Case Study: Checkout Optimization Results - 34% More Conversions

An electronics retailer increased their checkout completion rate from 52% to 70% through systematic checkout optimization. This case study documents every change made, the data behind each decision, and the measurable results.

Starting Situation

Store Profile

Business type: Consumer electronics

Monthly revenue: $420,000

Monthly sessions: 180,000

Average order value: $145

Overall conversion rate: 1.8%

Checkout completion rate: 52%

The Problem

Identified issue: Strong traffic and healthy add-to-cart rate (7.2%), but nearly half of shoppers who started checkout abandoned before completing.

Financial impact: With $145 AOV and 48% checkout abandonment, estimated monthly loss: $185,000 in uncompleted orders.

Customer feedback:

• "Checkout was confusing"
• "Took too long"
• "Why do I need to create an account?"
• "Shipping cost surprise"

Initial Checkout Flow

Original checkout structure:

1. Cart review (1 page)
2. Account creation/login (1 page)
3. Shipping address (1 page)
4. Shipping method (1 page)
5. Payment (1 page)
6. Review and confirm (1 page)

Total pages: 6

Total form fields: 23

Express checkout: Not enabled

Guest checkout: Available but not prominent

Mobile optimization: Minimal

Diagnosis Process

Data Collection

Analytics review:

• Step-by-step abandonment rates
• Device-specific performance
• Error rates by field
• Time spent per step

Session recordings:

• Reviewed 150 checkout recordings
• Documented common friction points
• Identified error patterns

Customer surveys:

• Post-abandonment survey (email)
• Exit-intent survey
• Post-purchase feedback

Key Findings

Step-by-step abandonment:

| Step | Abandonment Rate | Primary Cause | |------|-----------------|---------------| | Cart to Account | 28% | Account creation friction | | Account to Shipping | 12% | Form complexity | | Shipping to Method | 8% | Shipping cost surprise | | Method to Payment | 15% | Payment concerns | | Payment to Confirm | 18% | Final hesitation | | Confirm to Complete | 5% | Technical errors |

Device comparison:

| Metric | Desktop | Mobile | |--------|---------|--------| | Checkout starts | 4,200 | 5,800 | | Completion rate | 62% | 44% | | Time to complete | 4.1 min | 6.8 min | | Error rate | 8% | 22% |

Top friction points identified:

1. Account creation before checkout
2. Too many form fields
3. Shipping cost not visible until step 4
4. No express checkout options
5. Mobile form input difficulties
6. Review page felt unnecessary

Implementation Plan

Phase 1: Quick Wins (Week 1)

Change 1: Guest checkout prominence

• Made "Checkout as Guest" the default option
• Account creation moved to optional after purchase
• Clear button hierarchy

Change 2: Express checkout enablement

• Enabled Shop Pay
• Enabled Apple Pay
• Enabled Google Pay
• Placed express options above form

Change 3: Shipping preview

• Added shipping estimate to cart page
• Displayed before checkout begins

Phase 2: Form Optimization (Week 2-3)

Change 4: Field reduction

• Removed "Company" field (optional, rarely used)
• Combined first/last name into single field with parsing
• Removed phone field (made optional)
• Used address autocomplete
• Reduced from 23 to 14 fields

Change 5: Inline validation

• Real-time field validation
• Clear error messages
• Auto-formatting for phone/card numbers
• Prevented form submission with errors

Change 6: Progress indicator

• Added clear step indicator
• Showed "Step 2 of 3"
• Visual progress bar

Phase 3: Mobile Optimization (Week 4)

Change 7: Mobile-specific improvements

• Larger touch targets (48px minimum)
• Appropriate input types (tel, email, numeric)
• Sticky checkout button
• Collapsible order summary

Change 8: Speed improvements

• Checkout page load optimized
• Form pre-loading
• Reduced JavaScript execution
• Image optimization

Phase 4: Trust and Confirmation (Week 5)

Change 9: Trust signals

• Added security badges near payment
• Displayed accepted payment icons
• Money-back guarantee visible
• Customer service contact visible

Change 10: Simplified confirmation

• Merged review into payment page
• Order summary always visible
• One-click final confirmation
• Clear total with no surprises

Results by Phase

Phase 1 Results (Week 1-2)

Before:

• Guest checkout usage: 24%
• Express checkout: 0%
• Account step abandonment: 28%

After Phase 1:

• Guest checkout usage: 71%
• Express checkout: 38%
• Account step abandonment: 8%

Checkout completion improvement: 52% → 59% (+7 points)

Phase 2 Results (Week 3-4)

Before:

• Form fields: 23
• Form completion time: 5.2 minutes
• Field error rate: 15%

After Phase 2:

• Form fields: 14
• Form completion time: 3.1 minutes
• Field error rate: 6%

Checkout completion improvement: 59% → 64% (+5 points)

Phase 3 Results (Week 5-6)

Before (Mobile):

• Mobile completion rate: 44%
• Mobile time to complete: 6.8 minutes
• Mobile error rate: 22%

After Phase 3 (Mobile):

• Mobile completion rate: 61%
• Mobile time to complete: 4.2 minutes
• Mobile error rate: 9%

Overall checkout completion improvement: 64% → 68% (+4 points)

Phase 4 Results (Week 7-8)

Before:

• Payment step abandonment: 15%
• Confirmation step abandonment: 18%

After Phase 4:

• Payment step abandonment: 8%
• Confirmation abandonment: 6%

Final checkout completion improvement: 68% → 70% (+2 points)

Final Results

Checkout Completion

Before optimization: 52%

After optimization: 70%

Total improvement: 18 percentage points

Percentage increase: 34.6%

Conversion Rate Impact

Before: 1.8% overall conversion

After: 2.5% overall conversion

Improvement: 39% increase

Revenue Impact

Monthly checkout starts: 10,000

Before: 10,000 x 52% x $145 = $754,000 potential → actual $392,000

After: 10,000 x 70% x $145 = $1,015,000 potential → actual $711,000

Monthly revenue increase: $319,000

Annual revenue increase: $3,828,000

Mobile Improvement

Mobile completion rate:

• Before: 44%
• After: 61%
• Improvement: 39%

Mobile share of revenue:

• Before: 32%
• After: 42%

Customer Experience

Post-purchase survey ratings:

• Checkout satisfaction: 3.2 → 4.4 (out of 5)
• "Easy to complete": 45% → 82%
• "Would recommend": 52% → 78%

Support tickets:

• Checkout-related tickets: -65%
• Payment issues: -58%

Cost and ROI

Implementation Costs

Development time:

• Phase 1: 20 hours
• Phase 2: 40 hours
• Phase 3: 30 hours
• Phase 4: 15 hours
• Total: 105 hours x $85/hour = $8,925

Tools and apps:

• No additional apps required
• Existing Shopify features used

Total investment: $8,925

Return on Investment

Monthly revenue increase: $319,000

Monthly ROI: 3,475%

Payback period: Less than 1 day

Annual return: $3,828,000 additional revenue

Key Learnings

What Had Biggest Impact

1. Express checkout: Single biggest improvement. 38% of completions now use express.
2. Guest checkout default: Removed major friction point. Immediate impact.
3. Field reduction: Less typing = more completions. Simple math.
4. Mobile optimization: Addressed half the audience. Major gap closed.

Surprising Findings

Review page was hurting: Eliminating separate review page reduced hesitation. Customers saw it as extra step, not reassurance.

Phone field was problematic: Customers hesitated to provide. Making it optional had no business impact.

Name field combination: Single "Full Name" field with parsing worked perfectly. Reduced one field without issues.

What Did Not Work

Attempt 1: Single-page checkout

• Tested but performed worse than optimized multi-page
• Too overwhelming on mobile
• Reverted to streamlined multi-page

Attempt 2: Removing order summary

• Customers wanted to verify before paying
• Restored as collapsible sidebar

Recommendations

For Similar Stores

Priority order:

1. Enable express checkout (highest impact, lowest effort)
2. Make guest checkout default
3. Show shipping cost early
4. Reduce form fields
5. Optimize for mobile
6. Add trust signals

Field Reduction Strategy

Safe to remove or make optional:

• Company name
• Phone (if email is primary contact)
• "Apartment" separate line (combine with address)
• Title/prefix

Combine where possible:

• First + Last name (use parsing)
• Address with autocomplete

Keep required:

• Email
• Shipping address
• Payment information
• Shipping method selection

Mobile Priorities

Must fix:

• Touch target sizes
• Input types
• Keyboard optimization
• Speed

Nice to have:

• Saved payment methods
• Address autocomplete
• Sticky buttons

Ongoing Optimization

Monitoring

Weekly checks:

• Checkout completion rate
• Device breakdown
• Error rates
• Time to complete

Monthly analysis:

• Trend analysis
• A/B test reviews
• Customer feedback review

Future Tests Planned

• Different progress indicator styles
• Payment method ordering
• Trust badge placement variations
• Confirmation page content

The Bottom Line

Systematic checkout optimization increased completion rate from 52% to 70%.

Key changes:

1. Express checkout prominent
2. Guest checkout default
3. Reduced form fields by 40%
4. Mobile-specific optimization
5. Trust signals added
6. Simplified confirmation

Results:

• 34% improvement in checkout completion
• 39% increase in overall conversion
• $319,000 monthly revenue increase
• $8,925 total investment
• Less than 1 day payback

Key insight: Most checkout friction is unnecessary. Every field, every click, every moment of confusion costs revenue. Simplify relentlessly.

The best checkout is one customers barely notice. They start with items in cart, end with confirmation, and the middle feels effortless.