Checkout Flows™️ 101: Tailored Experiences For Customer Profitability

The checkout abandonment problem

Cart abandonment is a significant issue, with an average rate of 72%. Out of 100 customers who add products to their cart, only 28 complete their purchase, leading to over $6.5 trillion in abandoned merchandise annually.

Cart abandonment is measured by the number of orders placed divided by the number of carts created. This part of the shopper journey involves two key steps: adding items to the cart and completing the order on the checkout page. According to the data, more than half of the shoppers who create carts proceed to the checkout. These shoppers have a higher intent to purchase than those who abandon their carts. Thus, the problem is better described as "checkout abandonment" rather than "cart abandonment."

So what happens at checkout? According to our data around 53% of shoppers that get to the checkout abandon it, leaving the checkout completion rate at 47%. This number varies by device type, with checkout from mobile converting at 42.4% rate and from desktop at 52.5% rate.

1. Returning Customer Auto-Login: Enhancing Checkout Efficiency

Automatically detecting and logging in returning customers can streamline the checkout process, reducing the number of steps required to complete a purchase. This has several key benefits:

• Saved customer details like addresses, payment methods, and preferences can be auto-filled, making checkout faster and more convenient.
• Better LTV calculations: With more orders tied to specific accounts, businesses can more accurately assess customer value and tailor marketing efforts.

This reduces friction and addresses a common pain point—22% of cart abandoners leave due to being required to create a new user account. Automatically logging in returning customers alleviates this issue, leading to higher conversion rates.

2. Login/Sign-Up Prompt: Timing and Incentives Matter

Prompting customers to log in or sign up at the right moment is crucial. Forcing customers to log in too early can cause frustration, while delaying it until the last minute might result in missed opportunities. Consider these factors:

• Prompting at the right time: Encourage login early in the process, such as when a customer adds an item to the cart or at the beginning of checkout.
• Incentives for login/sign-up: Offering incentives such as free shipping or an extended return window can motivate more customers to log in or create an account. Highlighting these benefits directly at the login prompt will make it more attractive.

By making the login/sign-up process obvious and rewarding, businesses can reduce abandonment rates while encouraging repeat purchases.

3. Guest Checkout: Balancing Convenience and Data Collection

Providing a guest checkout option is essential for reducing friction, especially for first-time customers. Not everyone wants to create an account, and allowing guest checkout can decrease abandonment:

• Streamlined for new customers: Guest checkout offers an easy way for those who are not ready to commit to an account. Since 22% of cart abandoners cite account creation as a barrier, removing this requirement can lead to smoother checkouts.
• Post-purchase account prompts: Even if guest checkout is chosen, prompting users to create an account after a successful purchase, perhaps with a one-click setup, can encourage them to opt in when they’ve already had a positive experience.

This balance between providing an easy, no-commitment option and giving customers the opportunity to create an account ensures both conversions and potential data collection.

4. Shipping and Billing Optimization: Reducing Friction at Key Steps

Shipping and billing details are often areas of friction that can lead to cart abandonment. Consider these strategies for optimization:

• Auto-fill for returning customers: Automatically filling shipping and billing fields for returning customers reduces the time spent in checkout, improving their experience.
• Address validation: Automatically validating addresses as they’re entered, or even suggesting corrections, ensures that customers aren’t frustrated by errors or rejections after submission.
• Fewer input fields: Simplify shipping and billing forms by using already available information. This reduces friction, as 18% of US online shoppers cite too long or complicated checkout processes as a reason for abandonment.

By reducing unnecessary manual inputs and making the checkout smarter, businesses can increase conversion rates while ensuring accuracy in important details like shipping.

5. Shipping Options and BOPIS: Offering Flexibility and Transparency

Customers appreciate flexibility, and offering options like Buy Online, Pickup In-Store (BOPIS) can help reduce abandonment rates, especially when shipping costs are a concern:

• BOPIS visibility: Ensure that BOPIS is a clearly available option for customers who want to avoid shipping fees or pick up their order immediately.
• Inventory visibility: Allow customers to check in-store inventory availability in real-time, so they can make informed decisions on the spot.

Offering BOPIS and flexible shipping options like expedited delivery can increase conversions while giving customers more control over their purchase.

6. Post-Purchase and Confirmation: Enhancing the Customer Experience

The post-purchase experience is often overlooked but can be a critical moment to build customer loyalty:

• Tracking information and order details: Providing clear tracking information and delivery estimates on the confirmation page enhances customer satisfaction and reduces support inquiries.
• Post-purchase incentives: Include promotions on the confirmation page or in post-purchase emails, such as discounts for future purchases. This can encourage repeat business and drive up the average order value (AoV).

Ensuring a positive and engaging post-purchase experience, with easy access to order details and incentives to return, can significantly improve customer loyalty and LTV.

In the world of omnichannel commerce, brands must move beyond simple checkout optimization and embrace personalized checkout experiences tailored to each customer. As shoppers engage across multiple channels—whether online, mobile, or in-store—creating a seamless and customized checkout flows is essential to meet their unique requirements.

What is a checkout flow?

Think of a Checkout Flow™️ as a personalized shopping experience – a pathway designed specifically for your shoppers based on the unique criteria established by your brand. Tailored checkout flows hone in on achieving the ideal balance between the Power Trio metrics of conversion rates, AOV, and LTV to maximize customer profitability for your business.

Building your ideal checkout experience step-by-step

Want to craft a checkout experience that’s as unique as your customers? Here’s a four-step guide to help you build world-class checkout flows.

Set Your Criteria: define the triggers that launch a particular checkout flow.Here are some triggers to consider:

• Customer’s device
• Current channel
• Their previous buying behavior
• Repeat customer status
• Unique brand-specific considerations (special promotions, seasonal deals, unique bundles etc)

Design Your Interface: next, it’s time to decide how your checkout interface will look to your customers. Choices range from a simple one-page or three-page checkout to more advanced alternatives such as one-click, or embedded checkout. You may even choose a fully customized design that highlights your brand’s distinctiveness.

Shape Your Front-End Logic: this step involved specifying the front-end logic needed to deliver your ideal customer experience.

This includes:

• Defining shipping options
• Popular options like Buy Online, Pick Up In Store (BOPIS)
• Incorporating any additional features or widgets that enhance the checkout process like loyalty programs, discounts, donation options, and other elements

Configure Your Back-End Logic: your final step is to set up the back-end logic that fulfills your business needs.

This includes:

• Selecting your payment gateway
• Including any backup options if the primary gateway fails
• Determining the carrier to use
• Choosing an appropriate tax provider based on your needs

Following these four steps puts you on the fast track to crafting checkout flows that not only fine-tune your Power Trio metrics but also deliver an unforgettable shopping experience for your customers.

Bringing your Checkout Flows™️ to life

Now that you’ve put together the building blocks of your ideal checkout experience, it’s time to bring your tailored checkout flows to life. Legacy commerce platforms can present some hurdles with their rigid, one-size-fits-all approaches – but, you don’t have to let that be a blocker for your business. We’ve got effective strategies to bypass these limitations and launch your tailored checkout flows with success.

To ensure seamless implementation, make sure your composable commerce solution checks these essential boxes:

1. Headless Architecture: embrace the flexibility of composable commerce with headless architecture. This API-first solution separates the front-end and back-end commerce functionality freeing you from the chains of legacy platform constraints. Headless architecture gives you the power to create a checkout experience that truly reflects your brand’s unique personality.

Headless functionality also ensures that your customers enjoy a consistent experience, no matter the channel or device. The best part? Headless architecture also means that you can test different checkout flows and interfaces to make dialing in your Power Trio metrics easy as 1,2,3.

2. Ecosystem of Partners: building a world-class checkout experience requires a band of experienced partners. Payment providers, shipping carriers, loyalty program providers, promotional tools etc are all important partnership considerations. Access to qualified and experienced partners is your secret weapon to building comprehensive, intuitive checkout flows. Offering diverse payment options and flexible shipping can boost conversions and trust. Likewise, integrating with loyalty programs can foster repeat purchases and increase customer LTV while leveraging promotional tools can make your campaigns sing. Selecting a solution with pre-integrated partners simplifies your efforts and speeds up your time-to-market.

3. Extensibility: in today’s commerce landscape, it’s critical to future-proof your checkout flows with extensibility. This feature is a gateway to high customization and adaptability, allowing you to tweak business logic as you need. It provides room to align your checkout process with your brand strategy and rapidly respond to changing regulations and business needs. By harnessing extensibility, you can create a checkout flow that is as unique as your brand and delivers a phenomenal customer experience.

Take control of your checkout experience

Now that we’ve walked you through the steps of creating checkout flows optimized for the Power Trio metrics, it’s your turn to take the wheel. Remember, with tailored checkout flows, you’re not just enhancing your customer’s shopping experience, you’re also driving profit-critical metrics of conversions, AOV, and LTV. Tailored checkout flows are your key to boosting customer profitability while also providing a shopping experience tailored to your unique buyers.

Don’t let the limitations of your legacy commerce platform stand in your way. Bold is here to support you in your journey toward composable commerce.

Checkout Flows™️ Examples

To make the checkout flows concept more tangible, here are some of the examples:

Social Flow

In the social flow, a user clicks on an advertisement and is taken directly from the ad to the checkout page. This streamlined process minimizes the steps between discovering a product and purchasing it, reducing potential drop-off points and capitalizing on the immediate interest generated by the ad. This checkout flow has to be known to convert at higher than 10%, which is up to 5x better than a baseline conversion rate.

Checkout from Blog

In the checkout from blog flow, a user reading a blog post that mentions several products can purchase all the featured items directly from the blog without leaving the page. This integrated shopping experience keeps the user engaged with the content while facilitating easy, one-click purchasing. By embedding checkout functionality within the blog, brands can enhance user convenience, reduce abandonment rates, and leverage content-driven commerce to drive sales.

Dynamic Payment Options

In the dynamic payment options flow, users are presented with different payment methods based on their cart value. For instance, if the cart value is high, options like Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) are offered to provide greater flexibility and ease of purchase. Conversely, for lower cart values, these options are not shown to keep the checkout process simple and streamlined. This tailored approach ensures that customers have appropriate payment choices that suit their purchasing power.

Checkout Optimization Tactics: Leveraging Existing Customer Detection

To reduce checkout abandonment it is important to optimize the checkout experience. This can significantly reduce checkout friction and improve lifetime value (LTV), all while boosting the likelihood of a successful transaction. Here are several tactics to enhance checkout through effective use of existing customer detection: