Cart abandonment and checkout abandonment aren’t the same problem, and treating them as one issue can turn into an expensive mistake for an e-commerce team. Cart abandonment happens when a shopper adds items to their cart and leaves without initiating checkout, while checkout abandonment happens after a shopper has started the checkout process. Each metric points to a different part of the funnel, a different set of causes, and a different set of fixes.

The average online shopping cart abandonment rate is 70.22%, and improving that number requires knowing where in the funnel shoppers are actually leaving. Below, we’ll go over cart abandonment versus checkout abandonment, what each metric reveals about shopper behaviour, how to track them accurately, and what helps reduce them.

Key takeaways

• Cart abandonment reflects shopper intent and consideration behaviour. Checkout abandonment reflects execution barriers inside the purchase flow.

• Combining these two metrics into a single abandonment rate produces a number that won’t tell you where the problem is or how to fix it.

• Reducing each abandonment rate requires a different approach. Cart abandonment responds to better product information and pricing transparency, while checkout abandonment responds to structural changes in the checkout experience.

Cart abandonment vs. checkout abandonment: What’s the difference?

Cart abandonment is when an online shopper abandons their purchase without ever starting checkout. They never click through to begin the purchase flow. Checkout abandonment is when an online shopper enters the checkout funnel, starts filling in shipping or payment details, and then exits before completing the transaction.

The difference boils down to when the customer gives up on the purchase: cart abandonment happens before checkout begins; checkout abandonment happens inside the payment flow.

Why does conflating cart and checkout abandonment distort your data?

When teams combine these two events into a single “abandonment rate,” they get a number that’s technically accurate but somewhat useless practically.

Say your combined abandonment rate is 72%. That figure tells you 72% of shoppers who added something didn’t buy, but it doesn’t tell you whether shoppers are leaving because of a cart-stage problem (e.g., your shipping costs are too high) or because of a checkout-stage problem (e.g., your checkout form has too many required fields or you don’t accept the payment methods your customers prefer).

What does cart abandonment tell you about shopper intent?

Different types of cart abandonment can reveal different things about shopper intent or what you might need to improve.

Here’s what different signals can indicate:

• Category-level abandonment rates: Consistently higher abandonment in one category versus others usually points to a product page problem. That could be missing specifications, unclear sizing, inadequate photography, or a price point that doesn’t match perceived value.

• Time-to-abandonment: Shoppers who leave within seconds of adding items are likely price-testing across tabs. Shoppers who return repeatedly before abandoning are closer to converting and tend to respond to a well-timed reminder.

• Cart recovery email performance: Which subject lines and timing windows get clicks tells you whether the shopper was in research mode—meaning they might re-engage on their own timeline—or if they had a specific objection (e.g., they might respond to social proof or a limited-time incentive).

• Wishlist vs. cart behaviour: On platforms that offer both, shoppers who use only the cart as a save mechanism are a different cohort from wishlist users, who might just need a nudge rather than a longer consideration window.

Cart abandonment data is best used to improve the precheckout experience: product pages, pricing presentation, up-front shipping estimates, and the browse-to-add-to-cart flow.

What does checkout abandonment tell you about execution barriers?

Shoppers who abandon during checkout typically reached that stage with the intent to buy, but stopped because of something in the checkout flow.

Here are some common execution barriers and what each one tells you:

• Unexpected costs at checkout: Shipping fees, taxes, or handling charges appearing for the first time at checkout are the largest driver of abandonment. The cause is late disclosure, not the price itself.

• Forced account creation: Many shoppers won’t create an account on the spot for a one-time purchase, particularly on mobile. Requiring one before completing a purchase can increase checkout abandonment.

• Too many form fields: Every additional required field adds drop-off. Address autocomplete, saved addresses for returning customers, and smart defaults (e.g., billing address defaulting to shipping) can all meaningfully ease this step.

• Payment method gaps: A shopper who primarily uses a digital wallet and doesn’t see that option at checkout will often leave rather than enter a card number manually. This is especially true in younger demographics and markets where digital wallets dominate.

• Missing trust signals: Shoppers entering payment details are at their most security-conscious. An unfamiliar checkout experience or absent security indicators can cause abandonment at the payment step.

• Performance issues: Slow page loads, broken form validation, and mobile layout problems cause checkout abandonment that doesn’t necessarily show up as a named problem in exit surveys; shoppers just leave.

How do you accurately track cart abandonment vs. checkout abandonment?

Accurate measurement requires event-level funnel tracking rather than session data alone.

Track the following events:

• Add to cart

• Checkout initiated

• Shipping info entered

• Payment info entered

• Order confirmed

With these in place, the calculations are straightforward:

Cart Abandonment Rate = (Sessions With "Add to Cart" − Sessions With "Checkout Initiated") ÷ Sessions With "Add to Cart"

Checkout Abandonment Rate = (Sessions With "Checkout Initiated" − Sessions With "Order Confirmed") ÷ Sessions With "Checkout Initiated"

You can also calculate step-level dropout within checkout (e.g., what share of shoppers who entered shipping info didn't reach the payment step). This is where checkout abandonment data gets most actionable.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) offers funnel exploration reports to handle this tracking if your events are configured correctly. Major e-commerce platforms typically surface these as built-in reports, though the level of detail varies. Dedicated conversion rate optimisation (CRO) platforms such as Hotjar, FullStory, or Heap add session replay and funnel analysis that complement event data with qualitative insight.

Certain tracking mistakes can distort your numbers. Look out for the following:

• Counting page views instead of events – this doesn't reliably capture cart or checkout actions

• Not accounting for multisession behaviour (e.g., a shopper who adds to cart on Monday and completes checkout on Thursday)

• Failing to exclude bots and test orders from abandonment calculations

• Using your platform's native abandonment rate without checking how it defines each event

What reduces cart abandonment?

Information interventions tend to impact cart abandonment rates the most. Here’s what you can do:

• Show shipping costs early: Surfacing estimated shipping on the product page or in the cart itself removes surprises. If you offer free shipping above a threshold, make that threshold visible in the cart.

• Add wishlist functionality: Shoppers in research mode need somewhere to park items without the implicit commitment of a cart. Giving them a wishlist reduces cart clutter and separates genuine near-purchase intent from passive consideration, which makes your abandonment data cleaner too.

• Close product page information gaps: Cart abandonment driven by sizing uncertainty, material questions, or compatibility concerns responds to better product pages. Size guides, detailed specifications, customer photos, and clear return policy language can all reduce the number of shoppers who add to cart and then talk themselves out of purchasing.

• Use cart reminder campaigns strategically: Timed cart reminder emails—with the first sent within an hour of abandonment—can recover sales, but effectiveness varies by category, average order value (AOV), and whether the shopper has prior purchase history. Segment by behaviour rather than applying a single sequence to all cart abandoners.

What reduces checkout abandonment?

Checkout abandonment responds to structural changes in the checkout experience itself. To have the highest impact, you can:

• Eliminate forced account creation: Offer guest checkout as the primary path. You can invite shoppers to create an account after the purchase confirms—at that point, their information is already in your system and account creation is a one-click step.

• Reduce form fields: Audit your checkout form for fields that aren’t necessary to complete the transaction. Turn on address autocomplete. Default the customer’s billing address to their shipping address. On mobile, use the appropriate keyboard type for each field (e.g., numeric for card numbers, email keyboard for email addresses).

• Show progress: A progress indicator—even a simple three-step bar—can reduce anxiety in longer checkout flows by making clear how much is left. Shoppers are less likely to abandon when they can see they’re close to being done.

• Broaden payment method coverage: Don’t rely on cards alone. Digital wallets, local payment methods, and buy now, pay later (BNPL) options serve different customer segments. Stripe’s payment infrastructure lets you enable these methods through a single application programming interface (API) and configure which methods appear based on customer location or cart value.

• Add accelerated checkout: Returning shoppers who’ve saved their payment details shouldn’t have to re-enter them. Link, a digital wallet built by Stripe, lets shoppers who’ve previously saved their information complete checkout in a single click, autopopulating payment and shipping details across any business using Link. That reduction in form-fill effort at the payment step speeds up checkout and gives customers one less reason to abandon.

• Display trust signals at the payment step: Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) indicators, recognised payment logos, and clear security language at the moment a shopper enters card details can reduce the security-related drop-off that occurs specifically at payment.

How Stripe Payments can help

Stripe Payments provides a unified, global payments solution that helps any business – from scaling startups to global enterprises – accept payments online, in person and around the world.

Stripe Payments can help you:

• Optimise your checkout experience: Create a frictionless customer experience and save thousands of engineering hours with prebuilt payment UIs, access to 125+ payment methods and Link, a wallet built by Stripe.

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Learn more about how Stripe Payments can power your online and in-person payments or get started today.