Checkout Page Optimisation: The Complete 2026 Guide

Key takeaways

• Around 70% of online carts are abandoned, but much of it happens at the checkout over problems you can fix, so this is the cheapest conversion win you have.
• Surprise costs are the biggest fixable reason shoppers leave, cited by 48% of them, followed by forced account creation and clumsy forms.
• Guest checkout, fewer form fields, honest pricing and the right payment methods recover the most sales for the least effort.
• Most of your traffic now arrives on mobile and abandons more there, so a fast, thumb-friendly mobile checkout is where the biggest gains sit.
• Start by finding where shoppers drop off in your own funnel, fix that step first, then A/B test the change rather than guessing.

You have paid to get a shopper to the checkout. They found the product, added it to the cart, and reached for their card. Then most of them leave. Around 70% of online carts are abandoned, and a large share of that happens at the checkout itself, over problems you can fix. Surprise costs, forced sign-ups, clumsy forms and a slow mobile page all leak revenue you have already earned. This guide covers what checkout page optimisation is and the tactics that recover the most sales.

What is checkout page optimisation?

Checkout page optimisation is the practice of fine-tuning the final steps of a purchase, from the cart through to payment, so fewer shoppers drop out before they buy. It removes friction, simplifies forms, shows costs honestly and builds trust, so more of the people who add to cart actually pay.

It is narrower than conversion rate optimisation, which covers your whole site, and it sits one step past cart optimisation, which focuses on the basket. The checkout is where buying intent is highest, so a fix here tends to pay back faster than almost anywhere else on your site.

Why checkout optimisation matters

The checkout is the most expensive place on your site to lose someone. They are seconds from paying, and you have already spent on ads, content and everything else to get them there.

The scale is well documented. Baymard Institute puts the average cart-abandonment rate at around 70%, a figure that has barely moved in over a decade. More usefully, its testing suggests the average site could lift conversions by about 35% through better checkout design alone, which it estimates at roughly $260 billion in recoverable orders across the US and EU.

That last point matters most. A high abandonment rate is normal, so the goal is not zero. It is to recover the fixable share, and most of it is fixable.

Why shoppers abandon checkout

Before the tactics, it helps to know what you are solving for. Baymard surveys US shoppers on why they leave, and the reasons are consistent, predictable and mostly within your control.

One caveat frames the rest. Around 43% abandon simply because they were browsing or not ready to buy, and no checkout change wins those back. The percentages below come from shoppers who did intend to buy, so these are the recoverable ones.

They were just browsing or not ready to buy

The single largest group was never a lost sale to begin with. Roughly 43% of shoppers say they abandoned because they were only browsing, comparing prices or saving items for later.

You cannot design this group away, and chasing them with checkout tweaks wastes effort. The value in naming them is calibration. Strip them out, and the remaining reasons are the ones worth your time.

Unexpected extra costs

Surprise costs are the biggest fixable reason by a wide margin. Baymard found 48% of shoppers abandoned because the extra costs of shipping, tax and fees were too high once they showed up at the final step.

The fix is transparency. Show the full cost as early as you can, ideally on the cart or product page, so the total at checkout holds no nasty surprises.

Forced account creation

Making people register before they can pay is the second most common fixable reason. Around 26% of shoppers abandon when a site forces them to create an account first.

Most shoppers who hit a mandatory sign-up will not make one. They leave. Offering guest checkout as an equal-weight option removes that wall.

A checkout that is too long or complicated

Length and complexity drive a meaningful share of drop-off, with about 22% of shoppers leaving over a checkout that felt too long or complicated. Baymard’s benchmark puts the average checkout at 5.1 steps and 11.3 form fields, while most sites need only around 8.

The number of steps matters less than the number of fields. What the shopper has to do at each step is what wears them down, so cutting fields beats merging pages.

Not trusting the site with card details

Security worries stop a sizeable group at the payment box, with roughly 25% of shoppers abandoning because they did not trust the site with their card details. Baymard’s testing consistently finds shoppers judge safety by how safe a checkout looks, not by its actual encryption.

That makes trust partly a design problem, which you can solve with visible security cues at the moment the card comes out.

Too few payment options

If a shopper’s preferred way to pay is missing, some simply give up. Around 13% of shoppers abandon when there are not enough payment methods on offer, and the effect is sharper in markets with a dominant local wallet.

Matching the payment methods your customers already expect removes another reason to hesitate.

Site errors, crashes or slow loads

Technical faults cost sales at the worst possible moment. A share of shoppers abandon after hitting errors, crashes or a checkout that would not load, and mobile speed is a common culprit.

Every extra second of load time at this stage is money leaving, which is why performance sits alongside design in any serious checkout fix.

Make the checkout faster to complete

At checkout, shoppers are closer to buying than anywhere else on your site. Speed here is about removing the reasons a committed buyer might change their mind.

Offer guest checkout, then create the account after purchase

Guest checkout is the single highest-value change on this list, because forced sign-up drives roughly a quarter of fixable abandonment. Show a clear “Continue as guest” option with the same visual weight as signing in.

You still get the account. Create it automatically from the shopper’s email after they pay, so the record forms around the completed order instead of blocking it. When they return, their details autofill.

Reduce and simplify form fields

Fields are friction, and most checkouts carry too many. Baymard’s data shows the average checkout runs to 11.3 form fields when most sites need only around 8, so there is usually room to cut.

Start with the easy wins. Merge first and last name into a single field, hide optional fields behind a link, and drop anything you do not truly need, such as a phone number or company name on a standard order.

Enable autofill and address autocomplete

Every character a shopper does not have to type is a small reason to stay. Address autocomplete lets them pick their address after a few letters, and browser autofill can populate the rest.

Real-time address validation helps too. It speeds entry, cuts input errors, and reduces failed deliveries later. Prefill anything you already know, but keep the fields editable so mistakes are easy to spot.

Minimise steps to purchase

Fewer page loads mean fewer points where a shopper can stall or second-guess. Carry information forward rather than asking for it twice, and collapse steps that do not need to stand alone.

Be careful not to over-compress, though. A single screen crammed with fields can feel heavier than two clean ones, so judge it by the number of fields, not just the number of pages.

One-page versus multi-step checkout

One-page checkout collapses the flow into a single continuous screen, which suits simple purchases and returning buyers. A well-signposted multi-step flow can work just as well when the order is complex, as long as each step is short.

The evidence favours consolidation where it fits. When the apparel brand White Stuff moved from a three-page to a one-page checkout, it reported a 37% rise in conversions and a 26% lift in average order value. Test it against your current flow before committing.

Build trust at the moment of payment

A first-time shopper has no reason to assume your checkout is safe. They are typing card details into a page they have never used, run by a company they may not know. Reassure them right where the doubt lands.

Make the checkout look and feel secure

Shoppers judge security by appearance, so make the safe parts look safe. A card field wrapped in a border, a subtle background tint, a small lock icon and short “secure and encrypted” microcopy all raise perceived safety.

None of this changes the underlying encryption, which should already run over HTTPS on every page. It changes how safe the shopper feels at the exact moment they hesitate, and that is what recovers the sale.

Use recognised trust badges correctly

A trust badge helps, but only if the shopper recognises it. Pick two or three known marks, such as a familiar payment or security brand, and place them near the payment step rather than scattering logos across the page.

Badges tend to help a smaller store more than a household name, where the brand already carries its own reassurance. If a badge is unfamiliar, it can add clutter without adding trust, so choose carefully.

Surface returns and refund policy at checkout

Shoppers want to know they can undo the purchase before they commit. Questions like “can I return this?” and “who pays for return shipping?” surface right at the payment step, and a buried answer costs the sale.

Link your returns and refund policy where shoppers look for it, often in the footer. Making the answer easy to reach at the moment of doubt keeps a hesitant buyer moving.

Add social proof near the cart

Reviews and ratings ease anxiety at the decision point. Seeing that other people bought the same item and were happy makes a first-time shopper more comfortable handing over their card.

Keep it relevant and close to the action. A rating on the cart summary or a short review near the payment button does more than a wall of testimonials somewhere else.

Offer the right payment options for every shopper

A checkout that does not carry a shopper’s usual payment method gets harder right at the point of purchase. The default varies by market, so a line-up that looks complete in one country can fall short in another.

Offer digital wallets and one-click payment

Wallets are now the largest single class of online payment. Worldpay reports that digital wallets accounted for 56% of global e-commerce spend in 2025, ahead of cards.

Present them as clear, separate buttons above the card form, under a heading like “Express checkout”. Options such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal let returning shoppers pay in a tap, which is where much of the speed advantage comes from.

Add buy now, pay later

Buy now, pay later lets a shopper split a purchase into instalments, and many now arrive at checkout expecting it. When the option is missing, some of them wait or leave rather than pay in full.

It suits higher-value carts especially, where splitting the cost lowers the barrier to buy. Offer it alongside your other methods rather than as the headline, and let the shopper choose.

Match payment methods and currency to each market

How people prefer to pay depends heavily on where they are. Worldpay’s data shows digital wallets reach 77% of online spend in Asia-Pacific, while some markets, Singapore among them, still lean on cards for a large share.

Show prices in the shopper’s local currency and offer the methods they recognise. Stripe’s testing found that surfacing at least one relevant local payment method lifted conversion by 7.4% and revenue by 12% on average.

Show costs, taxes and duties transparently

Since surprise costs are the top reason shoppers abandon, price transparency is not optional. Itemise the subtotal, shipping and tax before anyone reaches the payment step, and keep that summary visible throughout.

For cross-border orders, show duties and the full landed cost upfront where you can. Where a market expects tax-inclusive pricing, display it that way so the final total matches what the shopper saw.

Use free-shipping thresholds and progress nudges

Free shipping is one of the strongest nudges you have, and a threshold turns it into action. Telling a shopper they are a few dollars away from free shipping often prompts them to add an item to clear it.

That lifts both conversion and average order value at once, which is rare. Surface the threshold on the cart and checkout, where the shopper can act on it, rather than hiding it in a banner they have already scrolled past.

Optimise the mobile checkout

Most of your traffic now arrives on mobile, yet phones convert below desktop and abandon more. The constraints are physical: a smaller screen, a touch keyboard, one hand, and often a worse connection. Design for those, not against them.

Design mobile-first

Build the checkout for a thumb. Use a single-column layout, make tap targets large enough to hit accurately, and space controls so a stray tap does not land on the wrong one.

Apple and Google both advise tap targets in the range of 44 to 48 pixels, which is a sensible floor. Anything smaller invites mis-taps, and every mis-tap is a chance for the shopper to give up.

Trigger the right keyboard for each field

A small detail that saves real effort is matching the keyboard to the field. Show a numeric keypad for the card number and other number fields, the email layout with the @ key for email, and turn autocorrect off for names and addresses.

It sounds minor, but on a phone it is the difference between a smooth entry and a fiddly one. Getting the keyboard wrong forces the shopper to switch layouts mid-field, which adds friction exactly where you can least afford it.

Optimise mobile page-load speed and Core Web Vitals

Speed moves money on mobile, where connections are slower and patience is shorter. Google’s Core Web Vitals set a Largest Contentful Paint target of under 2.5 seconds, which doubles as a search ranking signal, so a faster checkout earns visibility as well as conversions.

Compress images, defer non-essential scripts and lazy-load what you can. If you want a deeper look at trimming load times across the journey, our guide on site speed covers the techniques in detail.

Reduce friction with checkout UX details

Beyond the big levers, a set of smaller interface choices quietly decide whether a shopper keeps going. None of them is dramatic on its own, but together they shape how easy the checkout feels.

Show a progress indicator

In a multi-step checkout, a progress indicator tells shoppers where they are and how much is left. A bar or a simple “Step 2 of 3” builds confidence, because a shopper can see the finish line.

It sets expectations, too. Someone who knows there are three steps is less likely to bail at step two than someone who has no idea how long the process runs.

Make the primary call-to-action unmistakable

At each step, one action should stand out above everything else. Remove navigation, cross-sells and other distractions from the checkout, and make the button that moves the shopper forward the clearest thing on the page.

Clarity matters most on forms, where a vague or competing button costs conversions. If a shopper has to look for the way forward, you have already added friction.

Get the microcopy right

The small print does a lot of quiet work. Clear field labels, short reassurance lines near sensitive fields, and helpful error messages all keep a shopper moving when they might otherwise stall.

Error messages deserve particular care. “Please enter a valid card number” beats a red box with no explanation, because it tells the shopper how to fix the problem rather than just that one exists. Sharp checkout microcopy is worth the effort.

Provide easy access to help

When a shopper hits a snag at checkout, a quick answer can save the sale. Real-time live chat, a visible support link or at least a phone number gives them a way through instead of a way out.

Place it where a stuck shopper will see it. The point is to catch the moment of doubt before it becomes an abandoned cart.

Recover the checkouts you still lose

Some shoppers leave no matter how clean your checkout is. A share of them will come back if you give them a reason, so recovery is the last piece of the system.

Abandoned-cart email and SMS automations

An abandoned-cart flow emails or texts a shopper who entered their details and left. It is consistently among the highest-revenue automations a store can run, because it reaches people who already showed strong intent.

Keep the timing tight and the message simple. A first reminder within a few hours, an optional follow-up a day later, and a discount only if your margins allow, tends to recover the most without training shoppers to wait for a code.

Exit-intent prompts and cart-save

An exit-intent prompt appears when a shopper looks ready to leave, offering a reminder or a reason to stay. Saving the cart automatically lets them pick up where they left off if they return later.

Use these sparingly. A single well-timed prompt can catch a distracted shopper, but stacking popups on a checkout adds the very friction you spent the rest of this guide removing.

Post-purchase upsells

Once a shopper has paid, you can show a relevant add-on before the order confirmation, which they accept in one tap with no card re-entry. It lifts order value without touching the checkout flow itself.

The key is placement. Keep the upsell after payment, never before it, so you never add a step between a committed buyer and the “complete order” button.

Checkout optimisation by platform

The principles above are universal, but the levers differ by platform. Here is where the main tactics live across the platforms most stores run on, so you know what you can change and what needs an app or a developer.

Shopify

Shopify’s checkout is one-page by default and includes address autocomplete, so much of the groundwork is already done. Shop Pay and other express wallets add one-tap payment, and Checkout Extensibility lets you add upsells, trust badges and custom fields through apps rather than code.

Deeper pre-payment customisation, such as editing the information and shipping steps, needs the Plus plan. If you run a store here, our guide to Shopify SEO pairs well with checkout work, since traffic and conversion feed each other.

WooCommerce

On WooCommerce, the checkout is a WordPress page you can shape with plugins. Checkout-field editor plugins let you add, remove or reorder fields, and one-page checkout plugins collapse the default multi-step flow.

Express-checkout and wallet buttons come from payment extensions such as Stripe or PayPal. The flexibility is high, but so is the responsibility, since you own the performance and the plugin choices.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce ships an Optimized One-Page Checkout as its default, built to minimise friction out of the box. It supports guest checkout, multiple wallet integrations, and tax and shipping options without heavy setup.

Its checkout is more customisable than most hosted platforms allow, so you can tailor the layout and add accelerated payment for specific products. That makes it a strong fit for stores that want control without managing their own stack.

Magento or Adobe Commerce

Magento, now Adobe Commerce, runs a multi-step checkout by default that can feel long without tuning. One-step checkout extensions consolidate it, and an “instant purchase” option lets returning shoppers reuse saved payment and address details.

It is the most flexible of the major platforms and the most technical. Getting the checkout right here usually means developer time, but the ceiling on customisation is high.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Salesforce Commerce Cloud suits larger, often B2B-leaning stores, and supports progressive profiling, where you collect a little more customer data on each visit rather than all at once. That keeps the first purchase light while still building a profile over time.

It also supports headless builds, where you run a custom checkout front end against the commerce back end. That gives full control of the experience at the cost of more engineering.

Wix or Squarespace

Wix and Squarespace target smaller stores and keep the checkout simple, with express-checkout options and a guided setup. You trade deep customisation for speed and ease, which is often the right call at a smaller scale.

The main limit is control. You can enable the core best practices, such as guest checkout and wallets, but you will not reshape the flow the way an open platform allows.

How to measure and improve checkout performance

A checkout can look clean and still lose shoppers at one step. To find and fix that, you measure the checkout funnel itself rather than watching overall conversion alone.

The checkout metrics that matter

A few numbers tell you where you stand. Track your conversion rate, your cart-abandonment rate, your checkout completion rate, drop-off by step, and average order value, so you can see both the leak and its size.

The abandonment-rate formula is simple: 1 minus (completed purchases divided by checkouts started), times 100. If 1,000 shoppers start checkout and 300 finish, your rate is 70%. Watch your own trend over time, which tells you more than any global average.

Find the leak with funnel analysis

Overall conversion tells you sales are being lost, not where. Funnel analysis shows how many shoppers clear each step, so the stage with the steepest drop is the one to fix first.

Most analytics tools can do this. GA4’s funnel exploration and the built-in checkout reports on platforms like Shopify both chart the drop-off, so you can point straight at the problem step rather than guessing.

A/B test the fix, do not guess

Finding the leak tells you where to work, not what to change. A/B testing settles that by running two versions against live traffic and reading which one earns more.

Test one change at a time so you know what moved the number. Good candidates include a shipping-threshold message, a trust badge, button copy, or one-page against multi-step, and you judge the winner by revenue, not by opinion.

Benchmarks: what good looks like

A “good” abandonment rate is lower than the roughly 70% average, but it will never hit zero, since a large chunk of shoppers were only ever browsing. Chase the fixable share instead of an impossible target.

Rates also vary by device and industry, with mobile abandoning more than desktop and high-consideration purchases more than everyday ones. Compare yourself with your own past performance first, and use industry figures only as a rough frame.

Checkout optimisation for AI search

Search increasingly answers checkout questions with an AI Overview, and buyers now ask tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity which checkout approach or platform is best. That changes what “ranking” means, because you now want to be the source those answers cite.

To earn citations, write for machines as well as people. Lead sections with a clear, quotable one-sentence answer, back every claim with a named primary source, include a comparison table, and add FAQ and article structured data so the page is easy to parse.

There is a second angle worth noting. Making your own checkout machine-readable, with clean product, price and policy data, helps it surface when an AI agent shops on a buyer’s behalf. If that is on your radar, our work on AI search visibility and generative engine optimisation goes further.

Frequently Asked Questions

Checkout optimisation is the rare improvement that lifts revenue without costing you a cent more in traffic, because you are converting shoppers you have already paid to reach. Work through the fixable reasons shoppers leave, fix the biggest leaks in your own funnel first, then test as you go.

If you would rather have a team handle the diagnosis and the fixes, our SEO services team can help you turn more of your existing traffic into sales. And if this guide helped, share it with someone whose checkout could use the same once-over.