The Journey to Checkout: Make Sure Your Customers Survive It

You’ve done everything right. Your ads are running. Traffic is flowing. A customer lands on your product page, scrolls through the photos, clicks “Add to Cart.”

And then… nothing.

Their phone buzzes with a text from their mom. A Slack notification pops up. They remember they need to check something on another tab. Just like that, your sale evaporates into the digital ether, and that carefully acquired customer becomes another anonymous bounce in your analytics.

The path from product page to purchase is one of the most dangerous journeys in ecommerce. According to the Baymard Institute, the average cart abandonment rate sits at 70.19%. That’s seven out of ten customers who showed clear buying intent walking away empty-handed. And while some of that is just window shopping, a significant portion represents real money you’re leaving on the table.

This post breaks down what’s actually killing your conversions, and more importantly, what you can do to give your customers a fighting chance at making it through checkout.

The Journey to Checkout: Make Sure Your Customers Survive It

Key Takeaways

The average cart abandonment rate is 70.19% — 7 in 10 customers who showed real buying intent walk away empty-handed
39% of customers abandon due to unexpected costs like shipping, taxes, and fees added at checkout
Reducing checkout steps from 5 to 3 can recover 14% more sales by reducing friction-based drop-off
79% of shoppers are more likely to complete a purchase when total cost is clear from the start (McKinsey)
Virtual try-on increases conversion rates by 35% by giving customers confidence in their purchase
Customers interact with a brand 7-8 times before purchasing (Google), so failed checkouts are opportunities, not losses

The Ambush Points in Your Checkout Journey

Every checkout flow has hidden obstacles. Some you’ve built in without realizing it. Others are simply the nature of competing for attention in a world designed to distract.

Statista’s research on US checkout abandonment reveals the top reasons customers abandon carts, and the list is telling:

39% cite extra costs being too high (shipping, taxes, fees)
21% say delivery was too slow
19% didn’t want to create an account
19% didn’t trust the site with their credit card

Notice what these have in common? They’re all friction. They’re all moments where the customer pauses, reconsiders, and decides the effort isn’t worth the reward.

Your checkout isn’t competing against other stores. It’s competing against everything else that customer could be doing with their time and mental energy. And right now, you’re probably losing.

Rule 1: No Surprises at Checkout

Nothing kills a sale faster than sticker shock at checkout.

A customer finds a $45 top they love. They’re ready to buy. They click through to checkout and suddenly see $12 shipping and $4 in taxes they weren’t expecting. That $45 top is now $61, and the psychological contract has been broken.

According to Shopify’s research, unexpected costs at checkout are the single biggest driver of cart abandonment, responsible for nearly half of all abandoned purchases. This isn’t about customers being cheap. It’s about trust.

When you hide costs until the last moment, you’re essentially telling your customer: “Surprise! You thought you knew what you were getting, but you didn’t.” No one likes that feeling.

What to do instead:

Build transparency into every step. If shipping is $12, say so on the product page. Better yet, build it into the price and offer “free shipping” since customers respond more positively to a $57 product with free shipping than a $45 product with $12 shipping. It’s the same math, but the psychology is completely different.

For international customers, be proactive. If someone’s visiting from Germany and you ship internationally, show them a banner that says “Ships to Germany for €8” before they even add anything to their cart. When someone from Albania visits your store, don’t make them discover your shipping policy at checkout. Tell them upfront: “We see you’re visiting from Albania. Here’s how shipping works for you.”

The National Retail Federation found that 65% of consumers investigate shipping costs before they even reach the checkout page. They’re not waiting for checkout to find out. They’re making the decision earlier. Show them the number early, and you’re already ahead.

Rule 2: Reduce Checkout Steps

Every additional step in your checkout is a potential exit point.

If your checkout has five pages, you’re giving customers five opportunities to get distracted, second-guess themselves, or simply run out of patience. The math alone makes the case — and it’s brutal.

Let’s say you have a five-step checkout and 90% of customers make it through each step. That sounds pretty good, right? But 0.9 × 0.9 × 0.9 × 0.9 × 0.9 = 0.59. You’ve lost 41% of your customers just through the natural friction of having too many pages.

Now make it three steps: 0.9 × 0.9 × 0.9 = 0.73. You’ve just recovered 14% more sales by doing less.

How to reduce checkout friction:

Combine shipping and billing address on one page (with a “same as shipping” checkbox)
Allow guest checkout. Yes, you want email subscribers. But not at the cost of losing the sale entirely
Use smart defaults. If they entered a U.S. address, default to U.S. country. If their card is Visa, auto-select Visa
Implement address autocomplete. Typing is slow and error-prone
Let them edit cart items without leaving checkout

The goal isn’t just speed. It’s momentum. Once a customer commits to checkout, every unnecessary click is a chance for doubt to creep in.

Rule 3: Show Customers What They’re Getting

Here’s where it gets interesting.

The most powerful conversion tool isn’t a slick checkout page or clever upsells. It’s giving customers certainty about what they’re buying.

In fashion, the fundamental problem is visualization. Customers can’t touch the fabric, can’t see how it drapes, can’t know if that color will look good on them. This uncertainty is why, according to Invesp research, 46% of online shoppers have abandoned a cart because they weren’t sure about product fit or quality.

The psychology of ownership:

There’s a concept in behavioral economics called the “endowment effect.” Once someone feels like they own something, they value it more highly. This is why car salespeople want you to take a test drive, why furniture stores encourage you to sit on the couch.

For online stores, virtual try-on technology creates this same psychological shift. When a customer sees themselves wearing your product, something changes. They’re not looking at a product anymore. They’re looking at themselves in a new outfit. The ownership mindset activates.

This works for fashion, obviously. But the principle extends further than clothing:

Eyeglasses stores showing frames on a customer’s face
Furniture retailers visualizing a couch in a customer’s actual living room
Automotive accessories showing wheels on a customer’s car
Home decor placing a lamp on a customer’s actual desk

The technology exists to do all of this. Apps like Antla let fashion stores show customers exactly how they’ll look in products before buying, and the results speak for themselves: retailers using virtual try-on see conversion rate increases of 35% or more among customers who engage with the feature.

When someone can see themselves in the product, the checkout journey becomes less about “should I buy this?” and more about “when will this arrive?”

When Customers Don’t Convert: The Recovery Strategy

Let’s be realistic. Even with a perfect checkout, some customers won’t complete their purchase. A phone call comes in. The credit card is in the other room. Life happens.

This doesn’t mean you’ve lost them. It means you need to shift strategies.

Capture intent before it vanishes:

The customer who made it to checkout showed significant interest. They browsed your site, liked something enough to add it to their cart, and started the purchase process. That’s valuable information.

Your goal now is to get something from this interaction, even if it’s not the sale. Email addresses are gold. Phone numbers are platinum. Newsletter signups, account creations, wishlist saves — all of these give you a second chance at the conversion.

Smart capture strategies:

Exit-intent popups offering 10-15% off for first-time buyers (in exchange for email)
Persistent cart reminders: “We saved your cart. Come back anytime”
Wishlist functionality that requires email to save items
SMS opt-in for back-in-stock notifications

The key is providing genuine value in exchange for their information. “Sign up for our newsletter” is weak. “Get 15% off your first order, plus early access to sales” is compelling. Klaviyo’s research found that abandoned cart email sequences recover an average of 5-11% of otherwise-lost revenue — a meaningful return from customers who were already close to buying.

The Multi-Touch Reality of Ecommerce

Here’s something that might take some pressure off: most customers don’t buy on the first visit anyway.

According to Google’s consumer insights research, the average customer interacts with a brand 7-8 times before making a purchase decision. They might discover you through an Instagram ad, browse on their phone during lunch, revisit on their laptop at home, see a friend wearing your brand, and finally pull the trigger when a sale email hits their inbox.

This multi-touch reality changes how you should think about “failed” checkouts.

That customer who abandoned their cart? They’re not a lost cause. They’re in the middle of their journey. Your job is to stay in front of them without being annoying about it.

Where virtual try-on gets interesting:

When customers create try-on images, they’re generating shareable content featuring your products. A customer might try on five outfits, save the images, and share them with friends asking “which one should I get?” That friend clicks through, tries on their own outfits, and now you’ve got two potential customers instead of one.

Some brands are getting creative with this. Offering additional try-ons in exchange for social shares. Running competitions where the best try-on image wins a discount. Building referral programs around shared try-on content.

The checkout that didn’t convert becomes the marketing touchpoint that brings in three more customers.

Your Checkout Optimization Checklist

Let’s bring this home with concrete actions you can take this week:

Audit your surprise factor. Go through your own checkout as a customer. Better yet, have a friend do it. Where did costs appear that weren’t mentioned earlier? Fix those first.
Count your clicks. How many pages or steps does it take to go from “Add to Cart” to “Order Confirmed”? If it’s more than three, start looking for steps to combine or eliminate.
Enable guest checkout. Yes, you want accounts. But forced registration kills conversions. Let them buy first, then offer account creation on the confirmation page.
Implement visualization. Whether it’s better product photography, 360-degree views, or virtual try-on technology, give customers more ways to see what they’re getting.
Build your recovery system. Exit-intent popups, abandoned cart emails, SMS follow-ups. These are your safety nets for the customers who fall off the path.

The Bigger Picture

Your checkout isn’t just a transaction process. It’s the final stage of a relationship you’ve been building since that customer first discovered your brand.

Every unnecessary form field, every surprise fee, every extra click is a small betrayal of the trust you’ve worked to establish. Conversely, every moment of clarity, every helpful shortcut, every tool that helps them feel confident about their purchase deepens that relationship.

The brands winning at checkout aren’t the ones with the fanciest technology. They’re the ones who’ve thought carefully about every step of the journey and asked: “What would make this easier for my customer?”

Start there. The conversions will follow.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the average cart abandonment rate?

Approximately 70.19% — meaning 7 out of 10 customers who add items to their cart leave without completing a purchase.

Why do customers abandon their carts at checkout?

The top reasons for cart abandonment are: unexpected costs like shipping and taxes (39%), slow delivery (21%), being forced to create an account (19%), and lack of trust with payment security (19%), according to Statista research.

How many checkout steps is optimal?

Research suggests 3 steps or fewer is optimal. Reducing checkout from 5 steps to 3 steps can recover approximately 14% more sales by reducing friction-based drop-off at each stage.

Does virtual try-on reduce cart abandonment?

Yes. Virtual try-on technology increases conversion rates by 35% among customers who use it. By showing customers exactly how products will look on them, it eliminates the uncertainty that causes 46% of fashion shoppers to abandon carts.

How can I recover customers who abandon checkout?

Effective recovery strategies include: exit-intent popups offering first-purchase discounts, abandoned cart email sequences, persistent cart saving, wishlist functionality, and SMS notifications. The key is capturing contact information before they leave.

How many times do customers visit before buying?

According to Google’s consumer insights research, the average customer interacts with a brand 7-8 times before making a purchase decision. This means abandoned checkouts are often part of a longer buying journey, not final rejections.