Checkout Flow Redesign
Led a complete redesign of the checkout experience, reducing cart abandonment by 23% and increasing mobile conversion by 35%.
title: Checkout Flow Redesign company: Acme Commerce role: Senior Product Manager duration: 2023 - 2024 description: Led a complete redesign of the checkout experience, reducing cart abandonment by 23% and increasing mobile conversion by 35%. tags:
- E-commerce
- Mobile
- Conversion Optimization
- A/B Testing thumbnail: /images/portfolio/checkout-hero.png
Overview
The checkout flow at Acme Commerce hadn't been updated in over 3 years. With mobile traffic growing to 65% of all sessions but only accounting for 40% of conversions, we identified a significant opportunity to improve the mobile checkout experience.
The Problem
Through user research and data analysis, we identified several key issues:
- High cart abandonment: 68% of users who added items to cart never completed purchase
- Mobile friction: Mobile users had a 45% lower conversion rate than desktop
- Form fatigue: Users were required to fill out 23 fields across 4 pages
- Trust concerns: Exit surveys showed users felt uncertain about security
Research & Discovery
Quantitative Analysis
We analyzed 6 months of checkout data to understand where users were dropping off:
| Step | Desktop Drop-off | Mobile Drop-off |
|---|---|---|
| Cart → Shipping | 28% | 41% |
| Shipping → Payment | 18% | 31% |
| Payment → Confirmation | 12% | 19% |
User Interviews
Conducted 24 user interviews with recent purchasers and cart abandoners. Key findings:
- "I don't want to create an account just to buy something" - Guest checkout was buried
- "I couldn't figure out how to apply my coupon" - Promo code field was on a separate page
- "I wasn't sure if my payment went through" - Lack of feedback during processing
Solution
Design Principles
Based on our research, we established three design principles:
- Reduce cognitive load: Show only what's needed at each step
- Build trust progressively: Surface security signals at decision points
- Optimize for thumbs: Design for one-handed mobile use
Key Features
Single-page checkout Consolidated the 4-page flow into a single scrollable page with collapsible sections. Users could see their progress and easily edit previous sections.
Express checkout options Added Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal as primary options above the fold, reducing form completion by 80% for returning customers.
Smart address autocomplete Integrated Google Places API to reduce address entry to a single field, auto-populating city, state, and zip.
Real-time validation Moved from page-level validation to inline field validation, catching errors immediately.
Execution
Phased Rollout
We rolled out the new checkout in three phases:
- Phase 1: Internal testing and bug fixes (2 weeks)
- Phase 2: 10% A/B test with new users only (4 weeks)
- Phase 3: Gradual rollout to 25% → 50% → 100% (6 weeks)
Cross-functional Collaboration
Worked closely with:
- Engineering: 2 backend, 3 frontend engineers over 4 months
- Design: Weekly design reviews and usability testing
- Legal: Payment compliance and privacy review
- Customer Support: Training on new flow and FAQ updates
Results
After full rollout, we measured results over a 90-day period:
Primary Metrics
- Cart abandonment: Reduced from 68% to 52% (-23%)
- Mobile conversion: Increased from 2.1% to 2.8% (+35%)
- Checkout completion time: Reduced from 4.2 min to 2.1 min (-50%)
Secondary Metrics
- Support tickets related to checkout: -41%
- Express checkout adoption: 34% of all orders
- Mobile revenue share: Increased from 40% to 48%
Revenue Impact
The improvements translated to an estimated $2.4M in additional annual revenue, based on the lift in conversion rate at current traffic levels.
Learnings
What Worked Well
- Progressive disclosure: Hiding complexity until needed reduced overwhelm
- Early user testing: Caught major usability issues before development
- Phased rollout: Allowed us to catch edge cases without major impact
What I'd Do Differently
- Earlier stakeholder alignment: Legal review late in the process caused delays
- More mobile-specific testing: Some issues only appeared on specific devices
- Better instrumentation: Had to add analytics events post-launch
Conclusion
This project reinforced my belief that checkout optimization is often the highest-leverage work in e-commerce. By focusing on reducing friction rather than adding features, we delivered significant business impact while improving the user experience.