Cart abandonment drains revenue from every ecommerce store. The global average abandonment rate sits at roughly 70%, meaning seven out of ten shoppers who add a product to their cart leave without buying. On Shopify and BigCommerce, you have native tools and third-party integrations that can systematically recover a meaningful share of that lost revenue. This post walks through the highest-impact tactics, how they work mechanically, and where each platform gives you an edge.
Why Shoppers Abandon Carts (and Why It Matters for Your Fix)
Understanding the abandonment reason tells you which fix to prioritize. Baymard Institute's research has consistently identified the top reasons shoppers exit before purchasing:
- Unexpected costs at checkout: Shipping fees, taxes, or service charges revealed late in the funnel are the single largest driver.
- Forced account creation: Requiring registration before purchase adds friction that casual buyers refuse to accept.
- Slow or complicated checkout: Too many form fields, unclear progress indicators, or multi-page flows increase drop-off at every step.
- Payment method limitations: Shoppers who don't see their preferred payment option (BNPL, digital wallets, local methods) simply leave.
- Security concerns: Missing trust signals at the payment stage cause hesitation, especially with new or lesser-known brands.
Each of these has a direct countermeasure. The sections below map solutions to root causes rather than treating abandonment as a single problem.
Streamline Checkout to Fewer Clicks and Fields
Every additional form field reduces conversion. Shopify's one-page checkout, which became the default for all stores in 2023 and has been refined since, consolidates address, shipping, and payment into a single scrollable view. If you are still running a legacy three-page checkout on Shopify, migrate to the one-page layout in your theme settings immediately. The reduction in page loads alone cuts checkout abandonment measurably.
On BigCommerce, the optimized one-page checkout is enabled by default on all plans. However, BigCommerce gives developers deeper access to the checkout DOM through its open-source Checkout SDK, which means you can remove fields that don't apply to your product type. For example, a digital goods store can strip the shipping address fields entirely for those SKUs.
Guest checkout is non-negotiable. Both platforms support it natively. On Shopify, go to Settings, then Checkout, and set "Customer accounts" to optional or disabled. On BigCommerce, the equivalent lives under Store Setup, then Checkout. After a successful purchase, you can prompt the customer to create an account with a single click using the email they already provided. This captures account registrations without blocking the sale.
Address autocomplete, powered by Google Places API, is available on both platforms and reduces address entry time by a measurable amount. Shopify enables it automatically. On BigCommerce, it requires enabling the feature in your checkout settings or through a theme that includes the integration.
Make Shipping Costs Visible Before Checkout
Hidden shipping costs are the leading abandonment driver, so surface them earlier. On your product pages and cart page, show a shipping cost estimator that accepts a zip code and returns a real-time rate. Shopify supports this natively on the cart page. BigCommerce has a built-in shipping estimator widget that renders on the cart page without requiring an app.
If your margins allow it, free shipping with a minimum order threshold is one of the most effective conversion levers in ecommerce. A "You're $12 away from free shipping" progress bar on the cart page increases average order value while simultaneously removing the cost surprise at checkout. On Shopify, apps like Cart Upsell or native theme sections handle this. On BigCommerce, you can configure free shipping promotions natively and use a theme with a built-in cart goal bar.
For stores that cannot absorb free shipping across the board, flat-rate shipping is the next best option. Customers can predict the cost before they reach checkout, which removes the surprise even if the cost itself isn't zero.
Add More Payment Options, Especially Buy Now Pay Later
Payment method coverage directly affects who can complete a purchase. Shopify Payments supports Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and integrates with Klarna, Afterpay, and Affirm for buy now pay later (BNPL). Shop Pay specifically has been shown in Shopify's own published data to convert at a higher rate than standard guest checkout because it pre-fills shipping and payment details for returning Shop Pay users across the network.
BigCommerce integrates with over 65 payment gateways natively, including PayPal, Stripe, Square, and all major BNPL providers. Unlike Shopify, BigCommerce does not charge an additional transaction fee when you use a third-party gateway, which is worth factoring into your payment provider selection.
For BNPL specifically, display the per-installment price on your product pages, not just at checkout. Klarna and Afterpay both provide product page widgets. Seeing "$25/month" alongside a $100 product price reduces sticker shock and increases add-to-cart rates, which is the step before abandonment can even occur.
Set Up Abandoned Cart Email and SMS Recovery
Automated abandonment recovery sequences are one of the highest-ROI tactics available to small ecommerce businesses. Shopify includes a built-in abandoned checkout email that sends automatically after a configurable delay (the default is 10 hours). This is adequate for very small stores, but it sends only one email and has minimal personalization.
For a proper recovery sequence, use a platform like Klaviyo, which integrates deeply with both Shopify and BigCommerce. A three-message sequence structured as follows outperforms a single email by a significant margin:
- Email 1 at 1 hour: A gentle reminder with the cart contents and a direct link back to checkout. No discount yet.
- Email 2 at 24 hours: Add a social proof element such as reviews for the abandoned product, plus an FAQ addressing common objections.
- Email 3 at 72 hours: Introduce a time-limited discount (10–15% is typical) or free shipping offer to close undecided buyers.
SMS abandonment flows convert at higher rates than email in many verticals because open rates for SMS exceed 90%. Both Klaviyo and Postscript integrate with Shopify and BigCommerce for SMS flows. You must collect SMS consent explicitly, which both platforms handle at checkout when configured correctly. Do not send SMS without confirmed opt-in; it creates compliance risk under TCPA in the US and PECR in the UK.
Retargeting ads on Meta and Google are a complementary channel. Shopify integrates with Meta through its native sales channel. BigCommerce connects via the Meta pixel and the Google & YouTube app. Running a retargeting campaign showing the exact products a shopper viewed creates a second recovery touchpoint for users who didn't open your emails.
Build Trust Signals Into the Cart and Checkout Pages
First-time visitors have no prior experience with your brand. Trust signals reduce the perceived risk of completing a purchase. The highest-impact trust elements to add to your cart and checkout pages include:
- Security badge and SSL indicator: Both Shopify and BigCommerce include SSL by default. Display a visible security badge near the payment fields, not just in the footer.
- Money-back guarantee statement: A short one-line guarantee ("30-day returns, no questions asked") placed near the checkout button reduces hesitation without requiring a design overhaul.
- Product thumbnails in checkout: Shopify's one-page checkout shows cart items in a sidebar on desktop. On BigCommerce, your checkout theme should display item thumbnails so shoppers can confirm they have the right products without navigating back.
- Customer reviews near checkout: An aggregate star rating or a single compelling review from Okendo, Judge.me, or Yotpo can be injected into cart page templates on both platforms.
Shopify vs. BigCommerce: Cart Recovery Features Compared
| Feature | Shopify | BigCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Native abandoned cart email | Yes, single email, built-in | Yes, single email, built-in |
| One-page checkout (default) | Yes, since 2023 | Yes, since 2018 |
| Guest checkout | Configurable | Configurable |
| Third-party gateway transaction fee | 0.5%–2% depending on plan | None |
| Checkout SDK for custom development | Limited (Checkout UI Extensions) | Full open-source Checkout SDK |
| Native BNPL options | Shop Pay Installments, Klarna, Afterpay | Klarna, Afterpay, Affirm via gateway |
| Shipping estimator on cart page | Native | Native |
Measure What's Actually Working
Without measurement, you are optimizing blind. Set up a checkout funnel report in Google Analytics 4 using the built-in ecommerce events: begin_checkout, add_payment_info, and purchase. Both Shopify and BigCommerce push these events to GA4 through their respective Google channel integrations. The funnel visualization shows exactly which checkout step loses the most users, which tells you where to focus your next fix.
Run A/B tests on high-traffic elements. Shopify supports A/B testing on checkout through third-party tools like Convert.com or through Shopify's own Experimentation features on Plus plans. On BigCommerce, Google Optimize alternatives such as VWO integrate via script injection. Test one variable at a time: button copy, discount offer in recovery email, or shipping threshold amount. Without a control group, you cannot know whether a change helped or hurt.
Cart Abandonment on Shopify and BigCommerce FAQ
What is a realistic cart recovery rate for a small ecommerce store?
A well-configured three-email abandonment sequence typically recovers 5–15% of abandoned carts. Stores that add SMS to the sequence recover an additional 2–5%. These figures vary significantly by niche, price point, and audience quality, but 8–10% total recovery is a reasonable benchmark to aim for in your first 90 days of optimization.
Does offering a discount in every recovery email train customers to abandon on purpose?
Yes, if you send a discount in the first recovery email, a segment of your audience will learn to abandon carts intentionally to receive it. The best practice is to send the discount only in the final email of your sequence, after a 48–72 hour delay, so it rewards genuinely undecided shoppers rather than strategic abandoners.
Can I reduce cart abandonment without apps or extra monthly costs?
Yes. Enabling guest checkout, activating the native one-page checkout, adding a shipping estimator to the cart page, and turning on the built-in abandoned cart email are all zero-cost changes available on both Shopify and BigCommerce. These four changes alone address the top two abandonment causes: friction and shipping cost surprise.
How does Shop Pay affect cart abandonment on Shopify?
Shop Pay pre-fills checkout fields for any shopper who has used Shop Pay on any Shopify store in the past, which dramatically reduces the number of fields a returning user must complete. Shopify's published data indicates Shop Pay converts at a rate roughly 50% higher than standard guest checkout for returning Shop Pay users, primarily because of this reduced friction.
Should I use exit-intent popups to reduce abandonment?
Exit-intent popups can recover a portion of shoppers who are about to leave, but they must be implemented carefully. A popup that fires on every page visit annoys users and increases bounce rate. The most effective implementation triggers only on the cart or checkout page, only for first-time visitors, and offers something specific such as a free shipping threshold or a small discount code. Tools like Privy and Justuno integrate with both Shopify and BigCommerce for this purpose.
