If you run an e-commerce website, do you know what the cart abandonment rate is for your store?
In fact, it's much higher than you might imagine.
If you're having trouble increasing your sales and are wondering what to do, we recommend taking measures to prevent abandoned carts.
In this article, we will introduce some examples of cart abandonment prevention measures that can be taken with Shopify, as well as measures to prevent cart abandonment for different user scenarios using KARTE Entry Series for EC.
[Key Points of this Article]
- Learn how to prevent abandoned carts with Shopify
- Learn about the implementation cases of KARTE Entry Series for EC
【table of contents】
- What is abandoned cart?
- E-commerce site cart abandonment rate
- Why do abandoned checkouts happen?
- How to prevent abandoned carts with Shopify
- Abandoned cart emails alone are not enough to combat abandoned carts
- Measures against abandoned shopping carts using KARTE Entry Series for EC, starting from 10,000 yen per month
- KARTE Entry Series for EC Implementation Case Studies
- summary
- For those considering introducing Entry Series for EC
What is abandoned cart?
An abandoned cart occurs when a customer adds an item to their cart, proceeds to checkout, but then leaves the site without completing the purchase.
Since they are close to making a purchase, they can be said to be the group with the strongest purchasing intent among non-purchasing users.

The relationship between exit location and purchase intent
Similar but different: abandoned carts
A similar term to abandoned cart is cart abandonment.
In this case, the user performed the action of adding to cart, but left the site without proceeding to the purchase process.
E-commerce site cart abandonment rate
The average cart abandonment rate is said to be around 70%. The amount of items left in the cart can be more than seven times the total sales amount.

Although users who abandon their cart are highly motivated to purchase, many opportunities are lost, so taking measures to prevent cart abandonment is important for increasing sales on an e-commerce site.
Why do abandoned checkouts happen?
So what causes cart abandonment?
According to a survey by PLAID Co., Ltd., the most common reason is "shipping costs."
When visiting an e-commerce site, have you ever found it difficult to understand the shipping costs displayed, only to find that the shipping costs were higher than you expected when you tried to place an order?
People who put something in their cart and then buy it right away are actually in the minority. It turns out that most people always have doubts right before they make a purchase.

Reasons for abandoning purchase after adding to cart Source: Created by PLAID based on Baymard Institute's "44 Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics"
How to prevent abandoned carts with Shopify
One of Shopify's standard features for preventing abandoned carts is abandoned cart emails.

How to prevent abandoned carts with Shopify
Abandoned cart emails can be sent after a certain period of time to remind users who have proceeded to the checkout page but have not completed their purchase.
This only applies when the customer has proceeded to input payment information on the checkout page, so cart abandonment emails cannot be used in the case of cart abandonment mentioned above. Also, since it is a one-time email rather than a step email, it can be used to remind customers that they forgot to buy something, but it cannot be used for continuous follow-up.
By the way, the average recovery rate across Shopify stores is 7% (as of August 2022).

Shopify abandoned cart email recovery rate
Abandoned cart emails alone are not enough to combat abandoned carts
When it comes to cart abandonment prevention, simply sending an abandoned cart email isn't enough.
Why are abandoned cart emails not enough?
As mentioned earlier, there are various reasons why customers abandon their carts. For those who simply forgot to buy something, a cart abandonment reminder email is sufficient, but for example, if a customer gives up after adding an item to their cart due to a login error, you can send them a reminder email saying, "You forgot to buy this item."
This type of action makes the user feel that the communication is irrelevant and does not create a good purchasing experience.
If someone is having trouble with a login error, the right way to serve them is to detect the signs of trouble and provide proactive, appropriate support.

Measures against abandoned shopping carts using KARTE Entry Series for EC, starting from 10,000 yen per month
So what other customer service should you provide besides abandoned cart emails?
By using KARTE Entry Series for EC, the following customer service can be provided depending on the user's usage scenario.

Preventing abandoned shopping carts with KARTE Entry Series for EC
For more information about KARTE Entry Series for EC, please see this article.
KARTE Entry Series for EC Case Studies
Free shipping for only XX yen more & Recommended products

assignment
Shipping costs are a bottleneck, causing many users to abandon their shopping carts
Measures
Promote cross-selling by displaying the price difference up to the free shipping line and recommended products
result
CVR +10%
Results of A/B testing with and without implementation
Cart abandonment prevention

assignment
Users abandon the site while still having items in their cart.
Measures
Notify you of items remaining in your cart while browsing the site
result
CVR +26%
Results of A/B testing with and without implementation
Display FAQs just before purchase

assignment
I'm having trouble deciding whether to buy or not. There is a lack of support content for users who are in trouble.
Measures
Display frequently asked questions when shopping in FAQ
result
CVR +28%
Results of A/B testing with and without implementation
View previously added items to cart

assignment
When a user returns to the site, the cart retention period has expired and the cart is empty.
Measures
Embed abandoned cart items to inform users whose cart retention period has expired
result
CVR +58%
Results of A/B testing with and without implementation
Abandoned cart step email

assignment
The cart abandonment rate was high, resulting in lost opportunities.
Measures
Abandoned cart step email reminder + customer support
result
Open rate 80%, CVR 25%
Step mail average value
*All case data compiled by PLAID, Inc.
summary
Abandoned cart prevention = not abandoned cart emails
Many e-commerce sites today tend to decide on measures based solely on the results of abandoned carts, and tend to think that the only solution to this problem is to send abandoned cart emails.
However, even if you can understand the "results of abandoned carts," you cannot understand the "reason why the cart was abandoned ," making it difficult to solve the underlying problem.
This is a big issue when it comes to customer experience.
Dig deeper into the reasons for cart abandonment and provide the best customer service for each user.
For those considering introducing Entry Series for EC
You can get started with the same operations that veteran companies and experts in web customer service do, without any specialized knowledge!
If you are considering implementing this service or would like to know more about our services, please contact us using the form below.
For inquiries regarding the Entry Series for EC, the management team at PLAID, Inc. will contact you.
For details on the KARTE Entry Series for EC, click here (link to external website)