Shopify Checkout: optimize your conversion funnel

Checkout is the moment of truth

Checkout is the step where you win or lose the sale. Around 70% of carts are abandoned before the purchase is completed. The main reasons are unexpected shipping costs, a process that is too long, the requirement to create an account and a lack of trust. Shopify offers an optimized checkout by default, but several adjustments can further improve your conversion rate.

Shop Pay: accelerated checkout

Shop Pay is Shopify’s accelerated payment system. Customers who have already used Shop Pay on any Shopify store find their information pre-filled: shipping address, payment method, email. The checkout is reduced to a single click.

Shopify data show that Shop Pay converts up to 50% better than the standard guest checkout. This improvement comes from the drastic reduction in the number of steps and fields to fill in. Enable Shop Pay in your payment settings if you have not already.

Reduce friction

Display shipping costs as early as possible in the purchase journey. Shipping costs discovered at checkout are the leading cause of cart abandonment. Offer free shipping above a certain amount and clearly display this threshold on product pages.

Offer guest checkout. The requirement to create an account is the second cause of abandonment. Customers who want to create an account can do so after the purchase. Those who prefer to buy quickly are not blocked.

Minimize the number of form fields. Each extra field increases the risk of abandonment. Use address autocomplete (Google Places) to speed up data entry. Combine first and last name into a single field if possible.

Trust elements

Display security badges (SSL, secure payment) near the payment button. The logos of accepted payment methods (Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Apple Pay) reassure customers about the security of the transaction.

Display your return policy visibly. A customer who knows they can return a product easily hesitates less to buy. Customer reviews and product ratings strengthen trust at the moment of the purchase decision.

Recover abandoned carts

Shopify automatically sends abandoned cart recovery emails. Customize the content and timing of these emails. The first email 1 hour after abandonment, the second 24 hours later and the third 3 days later is an effective sequence.

Include an image of the abandoned product, a direct link to the pre-filled checkout and possibly an incentive (free shipping, 10% discount). Abandoned cart emails recover 5 to 10% of carts on average.

LCMH, a Shopify partner in Alsace, optimizes your store’s checkout to maximize conversions.

For your store’s SEO, read our Shopify SEO guide.

Sources

1. Shopify, Shopify Checkout. shopify.com/checkout
2. Shopify, Shop Pay. shop.app/shop-pay
3. Baymard Institute, Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics. baymard.com/lists/cart-abandonment-rate