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An Ultimate Guide to Reduce Shopify Abandoned Carts

The last thing an entrepreneur wants is to witness Shopify abandoned cart, where their hard-won customers leave the store on the brink of making a purchase. 

As the data says, this happens 7 out of 10 times when a customer adds something to the cart and abandons the Shopify checkout. But it is not a lost cause, though. 

Most of the Shopify abandoned checkouts are preventable. So, why lose sales to abandoned carts that can well be prevented with some strategies in place?

In this blog, we will explore how to reduce cart abandonment in Shopify, strategies to recover them, and the best Shopify abandoned cart apps to streamline your abandoned cart recovery process.

At the end of it, you may have an actionable abandoned cart recovery strategy for your Shopify store. 

What is a Shopify Abandoned Cart? 

A Shopify abandoned cart occurs when the shoppers add items to the cart and leave the store without purchasing them. They are significant because the majority of your sales are locked in them and, in turn, represent lost revenue.

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Shopify abandoned carts vs. Shopify abandoned checkouts

In Shopify, the terms “abandoned cart” and “abandoned checkout” are often used interchangeably, but they can represent slightly different stages in the shopping process:

  • Abandoned Cart: This usually refers to a situation where a customer adds items to their shopping cart but leaves the site without proceeding to the checkout process. This stage indicates initial interest but not a strong intent to purchase.
  • Abandoned Checkout: This is a more specific term referring to customers who have entered the checkout process (by providing contact information or even payment details) but do not complete the purchase. This stage suggests a higher intent to buy as the customer has started the checkout process.

Shopify offers built-in features and allows the integration of various apps. These Shopify cart recovery apps are designed specifically for abandoned cart recovery, which can send abandoned cart reminder emails, offer discounts, or use other incentives to encourage customers to return and finish their purchases.

To analyze the impact of Shopify cart abandonment, you have to know how to calculate cart abandonment rate.

Shopify Abandoned Carts rate formula

Reasons for Shopify Cart Abandonment

There can be numerous hurdles between selecting the ‘Add to Cart’ button and finalizing the payment in your ecommerce store. These could range from high shipping costs and mandatory account creation to a complex checkout process, or perhaps the customer is simply window shopping. 

Baymard Institute research identified seven top reasons for shopping cart abandonment. 

Reasons for Shopify Abandoned Cart
  • Extra costs/hidden costs
    Nobody likes surprises when it comes to money. Hidden costs can derail the trust a customer has in your brand. It might cost you more than just a sale – you lose the customer, too.
    That’s why unexpected or hidden costs are the top reason for abandoned carts in Shopify.
  • Complicated checkout process
    The more time it takes for a customer to finish the purchase, the more they will rethink the purchase and might abandon the cart. Because you are testing their patience and time.
    So, a checkout process that has more steps and asks for additional information gets punished with cart abandonment in Shopify.
  • Online window shopping
    A customer might be checking your products out and comparing them with other platforms. It is a normal occurrence in the ecommerce world.
    Among the reasons, this is the one that’s most likely unpreventable.
  • Privacy concerns
    When customers perceive potential risks related to the security of their personal and financial information, it can create hesitation and lead to cart abandonment.
  • Lack of discounts
    Most customers would be doing comparison shopping. So, a lack of discounts might demotivate and cause them to choose other brands over yours.
    So, when a customer feels that they are not getting enough value for their money, it leads to abandoned carts in Shopify.
  • Lack of free shipping
    Many customers expect free shipping when shopping online. When they reach checkout and discover additional shipping costs, it can lead to cart abandonment in Shopify.
  • Unfavorable return policy
    Online shopping inherently carries more perceived risk since customers can’t physically examine products. A stringent return policy increases this risk, as customers may worry about being stuck with an unsatisfactory product.
    This acts as a discouragement to complete the purchase and leads to abandoned carts in Shopify.

5 Strategies to Reduce Cart Abandonment in Shopify

  • A shorter checkout process
  • Eliminate shipping concerns.
  • Offer multiple payment options.
  • Provide guest checkout options.
  • Using exit-intent pop-ups

With the strategies in place, understanding why Shopify abandoned checkouts happen is the first step in building effective strategies to reduce cart abandonment.

Fortunately, the majority of the cited reasons are entirely preventable. By optimizing your checkout process and minimizing shipping costs, among other strategies, you can reduce Shopify cart abandonment.

Eliminating potential friction points in the checkout process is the next step in reducing abandoned carts in Shopify. Let’s see how you can eliminate these friction points using those strategies we have seen earlier.

  • A shorter checkout process
    Make your checkout process short and straightforward to provide a smooth checkout experience when a customer tries to check out. 
    A shorter checkout process captures the sale more quickly, reducing the likelihood of cart abandonment in Shopify.
Shopify check-out process
  • Eliminate shipping concerns.
    As you have seen in the above image, by far, the number one cause of ecommerce shopping cart abandonment is extra costs – unexpected shipping costs. 
    Most customers prefer to know about the shipping cost earlier in the checkout process to make the decision. 
    A free shipping discount would be an excellent incentive to prompt hesitant customers to finish the purchase and lower your abandoned cart rate. 
  • Offer multiple payment options. 
    Your checkout process should be designed to handle diverse payment options like credit cards, digital wallets, and cash on delivery.
    It also comes in handy when sometimes the customers become impatient, and they might want to switch to a faster payment option. 
    So, adding multiple payment options reduces shopping cart abandonment happening due to these issues. 
  • Provide guest checkout options. 
    When a customer tries to check out, asking for mandatory account creation is definitely looked up as an additional task by the customer. 
    In contrast, providing a guest checkout option provides a seamless experience for the customer and reduces cart abandonment significantly.
  • Using exit-intent pop-ups 
    Exit-intent pop-ups are a savior when the cart is on the brink of getting abandoned. 
    It is perfect to get the customer’s attention at the last minute and pivot them to complete the purchase. 

Reducing Shopify abandoned carts by implementing these strategies is only the first step in decreasing the abandoned cart rate. The real game starts after that.

Along with these strategies, you have to focus on recovering the abandoned carts that have already happened.

7 Strategies to Recover Shopify Abandoned Carts

The main reason why you should recover Shopify abandoned carts is the sheer amount of sales locked in those. Those are potential sales waiting for you to act upon and recover.   

Why shy away from recovering those potential sales if you have many Shopify abandoned cart recovery methods at your disposal?

To that end, let’s look at some strategies we have seen above in detail:

1. Sending multiple Shopify abandoned cart emails

In order to increase the chance of recovering Shopify abandoned carts, you have to send a series of emails.  

  • Email 1 – A gentle reminder (After 2 hours)
  • Email 2 – An incentive: offers and discounts (After 24 hours)
  • Email 3 – Creating urgency (After 48 hours)
  • Email 4 – A last-chance offer (After 5-7 days)

It has been found that an ideal Shopify abandoned cart email campaign should have 3 to 5 email reminders that can help recover at least 10 to 20% of lost sales.

2. Personalize. Personalize. Personalize

You already have everything you need to make personalized content – the data of customer interaction with the products in your store. You can use this data and place the images and details of the abandoned cart products in your abandoned cart recovery messages.

There is no personalization without segmenting the customers. You can segment your customers based on the cart value, the difficulties faced in the checkout process, and whether they are first-timers or repeaters. 

Personalizing email ensures that the message resonates with the customers and prompt them to finish the purchase as well as helping to strengthen client relationships.

Personalization is something that you can follow across all the methods of recovering Shopify abandoned carts – emails, ads, and push notifications.

Craft stunning Shopify abandoned cart emails effortlessly using Retainful’s drag-and-drop editor. 

3. Include social proof.

You have to build trust and credibility in your brand, validating customers that they are making a purchase with a reliable one. If price is a concern, you can show customers reviews that prove that the product’s value is worth the price. 

It significantly reduces the doubt by showing how the other customers had a positive experience with your brand. 

4. Incentivize with coupons.

Maybe the customers are waiting for a better deal to finalize the purchase. So give it to them. Coupons are a great way to prompt customers to take action and reconsider their decision to purchase. 

We have seen that price-related concerns are one of the primary reasons to abandon the cart. So, include coupon codes in your emails, ads, and push notifications. 

As the shipping cost is one of the top reasons for cart abandonment, adding a free shipping discount to your Shopify abandoned cart emails can lower your abandoned cart rate. 

5. Email automation

Shopify abandoned cart email automation ensures a consistent approach to communicating with all customers who abandon their carts. 

Regardless of the number of abandoned carts and when it gets abandoned each customer automatically receives a follow-up, which would be impossible to manage manually at scale.

6. Using other methods of abandoned cart recovery

While Shopify abandoned cart emails are the potent recovery method over there. You can supplement it with other methods like – retargeting methods and push notifications. 

Retargeting ads are a form of online advertising targeting customers who have already visited your store, viewed some products, and left without purchasing. 

Here is an example of a retargeting ad by BestBuy.

Retargeting ad example

As part of your Shopify cart abandonment recovery strategy, you can opt for push notifications if you want to catch the customer’s attention while it is still fresh. They act like real-time reminders sent shortly after the customer exists. 

Here is a push notification example for you. 

Push notification example

7. A/B testing

Test different email templates, subject lines, discount offers, or even the timing of your recovery emails to find what works best for you. 

5 Best Shopify Abandoned Cart Apps to Recover Sales

Shopify abandoned cart apps are a must-have to recover abandoned carts in Shopify effortlessly through automated messages, reminding customers to finish the purchase.  

The messages can be in the form of emails, push notifications, SMS, and retargeting ads. 

By using a Shopify app for abandoned carts, you can send multiple Shopify abandoned cart emails and increase the chances of recovery. 

Now, let’s explore the 5 best Shopify abandoned cart apps that excel in recovering abandoned carts.

1. Retainful

Retainful is the best Shopify abandoned cart app to send automated cart reminder emails. It has easy-to-setup automation and pre-designed templates to launch your abandoned cart email campaign in minutes. 

You can send a sequence of timely abandoned cart emails that are triggered automatically when a customer abandons the cart and lands in their inbox.  

It is filled with an array of useful features like a drag-and-drop email editor, pre-designed templates, and exit-intent popups for effortless abandoned cart recovery. 

Retainful Shopify Abandoned cart app

Pricing

  • A free version is available
  • Starter at $9/month
  • Growth plan at $19/month
  • Professional plan at $49/month

2. Omnisend

Omnisend is a Shopify cart recovery app that helps to send cart reminder messages across multiple channels like email, SMS, social media, and web push notifications. 

It provides advanced automation features, allowing you to create intricate workflows. Its segmentation feature is also a highlight, as it provides ample scope to send targeted abandoned cart emails in Shopify. 

Omnisend also allows you to dynamically insert customer names, product details, and even unique discount codes into your Shopify cart recovery emails. 

Omnisend Shopify Abandoned cart  app

Pricing:

  • A free version is available (Email only)
  • Standard plan- $16/mo (Email only)
  • Pro plan- $59/month (Email + SMS)

3. Pushowl

This Shopify abandoned cart recovery app can be your best fit if you are planning to recover abandoned carts through push notifications.

Pushowl directly delivers targeted cart abandonment reminders to customers’ desktop or mobile devices. 

You can customize the message, timing, and even the appearance of the Shopify cart recovery messages.

Pushowl Shopify abandoned cart app

Pricing:

  • A free plan is available (500 impressions/month)
  • $19 – 10k impressions/month
  • $79 – 25k impressions/month

4. Carecart

Care Cart is a multi-channel Shopify abandoned cart app that allows you to send cart recovery messages through emails, SMS, and web push notifications. 

CareCart also has exit-intent cart recovery popups, which are triggered when a customer shows signs of leaving the site without completing their purchase. 

Carecart Shopify abandoned cart app

Pricing: 

  • Abandoned cart recovery email App – $12/month

5. SMSBump

SMSBump enables store owners to send automated SMS sequences that are triggered by cart abandonment. The messages can be customized to be sent at strategic intervals after a cart is abandoned.

A standout feature is the ability to personalize Shopify abandoned cart recovery messages. You can include the customer’s name, specific items left in the cart, and even unique discount codes within the SMS.

SMSBump Shopify abandoned cart app

Pricing:

  • A free version is available. 
  • Growth plan – $19/month
  • Prime – $59/month
  • Powerhouse – $199/month

How to Check Abandoned Carts in Shopify?

There are two ways to check abandoned carts on Shopify: manually and using a Shopify abandoned cart app. 

  • To check abandoned carts manually, follow these steps:

Step 1: Go to your Shopify admin.

Step 2: Click Orders.

Step 3: Click Abandoned Checkouts.

This will show you a list of all the carts that have been abandoned in your store. You can see the date and time the cart was abandoned, the items in the cart, and the customer’s email address.

  • To check using a Shopify abandoned cart app:

Shopify abandoned cart apps track abandoned carts in your Shopify store in real-time. 

We will see how you can check abandoned carts using a Shopify abandoned cart app – Retainful. It has a dedicated dashboard to track abandoned carts, cart value, and recovered carts. 

Step 1: Install Retainful in the Shopify app store and create an account. 

Step 2: You will be directed to the Retainful dashboard, where you can check Shopify abandoned carts, revenue locked in those, recovered revenue, and cart recovery rate. 

Retainful dashboard

Wrapping Up!

A significant amount of revenue can be tied to Shopify abandoned carts, and you cannot consider them as a lost cause. So we have placed the most effective strategies at your disposal and seen how to convert abandoned carts to finished purchases using them.

We have also seen the best Shopify abandoned cart apps to effectively carry out those strategies using automation.

Learn more about Shopify abandoned carts:

  1. How to Edit Abandoned Cart Emails in Shopify?
  2. How to Setup an Abandoned Cart Email Campaign in your Shopify Store?
  3. 7 Excellent Abandoned Cart Email Hacks For Your Ecommerce Store
Is there a limit to the number of abandoned cart emails on Shopify?

Shopify’s basic feature allows for the sending of one automated abandoned cart recovery email 10 hours after a cart is abandoned.
To send a series of abandoned cart emails or to have more control over the timing and content of the emails, you can use third-party email automation apps like Retainful or Omnisend.

How do I remove carts that have been abandoned from Shopify?

Removing abandoned carts from Shopify is not something that is typically done, as this is crucial information about the performance of your abandoned cart recovery strategy. However, Shopify automatically clears abandoned checkouts after 30 days.

What percentage of carts are abandoned on Shopify?

The average cart abandonment rate on Shopify in 2023 is around 70%. 
According to the Baymard Institute, the average online shopping cart abandonment rate is 70.19%.

Why am I getting so many abandoned carts?

There are several common reasons why you might be experiencing a high rate of abandoned carts in your online store:
1. High Additional Costs
2. Forced Account Creation
3. Complex Checkout Process
4. Payment Security Concerns
5. Limited Payment Options
6. Comparison Shopping

What is an abandoned cart discount?

Abandoned cart discount is a strategy used by e-commerce businesses to encourage customers to complete a purchase they started but did not finish. To re-engage these customers, businesses often send them a follow-up email or notification that includes a special discount offer on the items they left in their cart.