How to calculate cart abandonment rate

For any eCommerce business, tracking the performance of online sales is a must. Keeping tabs on the right metrics can help identify potential pain points with your checkout process and clarify which steps are needed to mitigate any issues.  

The cart conversion rate and the cart abandonment rate are two essential metrics that eCommerce businesses use to measure and analyze their online sales performance. 

Cart conversion rates represent the percentage of visitors who complete a purchase after adding items to their shopping cart. It provides insights into the effectiveness of the website in converting potential customers into paying customers.  

On the other hand, the cart abandonment rate refers to the percentage of visitors who add items to their shopping cart but leave the website without completing the purchase. It reflects the number of lost sales opportunities and can indicate potential issues in the checkout process or overall user experience.  

While the cart conversion rate focuses on successful purchases, the cart abandonment rate highlights missed conversion opportunities and helps businesses identify areas for improvement in order to reduce abandonment and increase sales. 

Calculate your brand’s cart abandonment rate in a couple clicks:

Now let’s walk through the nitty-gritty steps on what goes on behind the calculation:

The first step to calculating cart abandonment rate is to determine the timeframe you want to analyze. You can calculate the rate for a specific period, such as a week or a month, or for a specific event, such as a sale or a new product launch. 

You need to collect data on the number of users who add items to their cart and the number of users who complete the purchase. You can find this information in your website’s analytics or eCommerce platform.

It’s also helpful to compare your data with industry benchmarks and statistics to better understand how your numbers compare to your competitors.

Once you have collected the data, you can calculate the cart abandonment rate using the following formula:

Divide the total number of purchases by the total number of carts created.   

Subtract that number by 1 and multiply by 100 to get the percentage.   

For example:

After calculating your cart abandonment rate, it’s important to analyze the data and identify potential issues with your checkout process. Some common reasons for cart abandonment include unexpected shipping costs, a complicated checkout process, and a lack of trust with the website. Once you have identified the issues, you can take steps to improve your checkout process and reduce cart abandonment. 

Calculating your cart abandonment rate is an important step in understanding the effectiveness of your eCommerce store. By regularly tracking and analyzing your cart abandonment rate, you can identify potential issues and take steps to improve your checkout process and increase conversions. Dig deeper into what pain points your customers experience and explore options on how you can reach out to them to recover their carts and complete their purchase.