Long-running usability research by the Baymard Institute puts the average documented cart-abandonment rate at roughly seven in ten. Not every abandoned cart is a lost sale — people compare prices and browse on a whim — but a meaningful share is lost to friction you control.
The most common reasons
- Extra costs revealed late — shipping, taxes and fees that were not visible earlier.
- A required account before purchase.
- A checkout that feels long or confusing.
- Too few payment options, or a method the customer doesn't trust.
- Doubts about security or returns.
- A slow site, especially on mobile.
What to fix first
- Show the full price early. Display shipping and tax estimates on the product or cart page, not at the last step.
- Offer guest checkout. Let people create an account after they've paid, if at all.
- Cut the form. Remove optional fields, use address autocomplete and make the form work well with browser autofill.
- Add the payment methods your customers actually use, and show recognisable trust signals near the pay button.
- Make the return policy easy to find.
- Test on a real mid-range phone over a normal mobile connection.
Measure before and after
Track each checkout step as a funnel — cart, shipping details, payment, confirmation — so you can see where people leave rather than guessing. Change one thing at a time. A small fix at the step with the largest drop-off usually beats a full redesign.