The checkout flow: the questions we get asked most

It comes up on almost every project, usually later than it should. The questions about the checkout flow that come up most often on our calls.

Trust does most of the selling online, and trust is built from unglamorous details. The failure mode is not doing it wrong, it is doing it once and assuming it stays done.

Do we need to care about this?

Every extra step loses a measurable slice of buyers. That sounds obvious written down. It is still the thing most often skipped. Doing this properly once is usually cheaper than doing it approximately three times.

Can it wait until after launch?

Occasionally. More often the post-launch version costs several times the pre-launch one. None of that requires a large budget, only a decision and someone to own it.

How do we know it is working?

Save progress so a dropped connection is not fatal. There is a version of this that is over-engineered, and it is worth avoiding. Most teams find the first pass takes an afternoon and the maintenance takes minutes a month.

The short version

Small percentage changes matter here because they apply to every order, every month. Three things worth confirming about the checkout flow before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Every extra step loses a measurable slice of buyers — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

If you want a second opinion on how yours is set up, ask.