"Sessions that completed checkout" does not equal "Sessions that reached and completed checkout"

[krandolph937]

When looking at the Checkout Conversion Rate Over Time report for last month, "Sessions that reached checkout" = 1,590; "Sessions that completed checkout" = 879 for a conversion rate of 55.28%.  But there is also a field you can add called "Sessions that reached and completed checkout" which = 700.  Why doesn't "Sessions that completed checkout" equal "Sessions that reached and completed checkout"?

[Janelle202 · Accepted solution]

The reason why "Sessions that completed checkout" (879) doesn’t equal "Sessions that reached and completed checkout" (700) lies in the way each metric is calculated. "Sessions that reached checkout" refers to all the sessions where a user initiated the checkout process, regardless of whether they completed it. "Sessions that completed checkout" tracks the number of sessions where a user finished the checkout process and made a purchase, including those where a user may have abandoned their cart in one session and later returned to complete the purchase in another. On the other hand, "Sessions that reached and completed checkout" is a more specific metric that only counts sessions where the user both initiated and completed the checkout process within the same session. The discrepancy between these numbers (879 vs. 700) reflects the behavior of users who may have abandoned their checkout in one session and then returned in a different session to finalize the purchase. This explains why the "completed checkout" number is higher than the "reached and completed checkout" number.

[krandolph937]

Thank you so much!  That makes complete sense now!

[Janelle202]

The reason why "Sessions that completed checkout" (879) doesn’t equal "Sessions that reached and completed checkout" (700) lies in the way each metric is calculated. "Sessions that reached checkout" refers to all the sessions where a user initiated the checkout process, regardless of whether they completed it. "Sessions that completed checkout" tracks the number of sessions where a user finished the checkout process and made a purchase, including those where a user may have abandoned their cart in one session and later returned to complete the purchase in another. On the other hand, "Sessions that reached and completed checkout" is a more specific metric that only counts sessions where the user both initiated and completed the checkout process within the same session. The discrepancy between these numbers (879 vs. 700) reflects the behavior of users who may have abandoned their checkout in one session and then returned in a different session to finalize the purchase. This explains why the "completed checkout" number is higher than the "reached and completed checkout" number.