Checkout is where intent is highest and patience lowest. Small surprises here cost real revenue.
What the evidence says
Baymard Institute reports an average documented cart abandonment rate of 70.22% across 50 studies. Many of those shoppers were just browsing. Among those who weren’t, the most cited reasons in Baymard’s US survey were (Baymard):
| Reason | Share of abandoners* |
|---|---|
| Extra costs too high (shipping, tax, fees) | 40% |
| Delivery too slow | 20% |
| Didn’t trust the site with card details | 19% |
| Had to create an account | 18% |
| Too long or complicated checkout | 17% |
| Couldn’t see or calculate total cost up front | 12% |
*Excluding “just browsing”. Self-reported reasons: they tell you where to look, not what will lift your numbers.
Fix in this order
- No late surprises. Show shipping cost and delivery date on the product page and cart, not first at payment. See the shipping-surprise case study.
- Guest checkout. Offer account creation after the order.
- Fewer, clearer fields. Single name field where possible, address lookup, correct input types for mobile keyboards, no duplicate entry.
- Accessible, specific errors. Say what’s wrong and how to fix it, next to the field, announced to screen readers (WCAG 3.3.1 and 3.3.3).
- Payment trust. Familiar payment methods, a clear total, a visible returns policy, and a stable, fast page.
Test with guardrails
Checkout tests touch revenue directly. Choose completed orders per visitor or revenue per visitor as the primary metric, and guard average order value, refund rate and payment errors. A change that lifts orders but pushes refunds up is not a win.