How to Reduce Checkout Abandonment

Checkout is where your marketing spend either pays off or disappears. Research from the Baymard Institute puts average documented cart abandonment at roughly 70%. Some of that is normal browsing behavior. A large share of it is caused by fixable friction.

The good news: most checkout drop-offs come from surprises, not price. Remove the surprises and more shoppers finish.

Why shoppers abandon checkout

The most common reasons shoppers give are consistent across studies:

• Extra costs like shipping, taxes, or fees appearing late
• Being forced to create an account
• Not trusting the site with card details
• A long or complicated checkout process
• Delivery that is too slow
• An unclear or strict return policy
• Preferred payment method not available

Each of these has a direct fix.

1. Show costs early

Nobody likes a surprise at the final step.

• Show shipping costs or your free shipping threshold on product pages and in the cart
• Add a shipping estimator to the cart page
• Show a progress bar toward free shipping in the cart drawer
• If you sell internationally, be clear about duties and taxes before checkout

2. Enable guest checkout

Forced account creation is one of the easiest conversion killers to fix.

• Make guest checkout the default option
• Offer account creation after the purchase, on the thank-you page
• On Shopify, use customer accounts that sign in with a one-time code instead of a password

3. Offer express payment options

Express wallets skip most of the form entirely, which matters most on mobile.

• Shop Pay on Shopify
• Apple Pay and Google Pay
• PayPal, which many shoppers still prefer
• Buy now, pay later options like Klarna or Afterpay for higher-priced items

Show express buttons in the cart and at the top of checkout, not just at the payment step.

4. Shorten the form

• Remove optional fields you do not use, like company name for B2C stores
• Use address autocomplete
• Use the correct input types so mobile keyboards show numbers for phone and card fields
• Set autocomplete attributes so browsers can fill saved details
• Combine first and last name only if your shipping carriers allow it
• Show inline error messages that explain exactly what to fix

5. Build trust at the payment step

• Show secure checkout messaging near the payment fields
• Display recognized payment logos
• Keep your branding consistent between store and checkout so shoppers know they are in the right place
• Show a short order summary with product images
• Link to your return policy and contact details

6. Handle discount codes carefully

A visible coupon field sends many shoppers off to search for codes, and some never return.

• Collapse the discount field behind a small “Have a code?” link
• Apply promotions automatically where possible
• If you run a sitewide sale, show that the discount is already applied

7. Set clear delivery expectations

• Show estimated delivery dates, not just “3 to 5 business days”
• Offer a faster paid option for urgent orders
• Show order cut-off times for same-day dispatch if you offer it

8. Fix technical issues

Sometimes the problem is not psychology. It is a bug.

• Test checkout on real iPhone and Android devices every month
• Check for JavaScript errors in Microsoft Clarity or your browser console
• Test every payment method with a real transaction
• Watch for apps that inject scripts into cart and checkout pages

Platform notes

• Shopify: checkout is highly optimized by default. Shopify Plus stores can customize further with Checkout Extensibility, so focus on trust, express payments, and clear shipping.
• BigCommerce: use Optimized One-Page Checkout, and review which checkout scripts are running in Script Manager.
• WooCommerce: the block-based checkout is faster and cleaner than older shortcode checkouts. Review plugins that add fields or scripts to checkout.

9. Recover the ones who leave

Even a perfect checkout will not convert everyone. Set up abandoned checkout emails and, where you have consent, SMS reminders. A well-built flow in Klaviyo brings back a meaningful share of lost orders. See our guide on the Klaviyo abandoned cart flow that recovers sales.

Measure the impact

Use a GA4 funnel exploration to track each step from begin checkout to purchase. Fix the biggest drop first, then re-measure. Our guide on building a GA4 funnel exploration walks through the setup.

Smoother beats cheaper

You do not need bigger discounts to win more checkouts. Remove surprises, cut steps, and make paying easy.

Want us to audit your checkout? Book a free consultation and we will find the friction costing you orders.