What is cart abandonment rate? Formula, benchmark and what to fix first

What is cart abandonment rate?

Cart abandonment rate is the share of carts that never turn into an order:

cart abandonment rate = 1 − completed purchases ÷ carts created

A closely related number, checkout abandonment rate, uses checkouts started instead of carts. The two answer different questions, so report both.

A sample week

• Cart abandonment = 1 − 560 ÷ 2,000 = 72%
• Checkout abandonment = 1 − 560 ÷ 900 = 38%

Sample data. Most of the 1,440 abandoned carts never reached checkout; many of those are people comparing or saving items. The 340 people who abandoned inside checkout were close to buying, so that is usually the cheaper place to start.

The benchmark in context

Baymard Institute averages 50 studies and puts online cart abandonment at 70.22% (2026 edition). Your rate depends on how you count (carts or sessions, logged-in users, mobile share) and on how many people use the cart as a wishlist. Compare with your own trend and between segments, calculated the same way.

What to fix first

1. Show total costs early. Shipping, tax and fees revealed at the last step are the classic cause.
2. Allow guest checkout.
3. Shorten the form and remove fields you do not need (form analytics).
4. Offer the payment methods your buyers use, and check payment errors by method and device.
5. Win back carts with a reminder email only for people who agreed to hear from you.

Cart abandonment in TapCub

All-platform analytics › Business › Commerce & revenue shows the cart abandon rate, sessions with an add-to-cart and no purchase, and the left-behind value, from the cart's value or price × quantity. The purchase funnel on the same page runs per session from view item to add to cart, checkout and purchase, so you can see where carts are lost. Purchases should be sent from the server so revenue is reliable.

See also: Ecommerce funnel, Drop-off rate.