--- title: Checkout Abandonment — definition | RGM® Glossary url: https://realgrowthmatters.com/glossary/checkout-abandonment/ updated: 2026-06-10 source_html: https://realgrowthmatters.com/glossary/checkout-abandonment/ --- # Checkout Abandonment check·out a·ban·don·ment/ˈtʃɛˌkaʊt əˈbændənmənt/noun So close to the sale — a started checkout left unfinished, usually for fixable reasons of friction or surprise cost. Term : Checkout Abandonment Is : Leaving during checkout before paying Differs from : Cart abandonment (earlier stage) Top causes : Surprise costs, friction, forced accounts ## Forms & parts of speech checkout abandonment · noun Quitting during checkout. "**Checkout abandonment** spiked when shipping cost appeared at the last step - the surprise killed the sale." ## Definition in plain terms Checkout abandonment is when a shopper begins the checkout process — having decided to buy and entered the checkout flow — but leaves before completing the purchase. It is a later, higher-intent stage than CART ABANDONMENT (leaving items in the cart without starting checkout): these shoppers were actively trying to pay, so abandonment here is especially costly and especially recoverable, because the problem is usually something fixable in the checkout itself rather than a lack of intent. ## The mechanics The causes of checkout abandonment are well documented and mostly about friction and trust at the worst possible moment. The biggest is unexpected costs — shipping, taxes, or fees revealed late — which feel like a bait-and-switch and break the deal. Others include a long or complicated checkout (too many steps or form fields), being forced to create an account before buying, limited or unfamiliar payment options, security or trust concerns, and a slow or buggy or non-mobile-friendly flow. Because intent was high, each of these is an avoidable leak rather than a lost cause. The fixes map directly to the causes: show total costs early and honestly, offer guest checkout, minimize steps and fields, support the payment methods customers expect (including wallets and BUY-NOW-PAY-LATER), display trust and security signals, and make the flow fast and mobile-first. And because not every abandonment can be prevented, recovery matters too — abandoned-checkout emails and retargeting bring a meaningful share of these high-intent shoppers back to finish, since they were a step away from buying. ## When it matters Checkout abandonment matters intensely for e-commerce because it is conversion lost at the very last step, among shoppers with the highest intent, which makes reducing it one of the highest-ROI improvements available. The discipline is to diagnose where in the checkout people drop (analytics by step), remove the specific friction and surprise-cost causes, and add recovery flows for those who still leave. A checkout optimized for transparency, speed, and minimal friction converts far more of the demand a store works hard to create; a checkout that surprises or obstructs buyers forfeits sales it had already nearly won. **Worked example.** An online store drives strong traffic and gets shoppers all the way into checkout, yet loses many at the final step. Step-by-step analytics pinpoint the leak: shipping cost appears only on the last page, and the flow forces account creation before payment. The team fixes the specific causes — showing total costs upfront, adding guest checkout, trimming form fields, and offering the payment methods customers expect — and adds an abandoned-checkout email for those who still leave. Completion rates climb sharply, because the problems were friction and surprise at the highest-intent moment, all fixable, and the same traffic now converts far more of the shoppers who had already decided to buy. **Failure modes to watch.** Revealing shipping, tax, or fees late so they feel like a bait-and-switch; forcing account creation before purchase; a long, multi-step, or non-mobile checkout; missing expected payment options; and failing to run recovery emails for high-intent abandoners. ## Synonyms & antonyms ### Synonyms checkout abandonmentabandoned checkoutcheckout drop-off ### Antonyms completed checkoutfrictionless purchase ## Origin & history Checkout abandonment is a distinct, later stage of the broader shopping-cart-abandonment problem studied in e-commerce usability research (notably the Baymard Institute's ongoing work cataloging checkout drop-off causes). The term names abandonment within the checkout flow specifically, separating it from earlier cart abandonment. Etymology: [source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopping_cart_abandonment). ## Usage trends Search interest for this term over the last five years: [View interest-over-time on Google Trends →](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=checkout%20abandonment&date=today%205-y) ## Common questions What is checkout abandonment? : When a shopper begins the checkout process but leaves before completing the purchase — a later, higher-intent stage than cart abandonment. What causes checkout abandonment? : Most often surprise costs (shipping, taxes, fees revealed late), a long or complicated checkout, forced account creation, limited payment options, and slow or non-mobile flows. How do you reduce checkout abandonment? : Show total costs early, offer guest checkout, minimize steps and fields, support expected payment methods, add trust signals, and run abandoned-checkout recovery emails. ## Related tools & calculators - tool[AOV calculator](/tools/aov-calculator/) - tool[ROAS calculator](/tools/roas-calculator/) ## Resources & people to follow - reference[Wikipedia — Shopping cart abandonment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopping_cart_abandonment) - referenceBaymard Institute — checkout usability and abandonment research - referenceRGM analysis — remove surprise costs and friction; recover high-intent abandoners Curated, non-competitor resources verified per term. ## Related training - module[Growth marketing](/training/growth-marketing-foundations/) ## Disciplines Areas of marketing where checkout abandonment is a core concern: [Growth strategy](/training/growth-marketing-foundations/)[Performance marketing](/training/performance-marketing-foundations/) ## Read next ## Related terms [Cart abandonment rate](/glossary/cart-abandonment-rate/)[Conversion rate](/glossary/conversion-rate/)[Average order value](/glossary/average-order-value/)[Back-in-stock alert](/glossary/back-in-stock-alert/)[E-commerce](/glossary/ecommerce/) ## Sources 1. trends[Google Trends — "checkout abandonment"](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=checkout%20abandonment&date=today%205-y)