re those quick checkouts that don’t require any extra form filling.
Then there’s the obvious reasons for cart abandonment
Sometimes your website crashes. Or your checkout button is covered by a 10% off banner ad.
Yes, I’ve seen those happen!
To many people a bad refund/return policy can also contribute to abandonment. Another popular one is very slow delivery speed.
That often happens with inter-continental shipping. You’re almost ready to buy and then realize you need to wait 7-weeks minimum to get your product.
Disclosing average shipping times early (before final checkout) is the best way to solve it. Just make sure to stick to it.
Wishlists vs shopping carts in ecommerce
The surprising reason I got from the community is that many people use shopping carts as wishlists.
Nice! Trusting a cookie to hold long enough 😉
Best solution to this is to add a wishlist button on the checkout page – you leave your email and the system will nudge you in a specified time (next month?) or when the price of the product drops.
That way you keep those who may want to buy it, and still allow those that need it right now to make a purchase!
Optimizing for conversion
I feel like some of the biggest issues are actually outside of what “tech” can fix.
It’s where the value of the product lies.
Everything around it is also value. How you handle shipping, packaging, customer support.
Basically – are you serious about what you do or not?
Because if you are, and you still get high cart abandonment rates – likely fixing some UX will fix those too.
But you always need to start at the core of your business.
Data source: SellersCommerce(2024)