The checkout page is the most critical stage of the customer acquisition funnel. It is also where the majority of eCommerce sales are lost. The average shopping cart abandonment rate hovers around 70%.
A clunky, slow, or complicated checkout process imposes a friction tax on your business. Redesigning your checkout experience to remove friction will increase conversions instantly.
Here are the primary checkout design principles to implement for faster conversions.
1. Enable Guest Checkout Options
Forcing customers to create an account before buying is one of the top causes of cart abandonment. Allow users to check out as a guest, and offer the option to save their account details *after* the purchase is complete.
2. Integrate One-Click Express Payments
Place express checkout buttons (Shop Pay, Google Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal) at the top of your checkout page. This allows customers to bypass address and billing forms completely, completing transactions in seconds.
"Integrating express pay systems can speed up checkout times by over 50%, resulting in higher conversion rates on mobile devices."
3. Minimize Form Fields
Only request information that is absolutely required to process and ship the order. Remove unnecessary fields (such as "company name" or "optional address line 2"), and utilize address autocomplete APIs.
4. Design a Mobile-First Layout
Ensure all input fields are easy to tap, and configure inputs to trigger the correct mobile keypad (e.g., a numerical keypad for credit card numbers and zip codes).
5. Use Inline Real-Time Error Validation
Don't wait until the customer clicks "Submit" to show form errors. Use real-time inline validation to highlight form errors immediately, preventing customer frustration.
Want to optimize your Shopify checkout flow and reduce cart abandonment? The development and UX team at Storify can build custom checkout paths tailored to your storefront. Schedule a consultation call with Storify today.
