5 Ways to Reduce Cart Abandonment on Shopify

Ever browsed an online store, added something to your cart, and then… never checked out? You’re not alone. Nearly 80% of online shoppers abandon their carts, leaving store owners with lost revenue and missed opportunities.

But here’s the good news—this problem isn’t set in stone. In most cases, a few strategic tweaks can bring hesitant shoppers back and turn abandoned carts into completed sales.

From simplifying checkout to using abandoned cart emails, here are five simple ways to recover lost revenue and boost conversions on your Shopify store.

1. Streamline the Checkout Process: Simplify forms, enable guest checkout, and use autofill features to make buying faster and easier.
2. Show Clear Shipping Information: Display shipping costs upfront and use free shipping thresholds or progress bars to encourage purchases.
3. Use Exit-Intent Popups: Re-engage shoppers who are about to leave with discounts or special offers.
4. Provide Multiple Payment Options: Offer popular methods like credit cards, digital wallets, and 'Buy Now, Pay Later' services.
5. Send Abandoned Cart Emails: Use personalized, timely email campaigns to recover lost sales.

These steps help improve the shopping experience, reduce friction, and recover revenue. For example, abandoned cart emails have a 41.18% open rate, and exit-intent popups can recover 10-15% of carts.

1. Streamline the Checkout Process

Simplifying the checkout process is a key factor in turning browsers into buyers. Complex checkouts are a major reason for cart abandonment, especially for mobile shoppers. Making the process smooth and user-friendly can make a noticeable difference in your store's performance.

Use One-Page Checkout

A one-page checkout layout keeps everything on a single screen, making the process faster and more convenient. Shoppers can review their details, fix errors instantly, and track their progress without navigating through multiple steps. This streamlined approach is especially helpful for mobile users, reducing friction and improving the chances of completing a purchase.

Allow Guest Checkout

Forcing customers to create an account can lead to abandoned carts. Offering a guest checkout option removes unnecessary steps and makes the process quicker, especially for first-time buyers. This small change can make a big difference in conversions, as many shoppers prefer a fast and hassle-free experience.

Enable Autofill and Save Information

Features like autofill and saved information make checkouts faster and easier, particularly for mobile users who may find typing tedious. Use browser autofill for addresses and payments, save customer details for future orders, and set shipping defaults based on location. To ensure a smooth mobile experience, design form fields and buttons to be large and easy to tap.

Simplifying the checkout process is a great start, but tackling shipping concerns is another way to reduce cart abandonment.

2. Show Clear Shipping Information

Nearly half of cart abandonments happen because of unexpected shipping fees. Being upfront about shipping costs can significantly reduce this issue. Just like a smooth checkout process removes barriers, clear shipping details help eliminate another common frustration.

Show Shipping Costs Early

Unexpected shipping fees are one of the biggest reasons shoppers abandon their carts. To prevent this, display shipping costs as early as possible, ideally on product pages or at the start of checkout. Clearly communicating these costs reduces confusion and builds trust, making customers more likely to complete their purchase. Tools like shipping calculators or mini-cart estimates can help by providing real-time cost visibility before checkout.

Offer Free Shipping Thresholds

Free shipping thresholds can encourage customers to spend more. For example, if your average order value is $45, setting a free shipping threshold at $75 can nudge shoppers to add more items to their cart.

Here are a few tips to make thresholds work for you:

• Tailor thresholds to specific categories during promotions.
• Adjust them to match seasonal shopping trends.
• Experiment with different levels to find what works best for your audience.

Use Progress Bars for Free Shipping

Progress bars are a simple yet effective way to motivate shoppers. When customers see how close they are to earning free shipping, they’re more likely to add extra items. For example, display a message like, "Add $10 for free shipping!" alongside the progress bar in the cart.

3. Use Exit-Intent Popups

Once you've tackled shipping concerns, another way to lower cart abandonment is by re-engaging customers before they leave your site. Exit-intent popups are a smart tool for this - they detect when someone is about to leave and offer a reason to stick around.

How Exit-Intent Popups Work

Exit-intent technology tracks user behavior, like inactivity, switching tabs, or moving the cursor toward closing the browser. When it detects these actions, it triggers a popup. Studies suggest these popups can help recover 10-15% of carts that might otherwise be abandoned ^[1].

Add Discounts or Special Offers

For exit-intent popups to work, the offer needs to grab attention. Use clear, actionable messages with tempting, time-sensitive deals. Here are some examples:

Recommended Shopify Apps for Popups

Here are some Shopify apps to help you design and implement exit-intent popups:

1. Exit-Intent Popup by OptiMonk: Offers advanced targeting and A/B testing.

OptiMonk helps recover lost sales by showing targeted popups when shoppers are about to leave your store. With built-in A/B testing, you can fine-tune offers and messaging to see what works best for boosting conversions.

2. Abandoned Cart Recovery by Cartly: Integrates directly with Shopify for smooth operation.

Cartly automatically sends reminder emails and push notifications to bring back shoppers who left without checking out. It’s an easy way to recover lost revenue and keep customers engaged without extra effort.

3. Popup by POWR: Includes customizable, mobile-friendly templates.

POWR Popup makes it simple to capture emails, promote discounts, and highlight special offers with customizable popups. It works seamlessly with email marketing tools, making it great for growing your subscriber list and increasing sales.

Keep your popup design straightforward. A simple layout with one clear call-to-action usually gets the best results.

While popups can help recover sales, combining them with multiple payment options can create an even better checkout experience for your customers.

4. Provide Multiple Payment Options

When customers can't use their preferred payment method, they often abandon their purchases. To avoid this, offer a variety of payment options that cater to different preferences, from credit cards like Visa, Mastercard, and American Express to digital wallets that make transactions faster and more secure.

Bytomic has made checkout more convenient by offering multiple payment methods, including Shop Pay, PayPal, and Google Pay. This ensures a smoother shopping experience, catering to different customer preferences and reducing friction at the final step of the purchase.

Cover the Basics: Common Payment Methods

Here’s a quick look at key payment methods and why they matter:

Shopify’s built-in payment gateways make it easy to enable these options. Also, ensure they’re clearly visible during checkout to minimize confusion.

Add 'Buy Now, Pay Later' Options

Services like 'Buy Now, Pay Later' (BNPL) are becoming a go-to for shoppers who want flexibility with payments. Popular BNPL solutions on Shopify include Klarna, Afterpay, and Shop Pay Installments. These tools integrate easily and can help increase your average order value.

Make sure to highlight BNPL options early in the shopping experience. This lets customers know their flexible payment choices before they even reach the checkout page. Addressing this upfront can reduce cart abandonment caused by limited payment flexibility.

Offering multiple payment methods helps smooth the checkout process, but don’t stop there - use abandoned cart email campaigns to recover any missed opportunities.

5. Implement Abandoned Cart Email Campaigns

Abandoned cart email campaigns are a highly effective way to recover lost sales on Shopify. Research shows these automated emails boast a 41.18% open rate - almost double the average for marketing emails.

Enable and Personalize Recovery Emails

Turn on Shopify's abandoned checkout emails by navigating to 'Settings' > 'Checkout'. Customize the templates to match your brand's style. Add eye-catching product images, customer reviews for credibility, and clear call-to-action buttons that make it simple for shoppers to return to their carts.

Build Thoughtful Email Sequences

Timing plays a huge role in the success of cart recovery emails. Here's a proven schedule to follow:

• Send the first email within 1 hour of cart abandonment, when conversion rates peak at 20.3%.
• Follow up 24 hours later.
• Send a final email 72 hours after abandonment, possibly including a discount or special offer to seal the deal.

Brands that succeed with these campaigns often use personalized, visually appealing emails that remind customers of their selected items while creating a sense of urgency. The trick is to stay persistent without overwhelming the recipient.

Conclusion: Actions to Reduce Cart Abandonment

Key Strategies to Tackle Cart Abandonment

Recovering lost revenue from abandoned carts is possible with targeted strategies. In fact, improving checkout design and flow could help recover up to $260 billion in lost orders across the US and EU. The five strategies discussed earlier address common customer frustrations, making the shopping process smoother and boosting conversions.

For example, Klaviyo reports that merchants generated over $60 million in just three months through cart abandonment email campaigns. Similarly, OptiMonk found that exit-intent campaigns deliver an average conversion rate of 17.12%.

While these approaches provide a solid starting point, consistent testing and adjustments are necessary to maintain and improve results over time.

Keep Testing and Improving

Understanding customer behavior and tracking results is essential for fine-tuning your approach. Use the following metrics to guide your efforts:

Customer feedback is another valuable tool. Test changes like offering free shipping thresholds or tweaking email schedules to see what resonates most. Reducing cart abandonment is not a one-time fix - it’s an ongoing effort that relies on real data and customer insights for continued success.