How much revenue am I losing to abandoned carts?
Last updated
Both for the same period, from your store reports.
Checkouts started gives a lower rate than carts created. Keep to one.
Orders placed in the same period.
Enter how many carts were started in a period and how many orders were completed in the same period. There is no rate until both are supplied.
- Carts created or checkouts started in a periodNeeded
- Completed orders in the same periodNeeded
- Average order value, to put the carts in moneyRecommended
- A recovery share of your own choosingOptional
No benchmark is used and the rate is not graded: every figure comes from the counts you enter. To see what a popup could add from captured emails, try the popup ROI calculator; to see how many sessions end in an order at all, work out your conversion rate.
The currency is a label only and nothing is converted; the worked examples further down stay in US dollars. Nothing you type is sent anywhere, and there is no account, install or store connection.
Carts, orders and the revenue left between them
Cart abandonment rate is the share of shopping carts that never become an order, so a store where 4,000 carts were started and 1,000 orders placed in a month has a 75 percent abandonment rate and 3,000 carts left behind.
No benchmark is used and the rate is not graded against a published average, because figures vary with how carts are counted. Every figure comes from your own counts and AOV. For what the store does with the sessions that do not reach a cart, work out your conversion rate.
Two counts from your store reports and one value. The counts give the rate; the value turns the rate into money. The recovery share, if you add one, is yours alone.
- Carts created or checkouts started
- The top of the count. Carts created catches every shopper who added a product; checkouts started catches only the ones who went on to begin paying, so it gives a lower rate. Pick one and keep using it, or the rate moves when nothing in the store did.
- Completed orders
- Orders placed in the same period. Orders that skipped the cart, such as buy-now buttons or draft orders, belong outside the count, because no cart was ever abandoned for them.
- Abandonment rate
- The share of carts that did not turn into an order. It says nothing on its own about whether that is good or bad for your store — this page does not grade against a published average, because figures vary with how carts are counted.
- Revenue in abandoned carts
- The left carts valued at your AOV. It is the size of the pile, not money you lost: plenty of those shoppers were comparing prices, saving items for later or never going to buy.
- Recovery share
- A share of abandoned carts you choose to test, to see what winning some back would be worth. It is an input, not a forecast. The calculator never fills it in for you.
Nudgesmart is available on the Shopify App Store. Browse the template library or see what it costs.
Carts left, and what they were worth
Illustrative arithmetic in US dollars, not customer data. The recovery shares are there to show the arithmetic, not to suggest a rate. Every row comes from the same function the calculator above runs.
| Scenario | Carts | Orders | Abandonment | AOV | In abandoned carts | Recovered at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apparel store, one month of carts | 4,000 | 1,000 | 75% | $70 | $210,000.00 | — |
| Beauty store, winning back one cart in ten | 2,500 | 800 | 68% | $45 | $76,500.00 | $7,650.00 at 10% |
| Furniture, few carts and a big AOV | 300 | 30 | 90% | $900 | $243,000.00 | — |
| Supplements, checkouts started | 1,800 | 1,200 | 33.3% | $55 | $33,000.00 | $4,950.00 at 15% |
| Electronics accessories, cheap baskets | 9,000 | 1,800 | 80% | $25 | $180,000.00 | $9,000.00 at 5% |
| Gift shop in December | 6,000 | 2,100 | 65% | $60 | $234,000.00 | $46,800.00 at 20% |
| New store, rate only | 400 | 60 | 85% | — | — | — |
What an abandoned cart figure leaves out
Abandoned carts are not lost sales
Many carts are wish lists, price checks or a shopper comparing delivery dates, and some of those people come back and buy anyway. The revenue figure is the value left in carts, not a sum the store was owed.
Your AOV may not be their basket
Abandoned carts are often larger or smaller than the orders that completed — shipping cost at checkout lands harder on a big basket. If your store reports the value of abandoned checkouts directly, that figure beats AOV.
Counts from two reports rarely match exactly
Carts and orders often come from different reports with different rules about test orders, cancelled orders and sales channels. If orders come out higher than carts, the two are not describing the same shoppers.
A recovered order may cost a discount
Win-back offers usually carry a code, and the code comes off the margin of the order it recovers. What a recovered cart is worth to the business is its gross profit after that discount, not its revenue.
Cart abandonment questions
How do you calculate cart abandonment rate?
Enter how many carts were created and how many orders were completed over the same period, and the calculator returns the share of carts that never became an order. 4,000 carts and 1,000 orders in a month is a 75 percent abandonment rate, with 3,000 carts left behind.
What is a normal cart abandonment rate?
This page does not grade against a published average, because figures vary with how carts are counted, which stores are included and which devices. Your own rate, tracked month to month with the same counting rule, is the comparison that means something.
How much revenue am I losing to abandoned carts?
Add your AOV and the calculator values the left carts at it. At 3,000 abandoned carts and a 70 dollar AOV that is 210,000 dollars of orders started and not finished. Treat it as the size of the opportunity, not as money lost, because many of those shoppers were never going to buy.
Should I use carts or checkouts?
Either, as long as you do not switch. Checkout abandonment only counts shoppers who began paying, so it shows problems at the payment step; cart abandonment includes every shopper who added a product, so it shows the whole drop-off after interest.
How do I get abandoned carts back?
You need a way to reach the shopper after they leave, which usually means an email address or phone number. Shoppers who were logged in or reached checkout may already have given one; for everyone else, a capture popup shown as a shopper with a full cart moves to leave is the moment to ask.
Does this tool need my store or an account?
No. It runs in the page with the numbers you type, and nothing about your store is sent anywhere.
A left cart is a shopper you can only reach again with an address.
Exit intent and cart value are targeting conditions in Nudgesmart, so a capture popup can appear to a shopper leaving with something in the cart.
