Why Do Customers Abandon Their Carts? 15 Data-Backed Reasons

I've spent the last three years obsessing over abandoned carts. Not in a healthy way, more like watching Shopify merchants lose money in slow motion and trying to figure out exactly why.

Here's what I've learned: the famous "70% abandonment rate" statistic is both true and completely useless. It's like saying "70% of people who walk into a store leave without buying." Sure, but why? That's where it gets interesting.

Let's break down the 15 actual reasons people bail, based on Baymard Institute research, our data from Reservit merchants, and honestly, a lot of watching session recordings until my eyes hurt.

The One Thing Nobody Wants to Hear

Before we dive in: most cart abandonment isn't your fault, and you can't fix it.

Seriously. About 58% of people who add items to cart are just browsing, using the cart as a wishlist, comparing prices across sites, or showing their partner "what do you think of this?" These weren't sales you lost. They were never sales.

The winnable battle is the other 40-ish percent. Those are people who wanted to buy but something stopped them. Let's talk about that something.

1. The Surprise Shipping Gut Punch (48% of abandoners)

This is the big one. Nearly half of all real abandonment happens because of unexpected costs at checkout.

Here's what happens: Someone finds a $45 product they love. They add it to cart, mentally spending $45. They get to checkout and see... $62. Tax, shipping, "handling fee" (which, honestly, what even is that?).

They don't just feel surprised. They feel tricked. And tricked customers don't complete checkouts, they close tabs.

A story from the trenches: One skincare brand I talked to was hemorrhaging customers at the shipping step. Abandonment rate at that point: 43%. They added a simple shipping calculator on product pages, literally just a zip code field that showed estimated shipping. First month, checkout abandonment dropped 12%. The founder told me she felt stupid for not doing it earlier. She shouldn't. Everyone misses the obvious stuff when you're too close to it.

What actually works:

• Shipping calculators on product pages (before anyone adds to cart)
• Those "You're $X away from free shipping" progress bars, they work because they reframe shipping as a goal, not a penalty
• Just... don't add surprise fees. Ever. If you need to charge handling, build it into the price.

2. "Create an Account to Continue" (24%)

I genuinely don't understand why stores still do this. You have someone ready to give you money, credit card in hand, and you're like "first, tell me your birthday and create a password you'll definitely forget."

Guest checkout isn't a nice-to-have. It's the difference between getting paid and watching someone leave.

The sneaky version of this problem: Checkout pages where "Sign In" is a big blue button and "Continue as Guest" is a tiny gray link underneath. That's not guest checkout, that's guest checkout they're hoping you won't find.

What the data says: Baymard found 26% of users will specifically abandon because they can't check out as a guest. That's not "might abandon",that's "will definitely abandon."

The smart approach: Let them buy. Then, on the confirmation page: "Want to track your order? Create an account with one click." Way higher conversion than forcing it upfront.

3. The Checkout That Never Ends (22%)

Every form field is a tiny off-ramp. Every page is a chance to reconsider. Every "required" field that doesn't seem necessary ("Why do they need my phone number?") plants a seed of doubt.

I've audited checkouts with 23 form fields. Twenty-three! For a t-shirt!

What you actually need:

• Email (for the receipt)
• Name and shipping address
• Payment info

That's it. Phone number? Optional, and explain why you want it ("For delivery updates"). Company name? Unless you're B2B, delete it. Fax number? I'm not joking, I've seen this in 2025. Delete it and fire whoever added it.

The Shopify advantage: If you're on Shopify, their checkout is already pretty optimized. The problem is usually what happens before checkout, cart pages with distracting upsells, address forms on separate pages, etc.

4. "This Site Looks Sketchy" (18%)

Entering credit card numbers requires trust. And trust is weirdly fragile online.

It's not just about having SSL (though obviously, have SSL). It's about everything feeling right. Consistent branding. Professional photography. No spelling errors. Contact information that includes a real address, not just a form.

Things that kill trust instantly:

• Checkout page that looks completely different from the rest of the site
• Stock photography everywhere (especially those handshake pictures, nobody trusts the handshake picture people)
• "100% SECURE!!!" in flashing text (if you have to scream it...)
• Missing or hard-to-find contact information

Things that actually build trust:

• Trust badges, but tasteful ones (Norton and PayPal logos perform well in tests)
• Customer reviews visible throughout the site
• A real "About Us" page with actual humans
• Consistent design from homepage through checkout

One merchant I worked with had fantastic products but a checkout page from 2009. Customers literally emailed them asking "is this legit?" Updated the checkout design, conversions jumped 23%.

5. "It Won't Arrive in Time" (16%)

Amazon ruined everyone's shipping expectations. Sorry, but it's true.

When your standard shipping is 7-10 days and Amazon's getting stuff there tomorrow, you're fighting an uphill battle. You won't win on speed, so win on transparency instead.

What works:

• Show estimated delivery dates, not shipping speeds. "Arrives Dec 12-15" beats "Standard Shipping (5-7 days)" because it does the math for them.
• Always offer an expedited option, even if it's expensive. Some people will pay $25 for overnight. Let them.
• If you're selling something special, remind them why it's worth waiting for.

6. "Your Website Broke" (13%)

Nothing kills a sale faster than an error message. It doesn't matter what the error says, once they see red text, they assume your whole operation is broken.

The particularly devastating version: Payment errors. Customer enters their card, hits pay, gets an error. Now they're wondering: Was I charged? Will I get double-charged if I try again? This is where they close the tab and you never hear from them again.

Checklist:

• Test your checkout flow monthly. Personally. On your phone.
• Test it on slow connections (Chrome DevTools can simulate this)
• Make sure cart data persists even if they close the browser
• If payment fails, tell them what actually happened and what to do about it

7. "I Can't Return This?" (12%)

Buying online is inherently risky. You can't try on clothes, test electronics, or smell candles. Your return policy is how you reduce that risk.

Zappos built a billion-dollar company largely on one thing: 365-day free returns. You don't need to go that far, but your policy matters more than you think.

The baseline: 30 days, free return shipping. If you can't do free return shipping, at least make the process easy.

Where to show it: On product pages, in the cart, and at checkout. Don't make people hunt for it.

8. "You Don't Take My Card?" (9%)

This one's simple but costly. Some people only use PayPal. Some only use Apple Pay. Some want Klarna because they'd rather split the payment.

Every payment method you don't offer is a segment of customers you're excluding.

Priority order:

1. Credit cards (obviously)
2. PayPal (still huge, don't skip it)
3. Shop Pay / Apple Pay / Google Pay (critical for mobile)
4. Buy now, pay later (Klarna, Affirm, Afterpay)

The data that sold me on Shop Pay: Shop Pay users convert at 1.72x the rate of guest checkout. Not because Shop Pay is magic, because they've already saved their info, so checkout is literally one click.

9. "Wait, It's Sold Out Now?" (8%)

This one breaks my heart. Customer finds a product, adds to cart, enters shipping info, enters payment... and then sees "Sorry, this item is no longer available."

They did everything right and got nothing.

For most stores, this is rare. But for limited releases, flash sales, or anything with genuine scarcity? It's devastating. And it doesn't just lose the sale, it damages your brand.

This is why we built Reservit, honestly. Cart reservation holds inventory while people check out. It's not complicated, when they add to cart, the item is theirs for 10-15 minutes. If they don't check out, it releases back. But during that window, no one else can snipe it.

For stores running flash sales, we see 15-25% conversion improvement. That's not marketing, that's just fewer customers having their carts emptied.

10-15: The Smaller Stuff (Still Matters)

Price was too high (46%) , Half of these are just browsers. But the other half? They weren't convinced the price was worth it. Better product photos, more reviews, and clearer differentiation can justify prices without discounting.

Navigation was confusing (18%) , People give up if they can't find what they want. Invest in search. Use filters. Don't make categories cute at the expense of useful.

Didn't trust the site (17%) , Covered above, but worth repeating: professionalism matters.

Not enough product info (8%) , Size guides, detailed specs, videos. If someone needs information to buy, and they can't find it, they won't buy.

Card declined (4%) , Happens. Give helpful error messages and suggest trying another card.

So What Do You Actually Do With This?

Look at your checkout funnel. Where are people leaving?

• Drop-off at shipping? You have a surprise cost problem.
• Drop-off at account creation? Make guest checkout more prominent.
• Drop-off at payment? Check for errors, add payment options.
• Drop-off everywhere? Your traffic might not be buyers. Look at your marketing.

Don't try to fix everything at once. Start with the biggest drop-off, fix it, measure it, then move on.

And remember: some abandonment is healthy. Carts used for wishlisting, price comparison, and research aren't lost sales, they're the beginning of a customer relationship. Focus your energy on the people who wanted to buy but couldn't.

That's where the real money is.