6 Best Practices to increase checkout conversion rates

With a cart abandonment rate of almost 80 %, European eCommerce businesses are always looking for ways to lead customers happily through the checkout. But what can you do to optimize the experience?

According to SaleCycle (via Statista), cart abandonments for luxury items (87,9 %) and fashion (87,8 %) are much higher than for retail (71,2 %), sports & outdoor (70,3 %) or cosmetics (70,1 %). Still, with more than two third of customers abandoning their cart, merchants have a lot of room to improve the checkout experience.   

In fact, conversion rates for European countries according to data from Salesforce (via Statista), show that conversion overall has decreased from Q1 2023 to Q1 in 2024 and – on average – ranges between 2,3 – 0,9 %.

Top 6 Reasons why customers abandon their cart

Delivery options (44 %)

Customers expect fast and convenient delivery options. In any case, they want clear delivery dates / estimates to plan their purchases.

Payment options (40 %)

The lack of a preferred (often local) payment option can immediately cause customers to end their purchasing journey.  

Lack of clarity upon checkout (33 %)

The UX-research company Baymard Institute identified that the average checkout consists of five steps or phases and asks customers to fill out 11 form fields. According to their research, customers simply abandon cart if the process becomes too difficult.

Problems related to return policy (32 %)

Whereas merchants try to reduce the return rate, customers prefer lenient and generous return policies and oftentimes even expect no additional return costs.

Security problems (29 %)

Customers not only fear security issues when payment windows look different than the shop environment, they also expect higher fraud risk when it comes to international online shops. 

Forced to create an account (19 %)

A guest account that does not require any official sign-up and email confirmation is considered standard practice. Lack of it can easily create friction since registration for a proper customer account usually disrupts the purchase flow with additional steps.

Based on these cart abandonment reasons, we’ve dug through surveys and studies as well as our own experience to provide you with 7 best practices for higher conversions at your checkout.

6 Tips to optimize your conversion rate at the checkout

1. Reduce checkout form fields
2. Provide the right payment options
3. Ensure a secure and trustworthy payment experience
4. Provide free delivery options
5. Counter high return rates with smart return policy options
6. Provide a guest account

1. Reduce checkout form fields

The Baymard Institute explains that most checkouts have around 3-5 steps which hasn’t changed much in recent years. But important for conversion is the “perceived checkout effort” which does not focus on the number of steps but rather the actions that customers have to take (e.g., filling out forms).

If one step includes filling out 15 form fields, it obviously feels a lot more complex than if you only had to fill out 10 form fields. Baymard Institute actually identified that most sites do not need more than 8 form fields (3 less than is currently used in most checkout processes). 

Additionally, form fields asking for discount codes or an additional form for a billing address can cause confusion. Some customers will even interrupt their purchase to search for discount codes (and might never return).  

Baymard Institute suggests to keep discount codes and billing address hidden behind short links or exclude them.

2. Provide the right payment options

Preferred payment options can make or break a checkout conversion which is why it’s important to know where you sell your products and to whom you sell them.

For example, in some countries, B2B businesses still prefer to pay on bill.

Additionally, whereas most American customers have no issue paying everything with credit card, European customers prefer digital wallets, local debit cards or other local payment options.

You can see a good overview of popular European payment methods here in our blog article.

If you cater to the European market, you also need to take into account that not all countries have the Euro as their main currency, so make sure to localize your pricing options, since some customers (11 %, according to a DHL study, PDF) actually jump ship otherwise.

3. Ensure a secure and trustworthy payment experience

Do not add additional fees after in later stages of the checkout. Transparent pricing is not only the best way to keep customers happy but it’s also a requirement in many European countries.

Although some merchants might think that customers are too far into the purchase decision once they’re in the payment phase, adding surprise fees this late without acknowledging them earlier can completely ruin any trust you’ve established and create instant cart abandonment.

Speaking of trust: Online customers who purchase items from other countries are incredibly scared of fraud. Especially your payment process therefore needs to be smooth, reliable and secure.

• Pick a payment provider that is certified to operate in Europe
• Make sure your checkout windows look and feel like they are part of your business and inform customers of any next steps (any strange-looking and unexpected pop-ups or payment windows might be perceived as a fraud attempt)
• Make sure all payment forms are easily understood, since error messages during payment can cause frustration and mistrust
• Provide secure payment options for one-time and recurring customers

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4. Provide free delivery options

Not every merchant can afford free deliveries and returns and big marketplaces as well as cheap retailers have created customer behaviors such as bracketing (e.g., ordering a lot of items with the intention of returning at least some of them) that ultimately harm merchants.

But free delivery is one of the main conversion drivers at the checkout. However, most importantly, customers want to have options. The DHL survey found that location, delivery time and even the delivery company can impact cart abandonments, so choosing the right combination of options can be tricky for merchants but also offer opportunities.

Offering free delivery can be achieved in different ways:

• A lot of merchants simply price their products to account for the delivery fees.
• Others set a minimum purchase price to reward customers with a free delivery (which can potentially also increase revenue but also could increase bracketing purchases).
• Provide differently priced delivery options (this also helps manage delivery speed expectations, since a fast delivery usually comes at a higher price)
• Offer free shipping as a perk of your membership program

By the way, if you deliver from outside the EU, make sure to consider custom charges and how they can affect purchase decisions. Some companies handle custom charges for their customers, others offer discounts to counter-balance additional fees.

5. Counter high return rates with smart return policy options

A study by the member organization ICSC discovered that online shoppers are three times more likely to return items than in-store customers (the number is even higher when it comes to clothing).

However, customers expect lenient return options (and free return). It’s therefore a high-wire act to make sure that return policies are not abused while also driving conversions.

Some possible solutions we’d suggest:

• Create return windows for a free return
• If you also have stationary stores, offer customers the option to return items in your stores (according to PayPal company Happy Returns (PDF), customers actually prefer this option)
• Combine the above suggestions to offer options, because customers love to be given a choice

6. Provide a guest account

According to an analysis of 50 top online shops by Makingcentsaddup (via retailtechnologyreview.com), only 48 % provide the option to checkout as a guest instead of registering for a full customer account.

Of those 48 %, only 32 % make sure that customers are aware of the option clearly and prominently, whereas 16 % tend to hide it in text links, don’t label it properly or place it below the customer account option.

Although registered customers can provide more insights and possibly more opportunities for a long-term revenue relationship, the Baymard Institute suggests that manipulating or even forcing customers into registering for a customer account when it comes to a one-time purchase actually decreases conversion rates since a full registration

• includes many more steps,
• disrupts the actual checkout process
• and forces customers to provide more information.

A valid solution would be to combine the guest account with the option of turning it into a customer account after the purchase. This way, you don’t interrupt the checkout process and don’t risk cart abandonment.

Boozt, one of our customers, actually found that their club membership rate increased after they removed sign-up options from their checkout process. This removed friction from the checkout process and put focus on the membership program, when customers could fully concentrate on it and were not busy with a purchase decision.

You still have plenty opportunities to present your membership programs or customer account registration on the confirmation page or in follow-up emails.

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