What You Can Learn From These Frightening Shopping Cart Abandonment Statistics?

Shopping cart abandonment is one of the biggest challenges most eCommerce businesses face. According to a study, 70.19% of shoppers leave without completing their purchase.

Marketers and eCommerce store owners have been battling this right from the inception of eCommerce. Despite significant technological advancements, shopping cart abandonment remains a mystery.

That said, online retailers can recover most of the lost revenue through various marketing activities such as ad retargeting, personalized email campaigns, live chat assistance, remarketing, and more.

But before they decide to nip it in the bud, it is essential to know why customers abandon their carts.

And for that, data is the key. By analyzing shopping behavior, businesses can craft targeted strategies to reduce online shopping cart abandonment and boost conversions.

So, let’s dive into the numbers and explore key cart abandonment statistics.

Ready? 

7 Frightening Facts About Shopping Cart Abandonment

1. Brands Can Lose $18 Billion in Yearly Sales Revenue Due to Cart Abandonment 

According to Forrester Research, businesses collectively forfeit as much as $18 billion in yearly sales revenue due to abandoned carts, a number that could rise to $4 trillion in the coming years.

To minimize these losses, businesses must implement strategies that streamline the checkout process, enhance user experience, and proactively re-engage potential buyers. 

From enabling guest checkout and optimizing mobile responsiveness to providing multiple payment options and leveraging personalized retargeting campaigns, every touchpoint should be designed to reduce friction. Implementing exit-intent popups, providing real-time assistance, and using urgency tactics like limited-time discounts can further encourage conversions and recover lost sales.

2. Mobile Users Abandon Carts at a Higher Rate of 70-85% Than Desktop Users. 

According to Barilliance, “The smaller the size of the screen, the more likely a customer will abandon the cart. This is one of the biggest challenges because, for the first time, more digital buyers are using smartphones than desktops to shop.”

Slow loading speed, poor navigation, and a complex design are some reasons why the cart abandonment rate is higher for mobile users.

Here’s how you can fix the online shopping cart abandonment rate on mobiles:

• Optimize mobile site speed by using free tools such as Google’s mobile-friendly test.
• While designing your website for smartphones, include only essential information in your copy to have a clutter-free design.
• Organize information by using mobile accordions (An accordion is a design element that expands in place to expose some hidden information. Unlike overlays, accordions push the page content down instead of being superposed on top of page content).
• Keep critical information above the digital fold so that customers don’t miss out on anything important.

Related Read: Supercharge Your eCommerce Sales With Analytics

3. Almost 26% of Shoppers Abandon Checkout Because They Are Forced to Create An Account.

eCommerce websites that require customers to create an account or make it difficult to skip registration risk losing buyers who want a lightning-fast checkout. The checkout process needs to be convenient, as each additional required field creates a barrier to completing a purchase. 

Providing your customers with higher visibility into the checkout process can help improve the customer experience. Make the checkout process easier for customers by offering guest checkout or restricting your checkout strictly to one page. 

4. About 57% of Online Shoppers Will Abandon Their Carts if a Page Doesn’t Load Within Three Seconds.

Today’s digital shoppers are impatient. This statistic highlights how long you have before a user leaves your site, reducing your cart abandonment rate.

The scarier part is that 80% of these customers will never return.

So, you need to optimize your site speed, streamline performance, and ensure every page loads within three seconds.

Related Read: Shrinking Shopping Cart Abandonment – The What, Why, and How

5. The Average eCommerce Checkout Flow Contains 11.3 Form Fields- with Studies Suggest That Optimizing It to 8 Fields Can Significantly Reduce Cart Abandonment Rates.

Shopping cart complexity and duration are two critical factors that increase the likelihood of someone abandoning their cart.

According to Baymard Institute, a long or complicated checkout process is the reason why 18% of shoppers abandon their cart. 

And as per experts, this creates friction during the checkout.

“During testing, we consistently observe that users are overwhelmed and intimidated when seeing a high amount of form fields and selections,” The Baymard Institute explains.

A fully optimized checkout flow in an eCommerce store has roughly half as many form elements and form fields.

So, you can follow these practices to reduce the cart abandonment rate:

• Use a single “Full Name” field instead of separate first and last name fields.
• Provide a single-line address field with auto-complete suggestions.
• Remove unnecessary fields or mark them as optional to avoid friction.
• Enable users to complete purchases without account creation.
• Pre-fill known details and auto-validate addresses for a seamless experience.
• Show checkout steps to guide users and reduce drop-offs.
• Customize error messages based on the specific issue triggering them.

6. Approximately 55% of Shoppers Abandon Their Carts if Required to Re-Enter Credit Card Information or Shipping Details

This statistic highlights that any major redundancy in the checkout process can negatively impact conversions.

As per Statista, 30 percent of shoppers will leave if they have to re-enter their credit card information, and 25 percent will leave if they have to re-enter their shipping information.

You can fix this issue by streamlining the checkout process, enabling auto-fill options, and securely saving customer details for future purchases to reduce friction and improve conversions.

7. 46% of Shoppers Abandon Their Carts Because a Discount Code Doesn’t Work

About 83% of consumers say coupons influence their shopping behavior, while 39% try new brands due to coupon offers. It is an effective way to get new business and instill customer loyalty.

However, when shoppers run into issues where a discount code doesn’t work, nearly 46 percent will abandon their cart.

The key is to ensure that all discount codes are clearly displayed, easily applicable, and regularly tested for functionality. Offering automatic discounts at checkout, providing alternative promotions, and displaying a troubleshooting guide can help prevent friction and reduce the shopping cart abandonment rate. Hiding the “Coupon Code” field by default can reduce checkout abandonment and avoid disrupting the purchase flow.

Moreover, sending a cart abandonment email with a personalized discount or alternative offer can help re-engage potential buyers and recover lost sales.

Related Read: Common Causes of Cart Abandonment and Solutions

Wrapping Up

Shopping cart abandonment remains one of the biggest challenges for eCommerce businesses, directly impacting revenue and growth. Now that you understand what cart abandonment is and the key reasons behind it, you can build a data-driven strategy for cart abandonment recovery and boosting conversions.

Leverage insights from cart abandonment statistics to refine your approach, track how to calculate cart abandonment rate, and use tools like Google Analytics to find cart abandonment patterns. Whether you’re tackling Shopify abandoned cart issues, optimizing checkout flows, or implementing a cart abandonment email strategy, proactive measures can help reduce online shopping cart abandonment and enhance the customer experience.

Partnering with an experienced eCommerce solutions provider can further help streamline checkout processes, integrate automation, and implement best practices to minimize abandoned cart issues.

References:

[i] Statista

[ii] Result First

[iii] eCommerce Bonsai

[iv] Baymard

[v] Drip

[vi] Snip