Cart abandonment

Also called checkout abandonment

Cart abandonment is when someone starts a purchase and leaves before paying.

Abandonment is the most recoverable loss in online selling, because the person demonstrated intent. They wanted it enough to start; something in the process stopped them.

The causes cluster: unexpected costs appearing late, a required account, too many fields, a payment method they do not have, or simple interruption. The first is consistently the largest, and it is fixed by showing the true total earlier rather than by any persuasion.

Recovery emails work, within limits. One message within a day recovers a real share; a sequence of four converts the remainder into unsubscribes.

In practice

Displaying VAT-inclusive pricing on the product page rather than at the payment step removes the surprise that causes most late abandonment.

Common mistake

Answering abandonment with discounts. It teaches buyers to abandon deliberately and erodes margin on people who would have paid.

Cart abandonment

In practice

Common mistake

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