Cart abandonment is the most significant source of lost revenue in eCommerce websites. Baymard Institute research puts the average documented online cart abandonment rate at 70.19% — meaning roughly seven out of ten customers who add a product to cart leave before completing the purchase. For Australian Shopify stores, the checkout is where a large proportion of that revenue is being lost.
The good news is that checkout abandonment is one of the most actionable conversion problems in ecommerce. Unlike traffic or product demand, checkout friction is largely within your control. This post covers the most common causes of Shopify checkout abandonment and what to do about each one.
Why customers abandon at checkout
Baymard’s research identifies the most common reasons shoppers abandon checkout. The top causes for Australian stores are:
Unexpected costs at checkout. Shipping costs, GST, and handling fees that weren’t visible earlier in the shopping experience are the leading cause of abandonment globally. When a customer sees a total that is meaningfully higher than they expected, many simply leave rather than absorb the difference.
Being forced to create an account. Mandatory account creation before purchase is the second most cited reason. A customer ready to buy doesn’t want to register a new account as a prerequisite. Guest checkout eliminates this barrier entirely.
A checkout process that feels too long or complicated. Too many steps, too many form fields, or unclear progress through the checkout creates friction. The customer’s confidence in completing the transaction decreases with every additional step.
Payment security concerns. If the checkout doesn’t look professional or lacks visible trust signals, customers who are already cautious about online security will abandon rather than enter their payment details.
Limited payment options. Customers who don’t see their preferred payment method — particularly Afterpay or Zip for Australian shoppers making larger purchases — will often leave to find an alternative store that offers it.
The most effective checkout optimisation is not redesigning the checkout — it’s removing the specific friction points that are causing your customers to leave. Identify the cause first, then address it. Changing things without data is as likely to make conversion worse as better.
What Shopify’s checkout gives you by default
Shopify’s checkout is hosted and managed by Shopify — it is separate from your theme and cannot be fully redesigned without Shopify Plus. This is widely misunderstood by store owners who assume they have the same control over the checkout as they do over the rest of the store.
What standard Shopify plans allow you to configure in the checkout:
Logo and brand colours. Your store logo and primary colour can be applied to the checkout header through Settings → Checkout in your Shopify admin. This is the most basic branding available.
Guest checkout vs account requirement. You can set checkout to allow guest checkout, require account creation, or offer both. Guest checkout should be enabled for almost every store — mandatory account creation reliably reduces conversion.
Form field configuration. You can set certain fields as required, optional or hidden. Phone number, for example, can be made optional if it’s not operationally necessary — removing unnecessary fields reduces friction.
Shipping options and rates. How shipping is calculated and presented at checkout is configured through Settings → Shipping and delivery. The presentation of shipping costs is one of the most direct levers on checkout conversion.
Payment gateways. Which payment methods appear at checkout is determined by which gateways you have enabled. Shopify Payments, Afterpay, Zip, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay can all be enabled for Australian stores.
Checkout scripts and Checkout Extensibility apps. On standard plans, limited customisation is available through Checkout Extensibility apps that add content blocks, banners or field validation without requiring Plus.
The highest-impact checkout optimisations for Australian Shopify stores
1. Show shipping costs before checkout
The most effective way to reduce abandonment caused by unexpected shipping costs is to make them visible before the customer reaches checkout. A shipping calculator on the cart page, a free shipping threshold banner sitewide, or clear shipping information on product pages all reduce the surprise factor that drives abandonment.
If your free shipping threshold is $75, every product page and the cart page should state it clearly. A progress bar showing how close the customer is to free shipping (‘Add $12 more for free shipping’) actively increases average order value while reducing abandonment. This is available through apps like Gift Ship or Monk Free Gift & Cart Upsell without developer involvement.
2. Enable guest checkout
Go to Settings → Checkout → Customer accounts and set it to ‘Accounts are optional’. This allows customers to check out without creating an account while still offering account creation to those who want it. Unless you have a specific operational reason to require account creation — a subscription model or a member-only store — mandatory accounts reliably reduce conversion.
3. Enable Afterpay and Zip
Afterpay and Zip are used by a significant portion of Australian online shoppers, particularly for purchases above $50. Both are available through Shopify Payments in Australia and can be enabled through Settings → Payments. Once enabled, they appear as payment options at checkout automatically. Displaying Afterpay and Zip messaging on product pages (‘or 4 payments of $X with Afterpay’) further reduces checkout abandonment by setting expectations before the customer reaches payment.
4. Reduce form fields
In Settings → Checkout → Customer information, review which fields are set to required. Phone number is the most commonly unnecessarily required field — if you don’t operationally need a phone number for order fulfilment, make it optional. Every required field that isn’t genuinely necessary adds friction without adding value.
5. Add trust signals near the payment step
Shopify’s standard checkout includes a padlock icon and ‘Secure’ label, but additional trust signals can be added through Checkout Extensibility apps on standard plans, or through checkout branding settings. A clear returns and refund policy link, visible security badges, and a contact option if the customer has a question all reduce the hesitation that causes abandonment at the payment step.
6. Configure Shopify’s abandoned checkout recovery
Shopify automatically tracks when a customer reaches checkout, enters their email address, and then leaves without completing the purchase. Built into every Shopify plan is an abandoned checkout email that is sent automatically after a defined period. Go to Settings → Checkout → Abandoned checkouts to confirm this is enabled and review the timing and content of the email.
The default abandoned checkout email is functional but generic. Customising it — adding your brand voice, a clear reason to return, and a direct link back to the abandoned cart — improves recovery rates. If you are on Shopify or Advanced plan, Shopify Flow can automate a more sophisticated recovery sequence. Third-party apps like Klaviyo or Omnisend enable multi-step recovery sequences across email and SMS.
7. Check checkout performance on mobile
The majority of Australian ecommerce traffic arrives on mobile. The checkout experience on mobile deserves specific attention — input fields should be large enough to tap accurately, the keyboard that appears should match the field type (numeric for card numbers, email for email addresses), and the progress through checkout steps should be clear on a small screen. Test your own checkout on your phone before assuming it works correctly.
What requires Shopify Plus for checkout customisation
Several checkout customisations that store owners commonly want are only available on Shopify Plus through Checkout Extensibility:
Custom checkout UI components. Adding custom fields, reordering sections, adding upsell offers at checkout, and building custom checkout experiences require Plus and the Checkout Extensibility framework.
Post-purchase pages. Customising the thank you page and order status page with upsell offers, loyalty programme prompts or referral mechanics requires Plus.
Checkout Scripts (legacy). The original Shopify Scripts functionality for checkout is only available on Plus, though Checkout Extensibility apps are increasingly making some of this functionality accessible on standard plans.
For most Australian small businesses, the standard checkout with the optimisations described in this post is sufficient to meaningfully improve conversion without a Plus subscription. Plus becomes relevant when checkout customisation requirements go beyond what these optimisations cover.
Measuring checkout performance
Before making changes, establish a baseline. In your Shopify Analytics, the conversion funnel report shows how many sessions result in a product being added to cart, how many proceed to checkout, and how many complete the purchase. The gap between ‘reached checkout’ and ‘sessions converted’ is your checkout conversion rate.
Google Analytics 4 connected to your Shopify store provides additional detail on where in the checkout flow customers are dropping off. If the drop-off is concentrated at the shipping step, unexpected costs are likely the cause. If it’s concentrated at the payment step, trust signals or payment options may be the issue. The data tells you where to focus before you make changes.
Shopify checkout help with Confetti Design
At Confetti Design we configure and optimise Shopify checkouts for Australian businesses — from enabling the right payment gateways and setting up abandoned checkout recovery, through to advising on whether Shopify Plus is warranted for your specific requirements. Our Shopify expertise covers the full store experience, from product page through to post-purchase.
If you’re losing sales at checkout and want to understand what’s causing it, get in touch. We’ll review your store analytics and checkout configuration and give you a prioritised list of what to fix first.
What is the average cart abandonment rate for Australian ecommerce stores?
Baymard Institute puts the global average documented cart abandonment rate at 70.19%. Australian ecommerce data is consistent with this range. The rate varies significantly by industry — fashion and apparel typically see higher abandonment than electronics or consumables — and by device, with mobile abandonment rates generally higher than desktop. A checkout abandonment rate above 80% warrants investigation. A rate below 60% suggests strong checkout performance for most product categories.
Can I customise Shopify’s checkout without Shopify Plus?
Yes — to a meaningful degree. Standard Shopify plans allow you to configure branding (logo and colour), enable or disable guest checkout, adjust required form fields, configure shipping rates, enable payment gateways including Afterpay and Zip, and use Checkout Extensibility apps that add content blocks and trust signals. The customisations not available without Plus are structural UI changes, custom checkout fields, and post-purchase page customisation. For most Australian small businesses, the available standard plan configurations are sufficient to meaningfully improve checkout conversion.
How do I set up abandoned cart emails on Shopify?
Go to Settings → Checkout → Abandoned checkouts. Shopify’s built-in abandoned checkout recovery sends an email automatically to customers who entered their email address at checkout but didn’t complete the purchase. You can set the timing (10 minutes, 1 hour, 6 hours, 10 hours or 24 hours after abandonment), customise the email subject and content, and review recovery statistics. For more sophisticated multi-step sequences across email and SMS, third-party apps like Klaviyo or Omnisend integrate directly with Shopify and provide significantly more control over the recovery flow.
Does offering Afterpay increase Shopify sales?
For Australian stores selling products above approximately $50, enabling Afterpay and Zip consistently improves both conversion rate and average order value. Shopify Payments data shows that stores enabling buy now pay later options see measurable increases in checkout completion rates for higher-value purchases. The effect is most pronounced for product categories where price sensitivity is high — fashion, homewares, electronics, sporting goods. Enabling Afterpay costs nothing beyond Shopify Payments transaction fees and takes minutes to set up through Settings → Payments.
What is the difference between the cart and the checkout on Shopify?
The cart is the page where customers review their selected products, adjust quantities and apply discount codes before proceeding. It is part of your Shopify theme and can be fully customised through the theme editor or with developer help. The checkout is the multi-step process for entering shipping and payment information to complete the purchase. It is hosted by Shopify, separate from your theme, and has limited customisation on standard plans. The distinction matters because problems on the cart page (customers leaving before reaching checkout) and problems at checkout (customers leaving during the checkout process) have different causes and different solutions.
How do I find out where customers are abandoning my Shopify checkout?
In Shopify Analytics, go to Reports → Behaviour → Checkout funnel. This shows how many sessions progressed through each step of the checkout and where drop-off is occurring. For more granular data, connect Google Analytics 4 to your Shopify store using the Google & YouTube channel app — GA4 provides event-level tracking through the checkout steps, showing whether customers are leaving at the contact information step, the shipping step, or the payment step. That distinction is critical for identifying the correct fix.
