Understand visitors
Baymard Institute’s current statistics page reports a 70.22% average documented cart abandonment rate, calculated as an unweighted average of 50 studies published between 2006 and 2025.
Baymard Institute’s current statistics page reports a 70.22% average documented cart abandonment rate, calculated as an unweighted average of 50 studies published between 2006 and 2025.
That figure is useful context. It is not evidence that 70.22% of every website’s visitors were ready to buy and could be recovered.
Source checked: 5 November 2026.
Read Baymard Institute’s original research summary.
| Finding reported by Baymard | Important context |
|---|---|
| 70.22% average cart abandonment | An average across studies, not one measurement of the entire market. |
| 50 studies included | The underlying research spans multiple years and methodologies. |
| 42% of US online shoppers reported abandoning because they were browsing or not ready | This concerns reported shopper behaviour, not the share of your website traffic. |
| 40% cited high extra costs in the reasons breakdown excluding browsing | This is not 40% of all visits or a universal forecast. |
| 20% cited slow delivery in that breakdown | A different measure from the headline abandonment average. |
Do not add these percentages together or treat them as parts of a single website funnel.
Cart abandonment concerns people or sessions that create a shopping cart but do not complete a purchase under the measurement rules being used.
It does not capture everyone who:
A business can therefore have problems before the cart stage that its cart-abandonment report never reveals.
Use:
Cart abandonment rate = (1 − completed purchases ÷ carts created) × 100
For an illustrative example, 300 completed purchases from 1,000 created carts gives a 70% abandonment rate.
The arithmetic is simple. The definitions need care.
Decide whether you count carts, users, or sessions. Align completed purchases with the relevant cart population and completion window. Check how your system handles repeated carts, test orders, and purchases made later.
Inconsistent measurement can make a change look larger or smaller than it really is.
A store selling an inexpensive replacement item and a store selling made-to-order furniture support different decisions.
Instead of treating a market average as a pass/fail score, compare your own performance consistently:
Investigate meaningful differences without assuming the cause.
A lower completion rate on mobile might reflect usability problems, a different audience, or a different stage of research. The number alone cannot distinguish these explanations.
Use the journey stage to choose the next investigation.
| Where people stop | What to examine |
|---|---|
| Before adding to cart | Product fit, missing options, unclear information. |
| After viewing delivery costs | Total price and delivery expectations. |
| While entering information | Form errors and unnecessary effort. |
| At payment | Payment failures and confidence in the transaction. |
Ask a short, relevant question alongside checking the underlying experience.
No. They describe different behaviours and use different definitions. A visitor can browse several pages and abandon a cart, or leave a page without ever creating one.
That produces a theoretical basket value, not a reliable revenue forecast. Some people were never ready to purchase, and others may return without intervention.
Only if it has a genuinely comparable cart journey. Otherwise, define a relevant measure such as booking starts to completed bookings.
Next: Understand why visitors leave before buying.
Use the IfOnly demo to explore how direct feedback can add context to a number.
Research basis: Baymard’s current statistics page. The article deliberately distinguishes its historical study average from its shopper-reported reasons.
Understand visitors
Visitors leave without buying because the offer does not fit their needs, important information is missing, purchasing feels difficult, or they are not ready to decide. Understanding which explanation applies requires more than counting exits: you need evidence about what visitors were trying to do.
Read article 3 min read
Collect feedback
The best question for a visitor who has not purchased is short, neutral, and relevant to what they are considering. Ask about one thing at a time, then clarify only if the answer leaves an important detail unresolved.
Read article 4 min readTry a short conversation from your visitor’s perspective.
Try the interactive demo