The Checkout Is Where Money Is Made or Lost
Cart abandonment rates average 70% across ecommerce. Many of those lost sales happen at checkout due to friction, surprise costs, or lack of trust signals. Optimising your Shopify checkout can recover a significant portion of this lost revenue.
Standard Checkout Optimisations
Streamline the Flow
Enable Shop Pay for one-click checkout — it converts 1.72x better than standard checkout according to Shopify’s data. Enable guest checkout to remove the account creation barrier. Show progress indicators so customers know how many steps remain.
Trust and Security Signals
Display security badges, accepted payment icons, return policy highlights, and customer service contact information prominently during checkout. These signals reduce anxiety and increase completion rates.
Shipping Transparency
Surprise shipping costs are the number one reason for checkout abandonment. Show estimated shipping early, offer free shipping thresholds, and provide multiple delivery options with clear timeframes.
Shopify Plus Checkout Customisation
Checkout Extensibility
Shopify Plus merchants can use Checkout Extensibility to add custom UI elements, modify the checkout flow, and implement business logic through checkout extensions. This replaces the older checkout.liquid approach with a more stable, upgrade-safe framework.
Custom Scripts and Functions
Shopify Functions allow Plus merchants to create custom discount logic, shipping rate calculations, and payment method filters that run on Shopify’s infrastructure. These are faster and more reliable than third-party apps.
Post-Purchase Upsells
Add post-purchase offers between payment confirmation and the thank-you page. Customers can add items to their order with a single click — no re-entering payment details. This can increase average order value by 10-15%.
Checkout Analytics
Track checkout funnel drop-off at each step. Identify where customers abandon and test solutions — A/B test shipping thresholds, payment options, and trust elements. Use CRO techniques to systematically improve completion rates.
Payment Method Optimisation
Offer the payment methods your target market prefers. In the UK, that means Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay at minimum. Consider Klarna or Clearpay for buy-now-pay-later options that increase average order values.
Mobile Checkout Excellence
Over 60% of ecommerce traffic comes from mobile. Ensure your checkout form fields are appropriately sized, number pads appear for phone and card inputs, and the entire flow works smoothly on small screens. Our theme development always prioritises mobile checkout UX.
Want to reduce checkout abandonment? Talk to our CRO specialists about a checkout optimisation audit.
