Checkout abandonment vs cart abandonment
Checkout abandonment is when a shopper begins the checkout flow but does not complete the purchase. It is a tighter signal than cart abandonment because it counts people who showed stronger intent by entering checkout. Separating the two locates friction precisely: the cart step versus the payment and shipping steps.
What this means
Checkout abandonment is the share of started checkouts (a begin_checkout event) that do not end in a purchase. Because entering checkout signals more intent than adding to a cart, this rate is closer to genuine lost sales than cart abandonment is — though still not a clean loss figure.
Why split the two
Cart abandonment and checkout abandonment cover different segments of the funnel. If most loss is at the cart stage, the work is in pricing, shipping clarity, or trust before checkout. If loss concentrates inside checkout, the work is in the form length, payment options, or unexpected costs at the final step. Treating them as one number hides which problem you actually have.
Define each step from a real event, and watch sample size on the narrower checkout step, which has fewer users than the cart step.
- Begins at the begin_checkout step, not add-to-cart
- Stronger intent than a cart add
- Localises friction to the checkout steps
How it appears in analytics and logs
Checkout abandonment isolates drop-off after begin_checkout. High checkout abandonment with low cart abandonment points at the checkout steps themselves — forms, shipping, payment — rather than the cart.
Diagnostic use case
Measure checkout abandonment separately from cart abandonment so you know whether friction sits before checkout or inside it.
What WebmasterID can help detect
WebmasterID records begin_checkout and purchase events first-party, so you can read drop-off inside checkout without cross-site profiling.
Common mistakes
- Merging checkout and cart abandonment into one number.
- Defining the checkout step from assumptions, not an event.
- Ignoring small samples on the narrower checkout step.
Privacy and accuracy notes
Checkout abandonment is a ratio of checkout-flow events, not identity. WebmasterID measures begin_checkout and purchase events first-party.
Related pages
- Cart abandonment
Cart abandonment happens when a visitor adds items to a cart but does not complete the purchase. The rate is usually one minus (purchases ÷ carts created). It is a useful friction signal, but it overstates 'lost sales' because many adds are research, comparison, or saving for later — not abandoned intent.
- Funnel analysis: finding the leak
Funnel analysis follows visitors through an ordered set of steps (view → add to cart → checkout → purchase) and shows where they fall out. It turns a single conversion rate into a map of where the loss happens. The pitfalls are step definition, small-sample noise, and assuming a strict order where users actually skip around.
- Goal completion and key events
A goal completion is recorded when a visitor performs an action you have defined as valuable, such as a purchase or signup. In modern tools you mark an event as a key event (a conversion) and each qualifying occurrence is counted. The traps are over-counting repeated actions, double-counting across sessions, and defining the goal so loosely it stops meaning success.
- Events docs
Model begin_checkout and purchase events.
Sources and verification notes
Last reviewed 2026-06-24. Facts are checked against primary/official sources where available; uncertain specifics are marked “Data not yet verified” rather than guessed.