Checkout optimization
📖 3 min readUpdated 2026-04-19
Checkout is the highest-value CRO surface in e-commerce. Every friction point leaks revenue.
Best practices
- Guest checkout option
- Minimal required fields
- Multiple payment methods
- Visible shipping costs early
- Clear pricing breakdown
- Trust signals (SSL, badges)
- Progress indicator
Common issues
- Surprise shipping cost at end (top cart abandonment reason)
- Mandatory account creation
- Too many form fields
- No express checkout (Apple Pay, Shop Pay)
Checkout length
3 steps is common. Long single-page or longer multi-step both work, test.
What to do with this
- Default to 3-step multi-step checkout (email → shipping → payment), the email capture alone pays for the split
- Offer guest checkout, requiring account creation drops conversion 20-40% on new buyers
- Show progress indicators, visible progress lifts completion rate on multi-step flows
- Display trust signals at payment step (secure badge, guarantee, return policy), the payment step is where hesitation peaks
- Support wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Shop Pay), one-click payment options can lift checkout conversion 15-30%