Before/After: Mobile Checkout Overhaul That Reduced Cart Abandonment by 30%

Design · 4 min read

The original checkout flow split payment, shipping, and review across four screens and buried shipping costs until the last step. Usability testing exposed confusion and surprise fees as main drivers of dropout. Heatmaps and session replay showed repeated back-and-forth between product pages and the cart.

The redesign consolidated the flow into two screens, moved shipping options earlier, and used clearer microcopy to explain pricing and returns. Designers introduced a persistent cost summary and optimistic validation for card inputs to reduce cognitive load.

After A/B testing for six weeks, conversion from cart to purchase improved by 18% and overall cart abandonment dropped by 30% on mobile. The team also reduced support tickets related to shipping questions by 40%, proving that clearer communication can be as impactful as reducing the number of steps.