Why Does Your Online Store Need a Shopify Progress Bar?

Are you tired of people abandoning items in their carts in your Shopify store?

If you are, you are not alone. Imagine a customer entering your store, filling their cart, then abruptly leaving before checkout.

The cart abandonment rate hit a staggering 70% in 2025. As a Shopify store owner, you need to think quickly about ways to prevent customers from abandoning their carts.

Here’s a simple solution: A Shopify progress bar.

That’s exactly what we will discuss in this article in detail. We will dive into how a Shopify progress bar can increase your sales, what it is, and the best methods for adding a Shopify progress bar to your store.

What is a Shopify Cart Progress Bar?

A Shopify progress bar is a visual indicator at the top of the cart view that lets customers know how far they need to go to complete the checkout.

The progress bar appears at the top of the shopping page. It moves forward as the customer completes each step in the checkout journey. This is an example of a typical Shopify progress bar.

But what we need is a Shopify cart progress bar that entices customers to buy more. This type of progress bar unlocks rewards like free shipping or discounts whenever certain conditions are met.

It’s simple yet effective. But how? To answer this, let’s understand the psychology behind this with an example.

How Does the Shopify Cart Progress Bar Work?

Imagine you are going through a food and snacks section in a physical store and see a ‘Buy one get one’ offer or “get 40% OFF” if you add three items to your cart. In a physical store, when customers browse, they are in control of adding items to their cart, especially when discounts are provided.

The same thing applies to online shopping, except customers cannot touch the items and are unsure how long the process takes. The closer the customer is to the finish line, the faster they will feel compelled to complete the purchase. This is the psychology behind the progress bar.

Now, what if you add discounts and rewards between the customer and the finish line? This way, you will provide extra motivation to add more items and complete the checkout.

There’s less chance of customers abandoning the cart because they feel so close to achieving the reward with the progress bar. Combining clear goals with enticing rewards, the shopping cart progress bar is a powerful tool for Shopify merchants.

Here’s a preview of what a progress bar looks like in iCart, the upsell & cross-sell app

Now that you have understood the psychology behind the progress bar, let’s explore the benefits of adding one to your store.

Why Add a Shopify Progress Bar to Your Store?

Below are a few compelling reasons to integrate the Shopify cart progress bar into your customer’s shopping journey.

Reduce Cart Abandonment Rate

Possibly, the biggest reason to add a progress bar to your store is to stop customers from abandoning their carts. A lot of potential customers slip away when there are no goals or rewards in their journey. A progress bar makes sure there’s an extra push for the customer to complete the purchase without abandoning their cart.

Increase Average Order Value (AOV)

A shopping cart progress bar will encourage customers to add more items to unlock rewards and discounts. For example, if your customer’s cart value is $30 and their progress bar is showing ‘Free shipping above $40’, the customer is nudged to add $10 worth of items to get free shipping. This increases your average order value.

Enhances Customer Experience (CX)

When customers know exactly how many steps are required in the checkout process, it enhances your store’s customer experience. When they understand what to expect from their shopping journey, they are more likely to return to your store.

Generates an Urgency in Completing Checkout

By adding a timer, you can combine a sense of urgency with your Shopify progress bar. For example, ‘10 minutes remaining! Add $20 and get a 50% discount’. Adding a stopwatch creates a limited-time offer in your progress bar. This way, you can encourage customers to complete the checkout quickly.

Now, let’s understand the step-by-step methods for adding a Shopify progress bar to your store.

How to Add a Progress Bar to My Shopify Store?

There are two ways you can add a Shopify progress bar to your store. First, it is through a Shopify application, and the second is through custom coding. Let’s understand both of them.

Method 1: Through a Shopify Application

If you are running a Shopify store, you can install apps such as iCart Cart Drawer Cart Upsell to integrate progress bars into your website.

Step 1:
Go to the Shopify app store and search for ‘progress bar’. Install the iCart application.

Step 2:
Approve to start your 14-day free trial.

Step 3:
Click Enable to enable iCart.

Step 4:
Once iCart is enabled, you can customize your shopping cart. iCart has two types of carts: A cart pop-up (Quick cart) and a full cart. These carts can be enabled or disabled based on your needs.

Click on Customize on any of the cart types.

Step 5:
On the left-hand side, you can see the widget ‘Progress bar’. Click on it and customize your progress bar.

Method 2: Through Custom Coding

If you are proficient in coding or have resources available, you can add a progress bar to your Shopify store by adding custom code to your Shopify theme.

This method gives you more control over customizing the progress bar, but you need a developer to resolve any issues.

Now, let’s move on to learn some tips on how to increase your AOV with progress bars.

3 Tips to Sell More with Your Progress Bar

Just adding a Shopify progress bar to your store is not enough. Here are three tips you can use to sell more items with a progress bar.

#1 Make it Visual

A progress bar at the end of the day is a visual indicator; customize it in such a way that it’s visually engaging for the customer. You can also add animations and make the bar more dynamic.

For example, iCart offers different layouts, including an animated layout, to make the progress bar more visually striking.

#2 Use Action-oriented Language

Instead of writing ‘Get a free product’, write ‘Spend $15 to unlock a free product’. Use clearer and more informative language to showcase the offers and discounts. This tells the shoppers exactly what they are getting.

#3 Add Discount-tiers

Any progress bar without a discount tier is incomplete. Add discount tiers as the customer progresses through each step. For example, tier 1 can be ‘Add two items to get 30% Off’, and tier 2 can be ‘Add one more item to get 50% Off’. Make sure the benefits are bigger in each subsequent tier.

Shopify Progress Bar: A Powerful Tool to Increase Your Store’s Revenue

A progress bar might be a small addition to your Shopify store, but it packs a powerful punch. With this tool, you encourage your customers with a goal and offer to complete the checkout quickly.

The progress bar works on a simple strategy. Let the customers know how close they are to checkout. During their checkout journey, you nudge them to add more items to their cart with discount tiers. This extra push is the backbone to increase your revenue.

Integrate this simple feature into your Shopify store today and see how quickly your cart abandonment rate goes down.

FAQs

1. What is a progress bar in the shopping cart?
The progress bar is a visual marker, usually located at the top of the shopping cart, that shows the customer how many steps are required to complete the purchase.

2. Why should I add a progress bar to my Shopify store?
Incentives can be added to the progress bar to encourage customers to buy more items. This entices the customers to complete the checkout quickly to unlock the rewards.

3. How can I add a progress bar to my Shopify store?
You can install applications such as iCart to add an intuitive progress bar to your store, or you can use custom coding to add a progress bar with the visuals and goals of your choice.

4. How can I reduce my cart abandonment rate?
Implementing a checkout progress bar Shopify widget helps reduce cart abandonment by making the checkout flow crystal clear. Moreover, you can also add a free shipping progress bar in Shopify to increase AOV.

5. What steps are usually included in the Shopify progress bar?
Cart items > discounts/offers > customer details > payment details > final review > payment confirmation.