What Is Checkout Abandonment? Rate Formula

Think of it as one slice of cart abandonment. Cart abandonment counts every full cart left behind, but this only counts shoppers who reached checkout and then stopped. Of everyone who leaves, they're the closest to buying.

How to Measure Checkout Abandonment

The formula is short.

Checkout abandonment rate = (1 − orders ÷ checkouts started) × 100.

Example: a coffee bean store's month

Checkouts started: 250
Orders: 150

Rate = (1 − 150 ÷ 250) × 100 = (1 − 0.6) × 100 = 40%.

That's 100 unpaid checkouts. If the average one was worth $45, that's $4,500 in unfinished orders. Win back just 10 and you'd have 160 orders instead of 150, about 7% more orders from the same traffic.

In our data from 958 Shopify stores, 58% of carts never made it to checkout. Of the shoppers who did start checkout, 43% didn't finish. Overall, cart abandonment came to 76.04%. We break the numbers down in our Shopify cart abandonment statistics.

Finding Abandoned Checkouts in Shopify

In your Shopify admin, open Orders and then Abandoned checkouts. You'll see unfinished checkouts there, but not carts that never got to checkout. Shopify can also email shoppers a link back to their checkout, by hand or automatically. That only works for shoppers who typed in their email address.

If you want a rate, Shopify's analytics counts sessions that reached checkout and sessions that completed checkout. Plug those into the formula above. They count sessions, not checkouts, though, so treat the result as an estimate.

On most plans you can change the checkout's logo and colors. But adding app features inside the checkout steps needs Shopify Plus.

Myth: A High Rate Means Your Checkout Is Broken

Checkout is often the first place shoppers see the full total, with shipping and tax added. Some start checkout just to see that number, and if it's higher than they expected, they leave. In that case the page worked fine. They said no to the total, not to your checkout.

So before you redesign anything, check whether shoppers can see shipping costs before they get to checkout. People leave for other reasons too, and we cover those in the psychology behind cart and checkout abandonment. If you're after a tool to follow up with these shoppers, see our comparison of Shopify cart abandonment apps.

Related Terms

Cart Abandonment Rate: the share of carts that never become an order, counted from the cart, not checkout.
Checkout Conversion Rate: the percent of started checkouts that turn into orders, or 100% minus the checkout abandonment rate.
Cart Recovery: winning back shoppers who left a cart or checkout.
Checkout Flow: the steps a shopper goes through to pay, from contact details to payment.
Checkout Optimization: changes that make checkout easier to finish.