The Surprising Reason Why 51% of Online Shoppers Abandon Their Cart

Image: ChatGPT (2026)

Perhaps world-renowned author and salesman extraordinaire, the late Zig Ziglar, articulated it the best: Selling is essentially a transfer of feelings.

Obviously, there are a variety of factors that go into the act of selling. 

But when the rubber meets the road and it really gets down to the nitty gritty as far as the art of selling is concerned; it essentially all comes down to an exchange of feelings. 

Ideally, consumers want to receive the feeling of assurance that what they’re paying for—is what they’ll actually receive.

And anything that disrupts that feeling of absolute assurance, could potentially become the underlying cause of a potential sale going uncompleted. 

The cause 

You don't necessarily have to be a Zig Ziglar-level salesperson or entrepreneur to realize that anything that causes over half of online shoppers to abandon their carts, could potentially be an absolute impediment to the growth of your e-commerce business. 

This particular impediment in question consists of findings from online business certification program provider TrustedSite's 2026 edition of its State of Ecommerce Trust, whose survey revealed that 51% of shoppers cite questionable business legitimacy as a reason they have abandoned a purchase; up 46% from TrustedSite’s 2024 edition.

Luckily, for entrepreneurs like yourself, this particular issue could be resolved by you doing a few simple things. 

The cure

The transference of feelings is a wonderful thing…when both parties receive what they hoped for, of course. What skeptical online shoppers need in order to help get them over their hesitancy to receive those great feelings that come as a result of purchasing your products or services is simply reassurance. 

Let’s take a moment and look at things from the consumer’s perspective. Online shopping revolves around one thing—credit cards. 

So who could blame consumers for being extremely cautious before submitting their credit card information to an E-commerce company; knowing all that's at stake for them if their information were to fall into the hands of an illegitimate business? I certainly can’t. 

As a startup founder, one of the best ways that you could help alleviate consumers' concerns about the legitimacy of your business and earn their trust is by becoming the face of your brand. 

That means becoming what the late Steve Jobs was to Apple. What Sam Altman is to OpenAI. And what Mark Zuckerberg is to Facebook. The reason why people trust all of those founders’ respective brands is because by standing on the frontlines of their brands in public—consumers know who they could hold accountable if something were to go wrong.

Here are a few simple ways to become the face of your brand:

• Post your bio on your startup’s ‘About Page.’

• Become active on social media.

• Use your government name on all social media accounts.

• Create a podcast.

• Give interviews.

Essentially, becoming the face of your brand is all about establishing social proof for your business; that is, proof that your company is legitimate, and is being run by an open and honest person like yourself. Which would go a long way in helping eliminate any and all doubt about the legitimacy of your company. 

Need help marketing your startup to the masses? 

If you’d like further help establishing consumer trust for your startup, become the next Decryption client today! To do that, simply schedule a complimentary client consultation in which we’ll discuss your company’s marketing goals, objectives, and how we could help take your startup to the top!