Cart abandonment is the share of started carts that don’t convert — one minus completed over started. Recovering even a slice of abandoned carts is high-leverage revenue.
The example
120 purchases from 500 carts.
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Item | Value |
| 2 | Completed | 120 |
| 3 | Carts | 500 → 76% |
The formula
The formula:
How it works
How it works:
completed / carts_createdis the completion rate; one minus it is abandonment.- Abandonment is high by nature — 60–80% is typical across retail.
- The recoverable revenue is abandoned carts × their value × an expected recovery rate.
- Reduce it with guest checkout, clear shipping, and cart-recovery emails.
Size the prize. If 380 carts (76% of 500) abandon at an $80 average and a recovery email wins back 10%, that’s 380 × 80 × 0.10 = $3,040 recovered. Quantifying recoverable revenue turns a scary abandonment percentage into a concrete reason to invest in checkout fixes and recovery flows.
Try it: interactive demo
Completed purchases and carts created.
Variations
Completion rate
The flip side:
Abandoned carts
The count:
Recoverable revenue
Size the prize:
Pitfalls & errors
Define a cart. Cart-created vs checkout-started give different rates — pick one.
High is normal. 60–80% abandonment is expected; track the trend, not the absolute.
Zero carts. No carts gives #DIV/0!.
Practice workbook
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate cart abandonment rate in Excel?
What's a normal abandonment rate?
How much revenue can I recover?
Stop fighting formulas. Learn them in a day.
This recipe is one of hundreds of real-world formulas we teach. Our Excel Formulas & Functions class covers lookups, logic, text, and dynamic arrays hands-on — live in Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, Oklahoma City, Denver, or online.
See the Formulas & Functions Class