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Case study · ecommerce · checkout

The account wall: Why 'create an account' costs you orders

An interactive case study: a homeware shop finds a forced account step before checkout, tests a guest checkout path, and plans account creation after the order.

WXM 1 · Wonder (Look)WXM 2 · Architect (Plan)WXM 3 · Validate (Test)WXM 4 · Expand (Grow)
Teaching example
By Phil the CRO Guy

Phil the CRO Guy

Your CRO guide at Mentorele

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Expert-reviewed by Filip Doneski

Filip Doneski

CRO Expert and Strategist · Partner and Lead CRO Strategist at Wavesy

10+ years in conversion optimization and experimentation for DTC, retail and SaaS. Reviews every Mentorele lesson for accuracy before it’s published.

A/B testingConversion rate optimizationDigital psychology and persuasion

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Updated

Slide 1 of 10

Nook & Co wants accounts. Shoppers want lamps.

Nook & Co sells homeware online. The marketing team loves accounts: they make repeat emails and loyalty easy. So checkout starts with a screen that says Sign in or create an account to continue.

Phil walks through one full WXM cycle to see what that screen costs.

Accounts are a real business goal. The question is whether this is the right moment to ask.

Slide 2 of 10

WXM 1 · Wonder (Look)

Wonder: where do shoppers stop?

The team checks that each checkout step is tracked, then builds the funnel from cart to order.

  1. Cart to account screen: almost everyone who clicks checkout reaches it.
  2. Account screen to delivery details: the biggest drop in the whole funnel.
  3. The drop is larger for first-time visitors than for returning ones.
Checkout funnel from the shop's analytics Original wireframe, not a screenshot.
  1. The wall. New visitors are much more likely to stop at the account screen.

Slide 3 of 10

WXM 1 · Wonder (Look)

Wonder: why do they stop?

The team watches recordings of the account screen and adds a one-question survey when shoppers try to leave it.

  1. Recordings: shoppers type an email, see the password rules, pause, and leave.
  2. Others click Forgot password on an account they don't remember having.
  3. Survey answers: "I just want to buy one thing", "Not another password".
  4. It matches published research: 18% of US abandoners in Baymard's survey cite being asked to create an account. [Source](#src-baymard-checkout)

Nobody says 'I hate accounts'. They say 'I just want to buy'. That's the line to design for.

Slide 4 of 10

WXM 1 · Wonder (Look)

Wonder: what the shopper sees today

The first checkout screen offers two ways forward, and both need a password.

Control (A)
Account screen, current version Original wireframe, not a screenshot.
  1. Password first. Shoppers must commit to an account before they see delivery or payment.
  2. No way around. There's no option to just check out.

Slide 5 of 10

WXM 2 · Architect (Plan)

Architect: a hypothesis that keeps everyone happy

Because the funnel shows the biggest drop at the account screen and survey answers say shoppers 'just want to buy', we believe making guest checkout the default, with an optional account after the order, for all shoppers will increase completed orders per visitor, because it removes a commitment and a password at the moment shoppers are most likely to hesitate.

Your turn: Which metric should be a guardrail in this test?
Show Phil’s answer

Number of account sign-ups. Marketing cares about accounts, so watch them. If orders go up but accounts collapse, that's a trade-off the business needs to see. Offering an account on the confirmation page often keeps sign-ups healthy.

We're not deleting accounts. We're moving the ask to a moment when the shopper has already said yes.

Slide 6 of 10

WXM 2 · Architect (Plan)

Architect: how does it score on PXL?

It scores high: on every order's path, very noticeable, removes an element, and backed by analytics and survey evidence. The build is moderate because the order system must accept orders without an account.

PXL score: 10 / 14

Is the change above the fold?Yes1
Is it noticeable within 5 seconds?Yes2
Does it add or remove an element?Yes2
Is it designed to increase user motivation?Yes1
Does it run on high-traffic page(s)?Yes1
Does it address an issue found in user testing?No0
Does it address an issue found in qualitative feedback (surveys, polls, interviews)?Yes1
Does it address insights found in digital analytics?Yes1
Is it supported by mouse-tracking heatmaps or eye tracking?No0
Ease of implementationUnder 2 days1

PXL by CXL. A high score ranks an idea; it does not predict a win.

Slide 7 of 10

WXM 3 · Validate (Test)

Validate: the variation

Guest checkout becomes the main option. Returning customers can still sign in. After the order, the confirmation page offers to save details with one tap: the email is already known, only a password is needed.

Control (A)
A: account required Original wireframe, not a screenshot.
Variation (B)
B: guest checkout first, account after the order Original wireframe, not a screenshot.
  1. Just buy. One field and a clear way forward. No password until after the order.

Slide 8 of 10

WXM 3 · Validate (Test)

Validate: the test plan, written before launch

Fixed in advance:

  1. Primary metric: completed orders per visitor who reach checkout.
  2. Guardrails: account sign-ups (including those on the confirmation page), repeat purchase rate at 60 days (read later), payment errors.
  3. Sample size: from the baseline and the smallest lift worth the build. Run whole weeks.
  4. QA: guest orders reach the warehouse, receipts send, returning customers can still sign in.
  5. Decision rule: ship if orders improve and account sign-ups stay within an agreed range.

Agree the account guardrail with marketing before launch. Then nobody argues about it afterwards.

Slide 9 of 10

WXM 4 · Expand (Grow)

Expand: whatever the result, the cycle continues

This is a teaching case, so there's no result to report. Here's what each outcome would lead to.

  1. Win: roll out, then test how to offer accounts after the order (one-tap save, loyalty points, order tracking).
  2. Inconclusive: check whether the drop moved to the next step. Maybe the delivery form is the real barrier.
  3. Loss: look at returning customers. Did hiding sign-in make it harder for them? Next Wonder: interview repeat buyers.

Either way, we now know a lot more about first-time shoppers than we did.

Slide 10 of 10

Your turn

Go to your checkout as a new customer. How many fields and decisions stand between the cart and entering a delivery address? If a password is one of them, you have a hypothesis. Use the checkout checklist for the rest.

What this case teaches

  • Wonder used a funnel split by new and returning visitors, recordings and a survey to explain one drop.
  • Architect kept the business goal (accounts) in the hypothesis instead of ignoring it, and scored it 10/14 on PXL.
  • Validate made account sign-ups a guardrail agreed with the team that owns them.
  • Expand planned the next questions for every outcome.

Nook & Co is a made-up shop used for teaching.

Frequently asked questions

Should an online store require an account to check out?

Usually not. In Baymard's US survey, 18% of shoppers who abandoned an order (excluding those just browsing) said the site wanted them to create an account. Offering guest checkout, and account creation after the order, keeps the purchase easy while still building a customer list.

Is Nook & Co a real company?

No. It's a made-up shop used to teach the method, so there's no real result to report.

Sources (3)

  1. 50 Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics 2026. Baymard Institute. Accessed 12 November 2026.
  2. WXM: the Wave Experimentation Model. Wavesy. Accessed 4 November 2026.
  3. PXL: A Better Way to Prioritize Your A/B Tests. CXL. Accessed 4 November 2026.

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