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November 13, 2026
brands-retailers
Cart abandonment is something that e-commerce owners always strive to improve. But what if we told you that not everything depends on you?
According to the most recent data published by the Baymard Institute,1 the average cart abandonment rate is 70.22%, with 42% of customers abandoning their cart simply because they’re browsing or not ready to buy. After all, an e-commerce cart is often used to compare prices or as a wishlist.
However, it would also be false to say that there’s nothing to do about it, because there are proven ways to improve cart abandonment and increase the average order value (AOV).
In this guide, you’ll learn how to improve your cart abandonment rate from both a UX and a shopping experience perspective, with actionable tips that you can put into practice right away.
The first culprit of a high cart abandonment rate is usually the actual checkout experience. In particular, three UX fixes proved to be effective in reducing cart abandonment:
Let’s take a closer look.
Leaving out the people who aren’t ready to buy, the next most common reason for abandoning a cart is that the extra costs were too high.1 40% of customers decided not to buy something because of unexpected costs: shipping costs that show up at checkout, additional taxes or fees.
In a physical shop, a customer may feel more pressured to complete the purchase when finding additional costs at the register, but a customer buying online can just close the tab.
One way to fix this problem is to show the full price before checkout, or – if that isn’t possible – at least an estimate. In this way, you eliminate the chance of unexpected costs and lead with complete transparency.
A checkout process that is too complicated or requires too many steps is a deterrent for customers: 18% of them left an e-commerce website because they didn’t want to create an account and 17% because the checkout was too long.1
The solution is to streamline the process entirely. First, offer a way for people to make a purchase without having to create an account. Having to sign up or give your email before even buying a product can leave a negative brand experience that goes beyond a lost sale.
Second, cut a few unnecessary steps. The Baymard Institute found that the average US e-commerce checkout form has 23 elements, while the ideal one should contain around 12 or 14 at maximum.1
Adding new steps to any high-intent process can cause more friction and, thus, higher chances of drop-off. That’s why you should always test the whole shopping experience – from browsing to checkout – and optimize it to be as frictionless as possible.
Transparency and security are the third fix to act on. In fact, 19% of shoppers refused to buy something from an e-commerce site because they didn’t trust it with their payment information.1 For this reason, make sure you give your customers recognizable payment options, such as major credit card networks, PayPal, Stripe, and wallet payments.
Digital wallets already account for 40% of US online transaction value, ahead of credit cards at 32%, according to Worldpay’s 2026 Global Payments Report. Adding buy now, pay later is worth considering too, since it made up 6% of US e-commerce value in 2025.
Uncertainty about what happens after a purchase can be enough to discourage customers from buying in the first place. If shoppers aren't sure whether they can return an item, request a refund, or exchange a product that doesn't meet their expectations, they may decide not to take the risk.
That's why it's important to make your return, refund, and exchange policies easy to find and understand. Clearly communicate the conditions for returns, applicable deadlines, and any costs involved. You should also highlight the most important details directly on product pages or during checkout, rather than expecting customers to search through your website to find them.
The next culprit is gaps in the shopping experience. Once you’ve covered the UX side of your e-commerce store, it’s time to see whether you can make the shopping experience more appealing or rewarding for your customers. Examples include:
As mentioned above, one of the main reasons for people to abandon their cart is that additional costs are sometimes too high and unexpected. Shipping is often one of them.
Setting a free shipping threshold is a common practice, and it can have two positive outcomes:
However, it’s important to be careful when it comes to shipping thresholds. A recent study at McGill University found that a sudden increase in the shipping threshold can result in an average of 19% less spending.2 At the same time, unconditional free shipping doesn’t always mean bigger baskets: people tend to place more orders, but of lesser value.
So, what’s the right way to set a shipping threshold?
According to Branvas, the right threshold is around 20-30% above your AOV, though it may vary depending on what you sell. Anything lower than that will eat your margins, and anything higher will feel too unattainable and increase cart abandonment.3
As a retailer, you probably already have a loyalty program. By giving your customers points or other rewards, you give them a reason to add a little more to today’s order, and a reason to come back for the next one. Growave’s 2025 data seems to confirm it: customers who redeemed rewards had a 23% higher AOV than those who didn’t.4
Usually, retail rewards are tied to purchases: the more a customer buys, the more points they receive. But have you ever thought of rewarding them even when they don’t buy anything from you?
These are called earn-without-purchase rewards, and they require active effort from customers. An example is gaming rewards:
This approach works because you’re not asking your customers to spend more money, but to do something they probably already do (like playing mobile games) for a reward. In this way, you also lower the risk of cart abandonment, because customers have another way to build credit toward a purchase. As Marc Bearman, GM of LoyaltyPlay, said in a previous article:
“With shopping and ecommerce apps, if the impetus is always on spending money, then you can fatigue your audience. With gaming monetization, the games are free to play, so you’re able to monetize your users without putting additional pressure on them to part with more dollars.” – Marc Bearman, GM of LoyaltyPlay
How do you calculate cart abandonment?
Even though e-commerce and analytics platforms usually calculate cart abandonment, the formula to follow is: (carts created − completed orders) ÷ carts created.
What is a good cart abandonment rate?
With the average being 70%, a good cart abandonment rate is anything below 65%.5 If your rate is above 85-90%, then you should definitely consider some of the fixes mentioned in this article. However, make sure you’re also comparing these benchmarks against your own rate history: that should be the one guiding any optimization. For example, if you have a very low abandonment rate, but customers return your item frequently or leave negative product reviews, that is something that needs your attention as well.
How do I increase AOV?
There is no fixed strategy, but there are a few levers you can consider:
It’s true: you can’t fix all of your abandoned carts. But you can put these simple ideas into practice to try and revert some of that negative trend.
Mistplay can help you with that. LoyaltyPlay was designed to help e-commerce owners get the most out of their loyalty program with game-linked rewards. In this way, your loyalty app becomes a place of discovery for new mobile games, and your customers can earn points to use toward a purchase at your store.
So far, our clients have seen up to 2.5x more frequent visits and 54% re-engagement of lapsed users. Ready to try it yourself? Reach out to us to see how LoyaltyPlay can fit into your shopping experience.
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