Metric Definition
Final-stage drop-off
Track from
Checkout abandonment rate
Checkout abandonment rate is the percentage of visitors who initiate the checkout process but leave before completing payment. It focuses exclusively on drop-off after the buyer has committed to purchasing, representing the highest-intent lost revenue in the funnel.
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What is checkout abandonment rate?
Checkout abandonment rate measures the percentage of visitors who begin checkout but do not complete payment. If 8,000 visitors started checkout and only 5,200 completed a purchase, the checkout abandonment rate is 35%.
This metric differs from cart abandonment rate in an important way. Cart abandonment captures all visitors who added items but did not buy, including those who were casually browsing. Checkout abandonment captures only those who took the deliberate step of entering the checkout flow, making it a more precise measure of friction at the final stage.
Visitors who abandon at checkout have demonstrated the strongest purchase intent possible without completing the transaction. The causes are typically specific and fixable: unexpected costs revealed at checkout, required account creation, limited payment options, a long or confusing form, payment failures, or security concerns. Each of these can be diagnosed with step-level analytics and addressed with targeted improvements.
Implement step-level tracking within your checkout flow. Knowing that 25% of abandonment happens at the shipping information step versus the payment step leads to entirely different optimisation priorities.
Checkout abandonment benchmarks
| Context | Typical rate | Best-in-class range |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop checkout | 20% to 30% | 15% to 20% |
| Mobile checkout | 35% to 50% | 25% to 35% |
| Multi-step checkout | 30% to 45% | 20% to 30% |
| Single-page checkout | 20% to 30% | 15% to 22% |
| With digital wallet option | 15% to 25% | 10% to 18% |
How to reduce checkout abandonment
- 1
Offer guest checkout
Forcing account creation before purchase is one of the top causes of checkout abandonment. Allow guest checkout and offer account creation after the purchase is complete, when the customer has already committed.
- 2
Support digital wallets and express payment
Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Shop Pay reduce the checkout form to a single authentication step. For mobile shoppers especially, digital wallets eliminate the friction of typing card numbers and addresses on a small screen.
- 3
Display the total cost upfront
Shipping costs, taxes, and fees revealed at the final checkout step are the leading cause of abandonment. Show estimated totals as early as possible so there are no surprises at the moment of payment.
- 4
Reduce form fields to the minimum required
Every additional field increases cognitive load and abandonment risk. Use address auto-complete, pre-fill data for returning customers, and remove optional fields unless they serve a critical purpose.
- 5
Add trust and security signals at checkout
Display security badges, SSL indicators, payment provider logos, and a clear return policy directly on the checkout page. Customers need reassurance at the point of entering payment details.
Related metrics
Checkout Conversion Rate
E-commerce metric
Ecommerce & Marketplace Metrics
Metric Definition
Checkout Conversion Rate = (Completed Purchases / Checkout Starts) x 100
Checkout conversion rate measures the percentage of users who begin the checkout process and successfully complete their purchase. It isolates the final stage of the buying funnel, from the moment a shopper initiates checkout to the order confirmation page. This metric is critical for e-commerce businesses because the checkout is where purchase intent is highest, and any friction at this stage directly destroys revenue that was nearly captured.
Cart Abandonment Rate
Checkout drop-off
Operations MetricsMetric Definition
Cart Abandonment Rate = (1 − Completed Purchases / Carts Created) × 100
Cart abandonment rate measures the percentage of online shopping carts that are created but not converted into completed purchases. It is one of the most impactful e-commerce metrics because it represents revenue that was within reach but lost at the final stage of the buying journey.
Store Conversion Rate
Visitor-to-buyer efficiency
Ecommerce & Marketplace MetricsMetric Definition
Store Conversion Rate = (Purchasing Visitors / Total Unique Visitors) x 100
Store conversion rate is the percentage of unique visitors who complete at least one purchase. It is the broadest measure of how effectively your store converts browsing traffic into paying customers and one of the highest-leverage metrics for e-commerce growth.
Sessions to Purchase Ratio
Consideration cycle length
Ecommerce & Marketplace MetricsMetric Definition
Sessions to Purchase Ratio = Total Sessions / Total Purchases
Sessions to purchase ratio measures how many site sessions are needed, on average, before a visitor makes a purchase. It captures the consideration cycle length and browsing behaviour of your customers, revealing how much nurturing is required to convert interest into revenue.
Stop losing customers at the finish line
Build a metric tree that decomposes checkout abandonment by step, device, and payment method so your team can pinpoint and eliminate the friction that prevents ready buyers from completing their purchase.
