I received this from a reader a week or so ago:
I’ve read your post on cart abandonment rate with interest.The one thing that puzzles me is that a standard cart abandonment rate calculation is nowhere to be found. Some merchants calculate the filled carts against the placed orders, while others calculate the first step of checkout against the placed orders.
Those could be quite different numbers. I think that both instances are useful, but I can’t understand if, say, a 50% cart abandonment rate, is bad or good if I don’t know how it’s calculated.
After all, filled carts which never got to the checkout process could double or triple my statistic base, compared to those who started it.
Could you specify if your numbers are calculated against filled carts or against checkout processes?
Here’s my answer:
Ecommerce conversion rate can be broken up into 3 different calculations, which is probably why there’s not one single shopping cart abandonment calculation. These three calculations are:
1. Site conversion: The most popular of the conversion rate calculations, this is the ratio of the number of total site visitors to the number of completed orders over a given period of time.
What’s a good baseline number? According to data collected from the Fireclick index today, the average ecommerce conversion rate is 1.80%. Industry conversion rates vary, though:
| Vertical | Conversion rate |
| Software | 4.1% |
| Catalog | 3.6% |
| Fashion and Apparel | 2.1% |
| Specialty | 2.0% |
| Electronics | 0.4% |
| Outdoor and Sports | 0.3% |
See more granular data at the Fireclick Index.
2. Cart conversion: The ratio of the number of visits to the shopping cart to the number of completed orders.
There’s also a metric called cart abandonment rate that is related to this calculation.
3. Checkout conversion: The ratio of the number of people visiting the first checkout page to the number of completed orders.
You can get more granular data into why customers abandon checkout by setting up a checkout funnel.
Do you need help calculating your conversion rate, setting up a conversion funnel or interpreting your web site analytics? Check out our e-commerce analysis and conversion rate services and contact us — we’d be glad to help you today.
July 24th, 2007 at 10:43 am
seotips » Blog Archive » How to calculate shopping cart abandon rates. says:
[...] One of the more informative and educational blogs I have run across recently is Rick Whittington’s web site effectiveness blog. Although this post I’m quoting from his blog is a little old, it covers a topic many web site owners are interested in. The name of the article is, “How To Calculate Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate.” Let me know what you think of it. [...]
August 1st, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Should You Measure Yourself Against the Average Conversion Rate? » eCommerce Cache :: Varien eCommerce Blog :: A blog focused on the design, marketing, and implementation of online commerce says:
[...] Many eCommerce retailers find themselves wondering time and time again if they’re measuring up to the average conversion rate. It’s a valid question; no one wants to fall behind, and be the one “missing something” when it comes to enticing customers to buy. This kind of objective-oriented thinking also aids in keeping a business alive, giving retailers a goal to shoot for when making marketing and site decisions. But what is this magic number? Sources vary, and percentages range from 1.5% to 4.6% or higher, though most figures place it in the 2.5% range. Since these numbers are so divergent, who’s estimate should you trust when comparing to your own conversion rate? [...]