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Is shopping cart abandonment killing your eCommerce conversions? Check these winning checkout tactics to stop the sales drain.
Understanding the causes of cart abandonment
You’ve probably seen it countless times: A customer lands on your online store, explores your products and adds items to the cart. And then… nothing happens. The customer leaves your site and sometimes never returns. This broken customer journey at checkout happens more often than you think, and affects businesses across every industry and region.
For instance, the global cart abandonment rate was around 70% in 2024. In Europe, the average cart abandonment rate across the region was about 73% in the third quarter of 2024, with mobile devices showing the highest abandonment rates at 90%, desktops at 83% and tablets at 68%. The financial impact of cart abandonment is substantial.
In other words, whether you’re a growing brand or an established retailer, cart abandonment solutions should be a top priority.
While customers might not explicitly tell you why they’re leaving your eCommerce site, they offer clues. These are crucial to understanding the causes of your high cart abandonment rate and hinting at solutions you can implement to minimize this rate. Let’s explore the most important causes:
- High shipping costs: 48% of online shoppers abandon shopping carts when faced with unexpected extra costs, such as shipping fees and taxes, during checkout. If users are bailing on your site after seeing how much shipping costs, this might be a solution to explore.
- Unexpected additional charges: Surprise charges like taxes or handling fees at checkout are a surefire way to lose customer trust.
- Complicated checkout process: A convoluted process with too many form fields and unnecessary steps can frustrate customers and drive them away.
- Forced account creation: Many shoppers simply want a quick, one-time purchase — forcing them to create an account can feel intrusive or unnecessary. If guest checkout isn’t easy to find, you’re likely losing customers who want to get in and out.
- Lack of trust or security concerns: In an era plagued by data breaches and cyber threats, trust is paramount in eCommerce. Customers are understandably cautious about sharing their personal and financial information with unfamiliar websites.
- Comparison shopping and discount code hunting: Consumers browse multiple sites to find the best deals. Many also abandon their carts mid-checkout to search for promo codes. You risk losing out if your pricing, value proposition or incentives aren’t competitive or clearly stated.
- Limited payment options: Customers have diverse preferences regarding how they want to pay for their purchases. Don't let limited payment options prevent you from making a sale.
- Out-of-stock or inventory inaccuracies: Nothing is more frustrating than adding an item to your cart, only to find it unavailable during checkout. If your inventory management isn’t synced in real time, it can lead to unnecessary abandonment and a loss of trust.
- No clear return policy: If shoppers aren’t sure how returns work, they may hesitate to order, especially for items like clothing, electronics or higher-value goods. Transparency in your return and refund policies can alleviate this uncertainty.
- Slow site or poor mobile performance: Mobile abandonment rates are often higher due to slow load times, unresponsive design, or clunky UX. In fact, they can reach up to 90%. A smooth, fast mobile experience is essential for retaining users.
Top 8 strategies for cart abandonment recovery
Now that we’ve identified the main issues, here are key battle-tested strategies for reclaiming abandoned carts and steering customers toward conversion.
1. Streamline the checkout process
Keep it simple! Minimize form fields, offer guest checkout options and guide customers with progress indicators. The goal is to make the checkout process as frictionless as possible, reducing the likelihood of abandonment at this critical customer journey stage.
2. Transparent pricing
Display shipping costs upfront, avoid surprise charges like taxes and additional fees, and consider offering discounts, free shipping thresholds or flat-rate shipping. Transparency breeds strong confidence from your customers.
3. Build trust and credibility
Seal the deal with trust badges and security seals displayed prominently on your website, clear return policies and glowing customer reviews. Trust is the currency of the digital age, and establishing trust with your customers is essential for long-term success.
4. Optimize for mobile
Don’t let small screens lead to big frustrations. Ensure your website is mobile-responsive and offers seamless navigation and payment options. With most internet traffic coming from mobile devices, optimizing for mobile is no longer optional — it's a necessity.
5. Personalization and remarketing
Show your customers some love with personalized recommendations and abandoned cart email campaigns. Leverage data and analytics to deliver targeted messages that resonate with your audience and encourage them to complete their purchase.
6. Use abandoned cart recovery campaigns
Email and SMS retargeting can recover lost revenue. Automated messages personalized with product images and discounts can entice customers to complete their orders.
7. Offer flexible payment options
Include popular payment providers like PayPal, Apple Pay, Klarna or Afterpay. If you operate internationally, ensure you provide local payment methods. The more flexible you are, the more likely you are to close the sale.
8. Provide real-time support
Whether it’s a chatbot, live chat or visible support options, offering help when users have questions or get stuck can improve checkout success.
How to calculate cart abandonment rate and other metrics to measure and analyze
As the saying goes, “Only what gets measured gets managed.” Keep a close eye on these key metrics to gauge the effectiveness of your cart abandonment reduction strategies:
Cart abandonment rate: The percentage of shopping carts abandoned before completing a purchase. A high abandonment rate indicates potential friction points in the checkout process that must be addressed.
Conversion rate: The percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action, such as purchasing. A high conversion rate indicates that your website and checkout process convert visitors into customers.
Average order value (AOV): The average amount customers spend per order. Increasing AOV through upselling and cross-selling tactics can help boost revenue and profitability.
Customer lifetime value (CLV): The total revenue a customer is expected to generate over their lifetime. Fostering long-term customer relationships and maximizing CLV is essential for sustainable growth and profitability.
Return on investment (ROI): The profitability of your cart abandonment reduction efforts relative to the resources invested. Analyzing ROI allows you to assess the effectiveness of your strategies and allocate resources accordingly.
Spotlight: Why guest checkout is critical for eCommerce conversions
Guest checkout is a critical element in any cart recovery solution. When customers are forced to create an account, many abandon their carts due to perceived effort or concern over spam. By providing a guest checkout as part of the default experience — and not a hidden option — you can unlock a higher volume of conversions. In other words, guest checkout should never be:
- Buried under account creation prompts.
- Labeled ambiguously (“Continue with email” or “Checkout now”).
- Offered only after users enter personal details.
Instead, make it visible, intuitive, and clearly labeled. In addition, using buttons instead of text links and placing the option above the fold helps make the guest checkout option more prominent.
commercetools: An enterprise eCommerce solution for checkout
commercetools checkout capabilities allow brands to build fast, frictionless shopping experiences. With built-in support for guest account checkout to streamline orders, brands can deliver a fully customizable checkout experience without the overhead of building from scratch.
commercetools offers:
- A flexible, API-first architecture to customize your checkout experience according to your needs.
- Seamless integration with major payment providers with Payment Hub.
- Fast deployment, reducing time-to-market by up to 80%.
- Personalization tools for both registered and guest shoppers.
Embrace modern eCommerce solutions to transform your checkout and reduce your abandonment rate once and for all.
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About the authors
Mary Rebecca Harakas
Senior Product Marketing Manager, commercetools
Mary Rebecca is a Senior Product Marketing Manager at commercetools, focused on B2C. With over a decade of experience across product and marketing teams, she excels at crafting GTM strategies and positioning products to drive growth and deliver value.
Manuela Tchoe
Senior Strategic Content Manager, commercetools
Manuela leads content strategy at commercetools. With over 20 years of experience in B2B SaaS, she writes about all things commerce by day and turns to fiction by night. She loves long walks, traveling, and, unsurprisingly, reading books.