A checkout loses people at every step, and several common steps exist because the platform defaulted to them rather than because anyone needs them. Guest checkout, fewer pages, and removing fields that are not required for fulfilment recover most of what a small store can recover.
The arithmetic of steps
Each page in a checkout loses a proportion of the people who reach it. Not because any single page is difficult, but because each one is another moment where attention can break, a doubt can surface, or a phone call can interrupt.
Compounded across four or five steps, a modest loss at each becomes a substantial loss overall. Removing one step is therefore worth more than improving one, which is the opposite of where most attention goes.
Forced account creation
The single largest avoidable loss in most small stores.
Requiring someone to create an account before purchase asks for a commitment they did not want, in exchange for a benefit they do not yet value. Somebody buying a filter once does not want a relationship with your store.
Guest checkout resolves it, and the account can be offered after purchase, when the customer has already committed and the offer is a convenience rather than a barrier. Most platforms support this and many have it switched off by default.
Steps that are usually habit
A separate basket page
Going to a basket page, then clicking to checkout, is two steps doing one job. Many stores let the basket open as a panel with checkout directly available, removing a page load entirely.
Separate billing and shipping pages
Usually the same address. Ask once with a checkbox for the exception rather than presenting two forms.
A review page nobody reads
A dedicated confirm-your-order step before payment. Useful for a large complex order and an extra page for a single item. Showing a summary alongside the payment step covers it.
Marketing questions mid-purchase
How did you hear about us, and similar. Legitimate questions asked at the wrong moment, and they belong after the purchase or not at all.
Fields that are not required
Anything not needed to take payment and deliver the goods is optional at best.
- Company name on a consumer store.
- Two phone numbers, or any phone number where the delivery method does not require one.
- Date of birth, unless the product genuinely requires it.
- Address line two as a required field.
- An order notes box presented prominently, which makes people feel they should write something.
The test for each field is whether the order can be fulfilled without it. If it can, the field is optional or absent, and the same reasoning applies as on any enquiry form.
What to keep
Removing steps is not the same as removing reassurance, and several things earn their place.
A visible order summary throughout, showing what is being bought and the total including delivery. Progress indication, so people know how much is left. Security indicators near the payment fields, which reduce hesitation at the moment it peaks. And a clearly visible return policy or link, which is checked more often on a first purchase than store owners expect.
Those add confidence rather than friction, which is a different thing from a step.
The mobile version
Where most abandonment happens, and where several specific things help.
- Correct input types, so a numeric keypad appears for card and postal code fields rather than a full keyboard.
- Autofill support, using standard field naming so the browser can complete the address in one tap.
- Digital wallets, which collapse the entire address and payment stage into a single authentication for customers who use them.
- Large enough fields and buttons, since a mistyped card number on a small field is a common abandonment point.
Digital wallet support is the largest single mobile improvement available to a small store, because it removes the typing rather than making it easier.
Errors that lose the sale
A rejected form that clears what was already entered is a reliable way to end a purchase.
Errors should appear next to the field concerned, say specifically what is wrong, and preserve everything else. Validating as the person types rather than only on submission prevents the frustrating version where four problems are revealed at once.
Worth testing deliberately: enter a wrong card number, an incomplete postal code, and a malformed email, and see what the checkout does. On many small stores the answer is unpleasant.
The proportionate view
A store selling a handful of items alongside a service does not need a rebuilt checkout.
Enabling guest checkout, removing unnecessary fields, and adding a digital wallet option covers most of the available gain and is configuration rather than development. That is the same order of priority as the delivery information discussed in shipping options and the abandonment they cause.
Frequently asked questions
What loses the most customers in a checkout?
Forced account creation, in most small stores. It asks for a commitment the customer did not want in exchange for a benefit they do not yet value.
How many checkout steps should there be?
As few as the order genuinely requires. Each page loses a proportion of the people who reach it, so removing a step is worth more than improving one.
Which checkout steps are usually unnecessary?
A separate basket page before checkout, separate billing and shipping pages, a dedicated review step for simple orders, and marketing questions asked mid-purchase.
Which fields should I remove?
Anything not needed to take payment and deliver the goods. Company name on a consumer store, phone numbers the delivery does not require, and address line two as a required field.
What is the biggest mobile improvement?
Digital wallet support, because it removes the typing entirely rather than making it easier. After that, correct input types and proper autofill naming.
What should I keep in the checkout?
A visible order summary, progress indication, security indicators near the payment fields, and a visible returns policy. Those add confidence rather than friction.
West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.
Losing orders between the basket and the confirmation?
We take out the steps that are habit rather than necessity, and test what your checkout does when something is entered wrong.
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