8 small fixes that reduce cart abandonment on your online store

A visitor has found your product, looked at it, liked it and added it to the cart. The hard part is done. Then they reach the checkout page and close the tab. This happens so often that, according to research compiled by the Baymard Institute, roughly 70 percent of online shopping carts are abandoned on average.

Some of that loss is unavoidable. Plenty of people use the cart to compare prices or to save items for later. But a good share of it comes from small bits of friction in the checkout that tire visitors out, make them doubt, or catch them off guard. The good news is that fixing most of them does not require rebuilding your site.

In every project we ask the same question: WIFT, "What's In It For Them?" What is in the checkout for the visitor? The eight fixes below are what that question looks like when you apply it to the moment of payment.

1. Show the full price from the start

One of the most frustrating moments for a shopper is a cost they did not expect appearing at the final step: shipping, a cash-on-delivery fee, a service charge. The later the gap between the product page price and the checkout total shows up, the more trust it costs you.

State shipping costs and any free shipping threshold clearly on the product page and in the cart. A line like "Add a little more to your cart and shipping is free" removes the surprise and gives the visitor a reason to stay.

2. Let people check out as a guest

Many stores require an account before payment. That is an understandable ask from the business side, but for the visitor it is one more obstacle in front of the purchase.

Make "Continue as guest" easy to spot. You can offer to create an account with a single click after the order is complete, when the customer already has a reason to keep one.

3. Cut down the number of form fields

Every field is a small decision, and decisions add up. Go through your checkout form once from start to finish and ask of each field: do we really need this to deliver the order?

The billing address is usually the same as the shipping address, so make "same as shipping" the default. Hide optional fields such as company name or a second address line, or label them clearly as optional. If you ask for a phone number, explain why in one line, for example "The courier may call to arrange delivery."

4. Actually test the checkout on a phone

Checkout pages are often designed on a desktop and then squeezed onto mobile. Yet typing an address, entering a card number and tapping small boxes are all much harder on a small screen.

Place an order on your own store from your own phone. Does the right keyboard appear for each field, with numbers for the phone field and an @ key for email? Are the buttons big enough to tap comfortably? Do error messages show up in the visible part of the screen?

5. Put trust signals where the hesitation happens

People hesitate when they are about to type in card details, and that is exactly when reassurance helps most. The name of your secure payment provider, the card logos you accept, a link to your returns policy and a reachable contact option should all sit close to the payment button.

Resist the urge to overdo it. Rather than covering the page with badges, show the guarantees you genuinely offer in plain language. Made-up or meaningless badges tend to have the opposite effect on a careful shopper.

6. Offer the payment methods your customers expect

If the payment method a visitor is used to is missing, that alone can be enough to make them leave. Depending on your market, options such as instalments, bank transfer or cash on delivery may matter a lot. Your order history and the questions customers send you are a good guide to which ones matter for your audience.

If you offer instalments, show them clearly on the product page rather than revealing them at the payment step.

7. Make errors clear and kind

A message like "Invalid input" does not tell anyone what went wrong. Explain the problem in plain words, right below the field it relates to: "Postcode should be 5 digits."

It also matters that the form does not wipe itself when something goes wrong. Some people who are asked to retype everything will close the page instead. Where you can, check fields as the visitor types, so problems are caught when they happen rather than after the button is pressed.

8. Remember the cart and make coming back easy

Some visitors really do leave to "look at it later". Finding an empty cart when they return forces them to start over, so keep the cart contents saved in the browser or in their account.

For people who have agreed to hear from you, a reminder email about items left in the cart can help. The key is restraint: one helpful reminder is received far better than a stream of pushy messages. Make sure you follow the consent rules that apply to personal data in your market.

Where to start

You do not need to do all eight at once. Start with your own data: your analytics tool can show you at which step of the checkout you lose the most visitors. If the drop is biggest at shipping, the first fix is a good place to begin; if it is at payment, look at the fifth and sixth.

Then make one small change, watch the results for a while, and move on to the next.

Conclusion

Cart abandonment rarely comes from one big mistake. It is usually the sum of small bits of friction in the visitor's way, and looking at the checkout through your customer's eyes is the quickest way to find them. A checkout that removes surprise costs, drops unnecessary questions and builds trust makes it easier for someone who has already chosen you to finish the purchase.

If you would like to know where your store's checkout is losing visitors, we can take a look together.