How to Reduce Cart Abandonment on Shopify

Show Shipping Information Before Checkout

One of the worst moments to reveal unexpected costs is after somebody has already decided to buy.

If shipping costs £15, tell them.

If free shipping begins at £350, tell them.

If duties are payable on delivery, tell them.

With MATEO New York, we've worked on communicating different shipping expectations across the US, UK and EU rather than leaving everything until the final checkout screen.

That isn't glamorous CRO work.

But it removes uncertainty.

And uncertainty kills purchases.

Don't Overload the Cart

The cart should feel like progress.

Not another landing page.

Make sure customers can clearly see:

• Their product
• Variant
• Quantity
• Price
• Shipping information
• Returns reassurance where appropriate
• Checkout button
• That's the core job
• Extras are secondary

Give Customers the Payment Methods They Expect

Different customers have different preferences.

• Card
• PayPal
• Shop Pay
• Apple Pay
• Buy now, pay later

The right mix depends on your audience and order value.

But when somebody is ready to spend money with you, don't make payment unnecessarily difficult.

Check Your Checkout on a Real Phone

Not an emulator.

Not a browser window resized to mobile.

Your phone.

Put a product in the cart and buy it.

• Look for tiny annoyances
• Keyboard issues
• Difficult fields

Buttons hidden by browser controls.

• Confusing delivery methods
• Poorly formatted addresses
• Friction compounds

Make Discount Codes Less Dangerous

Discount fields can have an unintended consequence.

A customer sees:

Discount code

They don't have one.

Suddenly they're thinking:

• “Maybe there's a code somewhere.”
• Off they go to Google
• Sometimes they come back
• Sometimes they don't

This doesn't mean removing discount codes.

It means thinking carefully about how promotions are communicated.

Use Abandoned Checkout Email Properly

An abandoned checkout email shouldn't immediately scream:

HERE'S 20% OFF.

You might simply be training customers to abandon.

Your first message can be helpful.

Something caught your eye?

Your basket is still here.

Need help with sizing?

Have a delivery question?

Then follow up appropriately.

For higher-value products, the buying journey can be longer, so the sequence should reflect that.

Don't Forget Wishlist and Browse Behaviour

Not every potential customer reaches the cart.

For luxury jewellery, for example, somebody adding a product to their wishlist can be a very strong signal even if they're not ready to checkout.

That's why we've looked at wishlist behaviour with MATEO alongside more traditional cart and checkout abandonment.

The goal isn't to bombard customers.

It's to continue the conversation when there is genuine intent.

Checkout Optimisation Is Often About Removing Things

This is a recurring theme in CRO.

Businesses constantly ask:

“What should we add?”

Sometimes the better question is:

“What can we remove?”

• Another popup?
• Another field?
• Another announcement?
• Another upsell?

Another piece of conflicting information?

The closer somebody is to completing the purchase, the simpler I generally want the experience to become.

They've already decided they like the product.

Help them finish.