Common checkout pitfalls and how to fix them

You have done the hard work. Marketing drove traffic to your store. Product pages convinced visitors to add items to cart. Customers want to buy. Then they reach checkout and 70-85% abandon without completing purchase. Cart abandonment is the most expensive problem in e-commerce because it represents customers with demonstrated intent who walked away at the last moment.

Most checkout abandonment results from preventable mistakes that create friction, confusion, or surprise right when customers are ready to complete purchase. This article identifies the most common checkout pitfalls and explains how to fix them without requiring complete checkout redesigns or expensive development work.

Unexpected costs revealed at checkout

The problem

Product shows $45. Customer adds to cart expecting to pay approximately $45. Reaches checkout. Suddenly total is $62—$12 shipping, $5 handling fee. Customer feels deceived. Many abandon immediately rather than paying 38% more than expected.

Unexpected costs are the number one cause of cart abandonment according to every major study on the topic. Customers hate surprises at checkout, especially expensive surprises. When customers feel deceived—whether intentionally or not—trust breaks down and purchase likelihood collapses.

The fix

Show shipping costs earlier: Display shipping cost on product page (“+ $8 shipping”) or immediately when item is added to cart. If shipping varies by location, show range (“Shipping: $6-12 depending on location”) or provide shipping calculator on product page where customers enter ZIP code to see exact cost before cart.

Build costs into product price: Instead of $45 product + $12 shipping, price product at $57 with free shipping. Customers respond better to higher product price with free shipping than lower product price plus shipping fee, even when total cost is identical. Free shipping threshold (“Free shipping over $75”) creates incentive to increase order size while eliminating shipping surprise.

Eliminate or explain additional fees: Handling fees, processing fees, and service fees feel arbitrary to customers. If these fees cover real costs that cannot be absorbed, explain them clearly (“$3 packaging fee covers eco-friendly materials and careful packing”). Better approach: absorb small fees into product pricing to simplify checkout and reduce friction.

Expected improvement: Stores that move shipping cost display from checkout to earlier in shopping experience typically reduce cart abandonment by 15-25%. Implementing free shipping threshold can increase average order value by 20-35% while maintaining or improving conversion rate.

Required account creation

The problem

Customer ready to purchase must create account before checkout proceeds. Required fields: email, password, password confirmation, name, phone number. Customer already provided email at cart. Now they must choose password, verify it matches, and provide additional personal information. Each additional field increases abandonment risk. Many customers abandon rather than creating yet another account they will never use again.

Required account creation reduces checkout completion by 20-25% compared to guest checkout. Customers buying from new store do not know if they will ever return. Forcing account creation for potential one-time purchase creates unnecessary barrier.

The fix

Enable guest checkout: Allow purchase completion with only information necessary for fulfillment—shipping address, payment method. Do not require account creation. After purchase completes, offer optional account creation (“Create account to track order and save information for future purchases”) but make it optional, not required.

Collect email naturally through checkout: Email is required for order confirmation, so collecting it during checkout is natural and expected. After customer completes purchase with email but without account, their information is already in your system. You can email them marketing (with permission) without requiring formal account creation.

Make account creation effortless if offered: If you do offer account creation, require only email and password—no password confirmation, no phone number, no additional fields beyond what checkout already collected. Better yet: “Create account” is single checkbox that uses email and autogenerated password, with password reset link sent to email. Customer gets account without additional friction.

Expected improvement: Adding guest checkout option typically improves checkout completion rate by 20-30%. Many customers who complete guest checkout will create accounts later when they return for second purchase, so you gain customers without losing opportunity for repeat business.

Complicated checkout forms

The problem

Checkout requires 15-20 form fields: first name, last name, email, phone, address line 1, address line 2, city, state, ZIP code, country, then same fields again for billing address if different from shipping. Add payment fields: card number, expiration date, CVV, cardholder name. Every field increases cognitive load and completion time. Long forms feel overwhelming. Customers abandon because checkout feels like too much work.

Each additional form field increases abandonment risk by 5-10%. A checkout with 20 fields loses 2-3× more customers than checkout with 8 fields, even if required information is identical.

The fix

Remove optional fields entirely: Address line 2 is optional for most customers. Company name is optional. Phone number is often optional (though shipping carriers may need it). Every removed field improves completion rates. Keep only fields absolutely required for fulfillment and payment processing.

Combine fields where possible: Instead of separate fields for first name and last name, use single “Full name” field. Instead of separate city, state, ZIP fields, use address lookup that autofills all three after customer enters street address and ZIP code.

Default to “billing address same as shipping”: Most customers use same address for billing and shipping. Present checkbox (“Billing address same as shipping”) checked by default. Only show billing address fields if customer unchecks box. This eliminates 7-8 fields for 80-90% of customers.

Enable autofill and autocomplete: Browser autofill populates fields automatically from saved information. Ensure form fields use standard HTML autocomplete attributes so browsers recognize them. This reduces customer effort from typing 15 fields to clicking “Autofill” and reviewing pre-populated information.

Expected improvement: Reducing form fields from 18-20 to 8-10 improves checkout completion by 15-25%. Autofill support improves completion by additional 10-15% among customers who use it.

Limited payment options

The problem

Checkout accepts only credit cards. Customer wants to use PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or buy-now-pay-later service. No option exists. Customer must either abandon purchase or retrieve credit card from wallet. Each additional step increases abandonment risk. Some customers do not have credit cards or prefer not to enter card information on unfamiliar sites.

Stores offering only credit card payment lose 10-20% of potential sales from customers who would purchase with alternative payment methods but abandon when preferred method is unavailable.

The fix

Add PayPal: PayPal is used by 40%+ of online shoppers and trusted for security. Integration is straightforward with most e-commerce platforms. Customers who prefer PayPal convert at higher rates when it is offered because they avoid entering credit card information on your site.

Enable digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay): These options require no form filling—single tap completes purchase using stored payment information. Mobile customers especially prefer digital wallets. Implementation requires payment processor that supports digital wallets, but setup is typically simple.

Consider buy-now-pay-later (Klarna, Affirm, Afterpay): These services allow customers to split payment into installments. Particularly effective for higher-priced products ($200+). Customers who cannot afford full payment immediately can still purchase. Conversion rate increases 20-30% for products where buy-now-pay-later is offered, though services charge fees (3-6% of transaction).

Expected improvement: Adding PayPal typically increases conversion by 10-15%. Adding digital wallets increases mobile conversion by 15-25%. Buy-now-pay-later increases conversion for higher-priced products by 20-30% while also increasing average order value as customers feel comfortable spending more.

Slow checkout page load times

The problem

Customer clicks “Proceed to checkout.” Page loads. And loads. And loads. Seven seconds later, checkout appears. Or customer gets impatient at five seconds and closes tab. Page speed affects conversion at every stage, but checkout speed matters most because customers are closest to completing purchase. Each additional second of load time reduces checkout completion by 5-10%.

Slow checkout often results from external scripts (payment processors, analytics, fraud detection, address validation) loading sequentially rather than asynchronously. These necessary services inadvertently destroy conversion when implemented poorly.

The fix

Measure current load time: Use Google PageSpeed Insights or similar tool to test checkout page speed. Target is under 3 seconds for full page load. Identify what is slowing the page—large images, unoptimized scripts, slow server response, or blocking resources.

Optimize images: Checkout pages rarely need large images. Reduce image sizes or eliminate unnecessary images entirely. Every 100KB saved improves load time by approximately 0.2-0.3 seconds on typical connections.

Load scripts asynchronously: Payment processor scripts, analytics tracking, and other third-party services should load asynchronously so they do not block page rendering. Work with your developer to implement async loading for non-critical scripts.

Use fast, reliable hosting: Shared hosting or underpowered servers struggle during traffic spikes. Slow server response time (TTFB - time to first byte) indicates hosting limitations. Consider upgrading hosting or using CDN (content delivery network) to serve static assets quickly.

Expected improvement: Reducing checkout load time from 6 seconds to 2 seconds typically improves completion rate by 25-40%. Speed optimization delivers one of highest ROIs in e-commerce because it affects every customer at the most critical moment.

Security and trust concerns

The problem

Customer reaches checkout on unfamiliar site. No trust indicators visible. No security badges. No clear return policy link. Checkout asks for credit card information but provides no assurance that payment is secure or that customer can return product if unsatisfied. Customer hesitates. Decides risk is too high. Abandons cart.

New customers especially need trust signals at checkout because they have no prior experience with your store. Lack of visible trust indicators increases abandonment by 15-25% compared to checkouts that clearly communicate security and return policies.

The fix

Display security badges: Show SSL certificate indicator, payment processor logos (Visa, Mastercard, PayPal), and any security certifications your site has. These badges do not need to be large or prominent—small badges near payment fields or in footer reassure customers without cluttering design.

Link to return policy clearly: Place return policy link prominently at checkout (“Easy 30-day returns” linked to full policy). Knowing they can return product if unsatisfied reduces purchase risk. Generous return policies often increase initial sales more than they increase return costs.

Show customer reviews or testimonials: Brief testimonial or review count at checkout (“Join 12,000+ happy customers”) provides social proof. Customers are reassured that others have successfully purchased from your store.

Expected improvement: Adding trust signals to checkout typically reduces abandonment by 10-15%. Effect is larger for new customers (20-25% improvement) and smaller for returning customers who already trust your store.

Implementing checkout improvements systematically

Do not change everything simultaneously. Implement one fix, measure impact over 2-3 weeks, then implement next fix. This approach isolates which changes deliver results and prevents breaking functioning checkout through multiple simultaneous changes.

Recommended implementation priority:

1. Show shipping costs earlier (highest impact, easiest implementation)
2. Enable guest checkout (high impact, moderate implementation)
3. Simplify forms by removing optional fields (high impact, easy implementation)
4. Add PayPal and digital wallets (high impact, moderate implementation)
5. Optimize page load speed (very high impact, moderate to difficult implementation)
6. Add trust signals (moderate impact, easy implementation)

Track cart abandonment rate weekly. When rate improves after implementing fix, you have confirmed impact. When rate stays flat, investigate whether implementation was complete or whether that particular fix does not matter for your specific customers.

Peasy tracks cart abandonment rate automatically and alerts you immediately when it spikes—so you can investigate checkout issues before they destroy conversion. Starting at $49/month. Try free for 14 days.