Roughly seven of every ten carts are abandoned, and the reasons have been stable for years: surprise costs, forced accounts, doubt about the seller, and checkout friction. Shopify's checkout itself is heavily optimized and largely out of your hands, which is good news, because it means your recoverable losses live in the parts you do control.
Kill the surprises before checkout
Unexpected shipping cost is the single biggest abandonment trigger. Show shipping terms on the product page, add a free-shipping threshold progress bar if you offer one, and surface taxes and fees as early as the platform allows. A shopper who knows the total before checkout rarely flinches at it during checkout.
Remove friction you added
- Enable accelerated wallets, Shop Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal, so returning shoppers finish in seconds; Shop Pay checkouts convert dramatically better than standard ones.
- Never force account creation; guest checkout with an optional account after purchase captures the same data without the wall.
- Offer installment options where average order value warrants it, and say so on the product page.
Answer doubt with signals
Unfamiliar stores carry a trust tax. Visible return policies, real contact information, reviews near the buy button, and a professional, fast site pay it down. One confused question at the wrong moment loses the order, so a small FAQ near the cart, shipping times, returns, sizing, earns its space.
Recover the rest
A well-timed abandoned-checkout email within the hour, a reminder a day later, and a final touch with an incentive if your margins allow will recover a meaningful slice of the seventy percent. Watch where sessions exit in analytics: the step where people leave is the step with the problem.