If you run an online store, I have a question for you. Do you know how many people add something to their cart and then leave without buying? For most online stores, it is between 60 and 80 percent. That means for every 10 people who are ready to buy, 6 to 8 of them walk away at the last step.
That is not a traffic problem. That is a checkout problem. And it is fixable.
The three things that kill checkouts
I have audited dozens of e-commerce checkout flows, and the same three problems show up almost every time.
First, forced account creation. If you make someone create an account before they can buy, you will lose 20 to 30 percent of your customers right there. People do not want another username and password. They want to buy their dog food and move on. Add guest checkout. It is the single easiest fix with the biggest impact.
Second, hidden shipping costs. When someone adds a $25 item to their cart and then finds out shipping is $12 at the very last step, they feel tricked. Show estimated shipping on the product page or in the cart. No surprises at checkout.
Third, a broken mobile experience. If 60 percent of your traffic is on phones and your checkout form has overlapping buttons and cut-off fields on mobile, you are throwing money away. Test your checkout on at least five different phone models. What looks fine on your iPhone might be unusable on a Samsung.
How to find your checkout problems
Before you fix anything, you need to know what is broken. Here is how to find out.
Go through your own checkout on your phone. Try buying something as if you were a customer. Is it easy? Are there surprises? Does everything work?
Then look at your analytics. If you have Google Analytics set up, check your funnel. How many people view a product, add to cart, start checkout, and complete the purchase? The biggest drop-off point is where your problem is.
What to fix first
Start with mobile. Always start with mobile. If your mobile checkout is broken, nothing else matters because most of your traffic is on phones.
Then add guest checkout if you do not have it. Then make shipping costs visible earlier in the process.
After those three fixes, start A/B testing. Test one thing at a time. Try a different button color, a different layout, a different form length. Measure the impact. Roll out what works.
What results look like
We worked with an online pet supply store in Texas that had a 1.8 percent checkout completion rate. That means 98 out of every 100 people who started the checkout left without buying. After fixing their mobile experience, adding guest checkout, and showing shipping costs earlier, their checkout completions increased by 67 percent. That added $23,000 in monthly revenue without spending a single extra dollar on ads.
The traffic was already there. The products were good. The prices were fair. The only problem was the checkout experience. Once we fixed that, the revenue followed.
If you are spending money to get people to your site but not optimizing the checkout, you are filling a leaky bucket. Fix the leaks first.
The bottom line
If you are spending money to get people to your site but not optimizing the checkout, you are filling a leaky bucket. Fix the leaks first. Then worry about getting more traffic.