The Checkout Page Is Where Sales Go to Die
A shopper adds an item to their cart, gets to checkout, and leaves without buying. This happens constantly, and it's rarely because they changed their mind about the product. In our experience working with small ecommerce brands, most abandoned carts come down to friction: small annoyances that make the buyer pause, hesitate, and click away. The good news is that friction is fixable. Below are six of the most common checkout problems and what to do about each one.
1. Surprise Shipping Costs
Nothing kills momentum like a shopper reaching the final step and seeing a shipping fee they didn't expect. They already mentally committed to a price, and now that price just went up. This is widely cited as one of the top reasons people abandon carts, and it makes sense: surprise costs feel like a bait and switch, even when they aren't intentional.
How to fix it:
- Show shipping costs on the product page or in the cart, not just at checkout.
- Offer a shipping calculator based on zip code before the final step.
- If you can, build shipping into the product price and offer "free shipping" as a clearer value message.
- If flat-rate shipping is your model, say so early: "Flat $5 shipping on all orders" right on the product page removes the guesswork.
The goal isn't necessarily cheaper shipping. It's no surprises. A shopper who knows the total cost upfront is far more likely to follow through, even if that cost is higher than they hoped.
2. Forced Account Creation
Requiring a new account before checkout adds a real barrier, especially for first-time buyers who aren't sure yet if they'll shop with you again. Filling out a password, confirming an email, and creating a profile feels like homework when someone just wants to buy a $30 item.
How to fix it:
- Always offer a guest checkout option, and make it visually equal to (or more prominent than) the "create account" option.
- Let people create an account after the purchase completes, not before. Many shoppers will opt in once they've already bought, especially if you offer order tracking or a discount for signing up.
- If you need an email for order confirmation, ask for just that, not a full account setup.
A simple test: if a first-time visitor can't buy something in under a minute without creating a login, that's friction worth removing.
3. Checkout Forms With Too Many Fields
Long forms feel like work. Every extra field is a small decision point where a shopper can lose focus, get distracted, or decide it's not worth the hassle. Asking for a phone number, company name, or a second address line when none of that is required for the sale adds friction without adding value.
How to fix it:
- Audit your checkout form and remove any field that isn't strictly necessary for shipping, billing, or fraud prevention.
- Use auto-fill and address lookup tools so people don't have to type their full address manually.
- Combine first and last name into one field where possible.
- Use a single-page checkout instead of splitting shipping, billing, and payment into separate pages, if your platform supports it. Fewer clicks typically means fewer drop-offs.
A Quick Before and After
Before: Name, company (optional), address line 1, address line 2, city, state, zip, phone, email, how did you hear about us, gift message.
After: Name, address (auto-fill), email, phone (only if needed for delivery updates).
That's the difference between a checkout that feels like a form and one that feels like a transaction.
4. Limited or Unfamiliar Payment Options
Some shoppers only trust PayPal. Others expect Apple Pay or Google Pay because it's faster than typing in a card number. If your checkout only accepts credit cards, you're asking every visitor to dig out a physical card and type in 16 digits, an expiration date, and a security code, on their phone, often with one thumb.
How to fix it:
- Offer at least one digital wallet option (Apple Pay, Google Pay, or PayPal) in addition to standard card payments.
- If you sell higher-priced items, consider a buy-now-pay-later option like Klarna or Afterpay. It won't be right for every store, but for anything over roughly $75-100, it typically reduces hesitation.
- Display payment logos early in the checkout flow, not just at the final payment field, so shoppers know their preferred method is supported before they invest time filling out the rest of the form.
5. No Sense of Progress
A multi-step checkout without a progress indicator feels endless. Shoppers don't know if they're one step from done or five steps away, and uncertainty makes people abandon tasks. This is true in checkout the same way it's true in any long process: not knowing how much is left is more frustrating than the process itself.
How to fix it:
- Add a simple progress bar or numbered steps ("1. Shipping, 2. Payment, 3. Review") at the top of the checkout flow.
- Keep the number of steps as low as possible. Two or three steps is typically enough for most stores.
- Let people edit earlier steps without losing their progress. If a shopper needs to fix a typo in their address, they shouldn't have to start over.
A visible sense of progress turns checkout from an open-ended task into a short, finishable one.
6. Unclear Return Policy or Hidden Costs at the End
Even if shipping is transparent, other last-minute surprises can stall a purchase: a restocking fee, an unclear return window, or a total that includes taxes the shopper didn't anticipate. If someone can't find your return policy without leaving the checkout page to search for it, they may abandon the purchase just to go look, and never come back.
How to fix it:
- Link to your return policy directly from the checkout page, ideally as a small text link near the order summary.
- State your return window in plain language: "Free returns within 30 days" is clearer than a legal paragraph.
- Show estimated taxes as early as possible, even if it's just an estimate based on the shipping address entered.
- If there are any fees (restocking, non-refundable shipping, etc.), disclose them before the final payment step, not in fine print after.
Clarity here isn't just about avoiding surprises. It's about giving the shopper confidence that if something goes wrong, they have an easy way out. That confidence often makes the difference between clicking "buy" and closing the tab.
What to Do This Week
You don't need a full redesign to fix most of these problems. Start small:
- Add shipping cost estimates to your product or cart page.
- Turn on guest checkout if it isn't already the default.
- Remove at least two unnecessary fields from your checkout form.
- Add one digital wallet payment option if you don't have one.
- Add a simple step indicator to your checkout flow.
- Link your return policy directly from the checkout page.
Pick one or two of these to test first. Checkout friction adds up in small increments, and so does the fix: each change you make removes one more reason for a shopper to hesitate and one more reason for them to leave without buying.