The Starting Point

The Starting Point

The client sold mid-to-high priced products, between €200 and €800. Traffic was decent and the add-to-cart rate was reasonable, but sales weren’t materializing.

The funnel revealed the problem: of every 100 users who began checkout, only 18 completed the purchase—an 82% abandonment rate.

The Diagnosis

We installed session recordings and heatmaps on the checkout page. Our goal was to observe actual user behavior, not just track abandonment numbers.

The patterns were clear:

• Many users abandoned at the shipping costs step. The cost appeared late in the process, creating negative surprise.
• Users spent time searching for a coupon field that either didn’t exist or was hidden.
• The address form contained too many fields. Users would begin, grow frustrated, and leave.
• Several users tried to change quantities but couldn’t find the option.

The Changes Implemented

• Shipping costs visible from the cart. Before entering checkout, users already knew their total cost—no surprises.
• Coupon field visible but non-intrusive. A “Have a coupon?” link that expands the field on click. Visible to those who need it without distracting others.
• Simplified address form. Reduced from 12 fields to 7 by removing anything not strictly required for shipping.
• Quantity editing in checkout. Added simple +/- controls next to each product. It seems obvious, but the feature was missing.
• Guest checkout enabled by default. Account creation changed from a requirement to an optional step after purchase.

Gradual Implementation

We avoided changing everything at once. Each update was rolled out as an A/B test.

• Week 1: Visible shipping costs. Impact: abandonment dropped from 82% to 74%.
• Week 2: Form simplification. Impact: from 74% to 68%.
• Week 3: Guest checkout. Impact: from 68% to 58%.
• Week 4: Coupon field and quantity editing. Impact: from 58% to 48%.

The Results

Abandonment fell from 82% to 48%. In absolute terms, conversions nearly doubled with the same traffic.

Average order value rose slightly. Easy quantity editing encouraged some users to add more items.

Customer acquisition cost was cut in half. The same marketing spend now generated twice as many sales.

What Didn’t Work

We tested displaying related products in checkout. It increased distraction without lifting average order value, so we reverted the change.

A progress indicator with additional detailed steps made the process feel longer. Three clear steps outperformed six sub-steps.

Factors We Didn’t Touch

Product pricing, overall store design, product descriptions, and the add-to-cart flow remained unchanged.

We focused exclusively on checkout optimization. While other funnel stages offered opportunities, checkout represented the largest bottleneck.

Maintenance

Checkout performance requires ongoing attention. Payment methods evolve, user expectations shift, and competitors continue to improve.

Quarterly process audits help sustain results. Small, continuous adjustments outperform periodic full redesigns.