Checkout optimization checklist
The developer-side checkout optimization checklist: 20+ checks mapped to real abandonment causes, cost transparency, guest checkout, express wallets, form length, error safety.
17 checks · copy it, print it, argue with it.
Cart abandonment averages 70.22% across 50 studies (Baymard Institute), and the top causes are technical decisions, not marketing failures: surprise costs, forced accounts, long forms, missing wallets, trust gaps. Each check below maps to a documented abandonment reason, fix from the top of your funnel data down. The full reasoning sits in the cart abandonment guide.
Cost transparency
- Shipping estimate visible on product page or cart40% of non-browsing abandonments cite late surprise costs
- Total order cost visible before the payment step12% abandon because they cannot see the total upfront
- Taxes and duties calculated or clearly estimated at cart
- No forced currency or fee surprises for international buyers
Form and flow length
- Checkout at 12–14 form elements (7–8 fields), not 23 like the average storeBaymard ideal vs measured average
- Guest checkout available and prominent18% abandon when forced to create an account
- Address autocomplete reduces typing
- Progress indicator on multi-step checkouts
- No account creation before purchase on the critical path
Payments
- Express wallets live where your buyers are: Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal (UPI for India)9% abandon over missing payment methods; wallets remove the form entirely
- Card-decline states handled with a clear retry message10% abandon after a declined card with no guidance
- Payment form on-domain and visually consistentTrust at the card step
Trust and errors
- Valid TLS, zero mixed-content calls at checkout19% abandon over trust; padlock down = sale down
- Return policy linked at checkout13% abandon over unsatisfactory returns
- Form errors shown inline, in plain language, before submit17% abandon over site errors
- Checkout tested end-to-end after every theme, app or plugin changeThe standing discipline that prevents discovered-broken
- Mobile checkout walked on a real phone
Each check maps to a documented abandonment reason, this list fixes the leakiest 80% first. For the emergency version (checkout fully broken right now), see the payment-failure triage. For scoped fixes, send the funnel data, the list prices itself.
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