Seven out of ten online carts are never paid for. The Baymard Institute averages dozens of studies and arrives at about 70 %. Some of that is normal: people compare, save items for later or simply browse. But a large share is lost to things the shop controls.
This checklist is for small and mid-sized shops on Shopify or WooCommerce. Each point can be checked in a few minutes and fixed without a redesign.
Why buyers leave
When Baymard asks shoppers why they abandoned a purchase, leaving aside "I was just browsing", the most common answers are extra costs that were too high (48 %), being asked to create an account (26 %), not trusting the site with card details (25 %) and a checkout that was too long or complicated (22 %). The checklist follows these reasons. The background is in Why buyers abandon the checkout.
The checklist
Costs
- Shipping costs on the product page. State the cost or the free-shipping threshold before the cart, not on the last step.
- Show the remaining amount for free shipping in the cart, for example "€6.50 to free shipping".
- No surprise fees. Payment surcharges or small-quantity fees that appear only at the end hit the most common reason buyers give for leaving.
- Clear delivery time. "Delivered by Thursday" answers a question buyers otherwise leave to look up.
Account and forms
- Guest checkout. Let buyers order without an account and offer one after the purchase.
- Fewer fields. Remove optional fields you do not use, such as a second address line shown by default or a company field for consumer shops.
- Address autocomplete and correct keyboard types on mobile: numbers for postcodes, email keyboard for email.
- Helpful error messages next to the field, saying what to change, not only that something is wrong.
Trust and payment
- Familiar payment methods. Offer the methods your buyers use in their country; in Germany that often includes PayPal and paying by invoice.
- Visible returns policy and contact near the buy button, not only in the footer.
- Express checkouts such as Shop Pay, Apple Pay or Google Pay skip forms entirely for buyers who use them.
Discounts
- No popup before the decision. If you use a newsletter popup, show it late and show the code immediately. More in The newsletter popup discount.
- A small coupon field. A large open field sends buyers without a code off to search for one.
- Discounts as links. Send promotions as links that put the product in the cart with the price reduced. See Discount link instead of discount code.
- Test every code before it goes out. The common failures are in Discount code not working.
Speed and mobile
- Test the full purchase on a phone once a month, from product page to order confirmation.
- Fast pages. Remove apps and scripts you no longer use; each adds loading time to every page.
- Sticky buy button on long product pages, so buyers do not have to scroll back up.
After the abandonment
- Keep the cart. A returning buyer should find their cart as they left it.
- Reminder emails for abandoned checkouts can recover some orders. Shopify and WooCommerce offer them natively or through extensions; send them only where you have a legal basis for it.
How to prioritise
Start with costs and the discount flow. They are the most common reasons in Baymard's survey and usually the fastest to change. Then guest checkout and forms, then payment methods. Measure each change over a few weeks rather than days: abandonment rates fluctuate with traffic sources and seasons.
Where Heartly helps
Heartly removes one of the longest chains in this list for promotions: flash sales have their own page, and a tap on "Go to checkout" opens your shop with the product in the cart and the discount applied, without a popup or a code. Live sales also reach new buyers in the Heartly app, on deals.heartly.io and through AI shopping assistants.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good cart abandonment rate?
The Baymard Institute's average across many studies is about 70 %. Rates vary widely by industry, device and traffic source, so track your own rate over time instead of comparing against a single number.
What is the most common reason for cart abandonment?
In Baymard's survey it is extra costs such as shipping, taxes and fees that were higher than expected, named by 48 % of shoppers who abandoned for a reason other than browsing.
Does guest checkout reduce cart abandonment?
Forced account creation is the second most common reason in Baymard's survey. Offering guest checkout removes that reason; buyers can still create an account after ordering.
Which payment methods should a German shop offer?
Offer the methods your buyers expect. In Germany that often includes PayPal and paying by invoice in addition to cards and express wallets.
How long does it take to see results?
Measure over several weeks. Abandonment rates change with traffic sources, campaigns and seasons, so compare comparable periods.