“Abandoned cart” sounds simple: an item was added, no purchase followed. But GA4’s interface doesn’t fully expose this pattern, and the underlying event structure requires a careful SQL approach.
A practical workflow:
• Find users or sessions that triggered at least one add_to_cart event
• Check whether a purchase event is associated with the same user, session, or item
• Isolate those with cart activity but no corresponding purchase
If you need greater detail, evaluate specific items:
• Review item_id to determine exactly what was left behind
• Group by user, session, or item to quantify the scale of abandonment
GA4 surfaces cart events. BigQuery helps you reconstruct the full story—who added what, when they abandoned it, and which products repeatedly fail to convert.
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