Abandoned Carts in Ecommerce: How to Recover Lost Sales

Abandoned carts occur when a customer adds products to their cart but leaves the website without completing checkout. This is one of the biggest conversion challenges for ecommerce brands.

According to Shopify, 70.22% of online shopping carts are abandoned rather than converted into purchases.

This affects both small and large ecommerce brands and directly impacts revenue, return on ad spend, and overall conversion rate.

Why Do Customers Abandon Their Checkout?

Understanding why customers abandon checkout is critical to reducing cart abandonment.

1. Customers Were Browsing and Not Ready to Buy

Approximately 43% of customers abandon checkout because they were simply browsing.

This means intent exists, but timing does not. Retargeting strategies are essential to capture these delayed purchases.

2. Extra Costs Such as Shipping Are Too High

Around 39% of customers abandon checkout due to unexpected extra costs, including shipping and taxes.

Best practices to reduce this friction:

• Be transparent with pricing early

• Clearly communicate shipping costs

• Promote free shipping thresholds on product and cart pages

3. Not Enough Payment Options

Roughly 10% of customers abandon checkout because there are limited payment methods available.

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options such as Afterpay and Zip are now expected by consumers, particularly for higher-priced products. Flexible payments significantly improve checkout completion rates.

How to Reduce Abandoned Carts: 4 Proven Strategies

1. Send Abandoned Cart Emails

Abandoned cart emails are one of the highest ROI ecommerce marketing tactics.

According to Klaviyo, abandoned cart flows generate more revenue than any other email automation.

High-performing abandoned cart emails should:

• Display the exact products left behind (dynamic content)

• Use strong product imagery

• Include a clear call-to-action

• Reinforce trust (shipping, returns, reviews)

• Introduce incentives strategically, not immediately

Need help setting up abandoned cart flows?

Send us an email or book a discovery call.

2. Remove Checkout Friction

Reducing abandonment requires fixing the most common friction points at checkout.

Key areas to optimise:

• Multiple payment methods (Shop Pay, PayPal, Google Pay, credit/debit cards)

• BNPL options such as Afterpay or Zip

• Clear delivery timelines and return policies

This is especially important for ecommerce brands selling premium or luxury products.

3. Run Meta Ads Retargeting

Most customers will not purchase on their first website visit. Meta ads retargeting helps bring high-intent users back.

Effective retargeting ads can:

• Remind customers of items left in their cart

• Reinforce value through social proof

• Offer time-limited discounts or free shipping

• Use dynamic product ads for personalised messaging

If you need help running Meta ads retargeting, book a discovery call to explore the right approach for your brand.

4. Use Live Chat to Increase Conversions

Live chat helps reduce checkout hesitation by building trust in real time.

Benefits of live chat include:

• Answering last-minute questions instantly

• Reducing uncertainty during checkout

• Improving overall conversion rates

Live support is particularly effective for first-time buyers.

Key Takeaway

Abandoned carts are not lost sales, they are missed conversion opportunities.

Brands that focus on:

• Email retargeting

• Meta ads retargeting

• Checkout optimisation

• Trust-building tools like live chat

consistently outperform brands that focus only on driving new traffic.

Optimising conversion rate is just as important as attracting visitors and often far more cost-effective.