Cart abandonment rate is a key indicator in the world of ecommerce. A visitor arrives on your site, browses through your products, adds items to their shopping cart... and then, when it’s time to place an order, the prospect leaves without finalizing their purchase. This is known as cart abandonment. But why is this so important? Because behind every abandoned cart, there’s a missed sales opportunity. It’s a potential customer who was ready to buy, but, for one reason or another, changed their mind. Reducing this abandonment rate means improving the user experience, increasing sales, and strengthening customer loyalty. And therein lies the challenge: understanding the reasons for abandonment and taking action. Every little improvement counts, and every detail can make a difference.
CALCULATE CART ABANDONMENT RATE
Calculating your shopping cart abandonment rate is a powerful tool for finding out what’s working well and, more importantly, what’s holding consumers back. It gives you a clear picture of the effectiveness of your sales process. If you see a high rate, it means there are friction points that you need to identify and correct quickly.
But the benefits don’t stop there. By regularly monitoring this rate, you can track the impact of any changes you make to your site. For example, if you add a new payment method, you can observe whether this reduces the abandonment rate. Similarly, A/B tests on product presentation or payment page structure can reveal effective solutions for improving the customer experience.
Thanks to this calculation, you can act quickly to minimize potential losses and boost your conversion rate.
| 🛒 Total number of carts created | Total number of shopping carts created by users on your site |
| 💳 Number of completed transactions | Number of carts that turned into actual purchases |
| ❌ Cart abandonment rate (%) | Percentage of customers who created a cart but did not complete the purchase. |
HOW DO YOU CALCULATE CART ABANDONMENT RATE?
Cart abandonment rate is calculated by dividing the number of completed transactions by the total number of shopping carts created, subtracting this result from 1, and then multiplying by 100 to obtain a percentage. This calculation measures the proportion of customers who did not complete their purchase.
How about taking the average order value calculator a step further?
OUR TIPS FOR OPTIMIZING CART ABANDONMENT RATE
To optimize the cart abandonment rate and transform these missed opportunities into actual transactions towards a better conversion rate, there are several strategies that you can implement:
- Simplify the checkout process
Nothing is more frustrating for a customer than having to go through a long and complicated checkout process. Give your future customers the option of paying as guests without creating an account, and limit the information requested to what’s strictly necessary.
- Improve your site’s layout and speed
A busy, slow site can be discouraging and lead to shopping cart abandonment. Make sure that your site’s pages, especially the shopping cart and checkout pages, load quickly.
- Use remarketing
Remarketing is a powerful lever for bringing back customers who have abandoned their shopping carts. For example, you can send a personalized follow-up email with a special offer or a reminder of items left in the shopping cart. Targeted advertising on social networks or search engines can also be effective in bringing them back to your site and reminding them of you!
- Reassure your customers
Clearly display the logos of your secure payment partners, offer money-back guarantees, and display easily accessible customer support to reassure customers and encourage them to complete their purchase. The more confidence your customers have in you, the more straightforward their purchasing decision will be!
CART ABANDONMENT RATE FAQ
What is cart abandonment?
Cart abandonment occurs when a customer adds items to their online cart but does not complete the purchase.
Why is cart abandonment rate important?
Cart abandonment rate shows how many potential customers interested in items leave the site without buying, which represents lost sales. Reducing it directly increases sales and helps to identify problems in the purchasing process.
How do you calculate add-to-cart rate?
In contrast to cart abandonment rate, to calculate the add-to-cart rate, divide the total number of items added to the cart by the total number of visits to the site, then multiply by 100 to obtain a percentage. This rate indicates the proportion of visitors who show an interest in adding items to their shopping cart.
Create your online store with Wizishop
Access, browse and test all of our features with our 7-day trial, no strings attached
