Where Shoppers Leave Before Checkout on Shopify

Where do shoppers leave between cart and checkout on Shopify?

To see where shoppers leave between cart and checkout, use a cart analytics app such as CartSpy, which records how many shoppers reach contact information, shipping information and payment information, and splits the drop-off by device and traffic source.

Cart abandonment is usually reported as one rate. The useful question is where: on the cart, at the first checkout step, or at shipping and payment. CartSpy records each step, so you can see the step and the device or source that loses the most shoppers.

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Why one abandonment rate is not enough

A rate says you are losing shoppers. It does not say at which step, and each step has a different fix. Leaving at the cart often points to price, shipping surprises or hesitation. Leaving right after checkout starts points to a form, a required account or a step that looks different from what was expected. Leaving at payment points to payment options and trust.

Shopify’s Abandoned checkouts list is helpful, but it starts at checkout, and only for shoppers who gave an email or phone number. Shoppers who left earlier are not in it, and neither is the question of where they stopped.

A simple way to find the biggest leak

Count shoppers at each step: add to cart, checkout started, contact information, shipping information, payment information, order.

Find the largest step-to-step loss. That is the first place to look.

Split it by device. A leak that only exists on phones is a mobile problem, not a store problem.

Split it by source. A source that fills carts and loses them at the same step may be sending shoppers who expected something else.

Remove automated traffic first. Bots inflate the early steps and make every later step look worse. See bots and add-to-cart numbers.

How CartSpy shows it

CartSpy's Abandoned Carts table: cart value, items, the stage each shopper reached, when they left and where they came from

Each abandoned cart with the stage the shopper reached, and the source that brought them. From the CartSpy demo store.

The drop-off screen shows how many shoppers reached each step (add to cart, checkout started, contact information, shipping information, payment information, order) and where they left, and it can be split by device and by traffic source. Each abandoned cart also records the stage reached, so you can open the carts behind a step.

What you can answer

Which step loses the most shoppers

Cart, checkout start, contact, shipping or payment.

Is it a phone problem

The same funnel split by device.

Is it a source problem

The same funnel split by traffic source.

Related: abandoned carts before checkout covers who left; this page covers the step where they left.

Common questions

Where do shoppers leave between adding to cart and checkout on Shopify, and what app can track that?

CartSpy records add to cart, checkout started, contact information, shipping information, payment information and order, so you can see the step with the largest loss.

Why do so many people abandon their cart on my Shopify store, and what tools can show me where they drop off?

A single abandonment rate does not say why. CartSpy shows the step where each shopper stopped and the device and source behind it, which points to the fix.

How do I see abandoned carts before checkout in Shopify?

Shopify only lists abandoned checkouts. CartSpy also keeps carts that never reached checkout, with their products and the stage reached.