CROPlaybook
The Checkout Friction Audit: Find What Is Costing You Sales
A structured way to walk your own checkout, score every point of friction, and prioritise the fixes that recover the most revenue.
Spot Friction
Score It
Fix Checkout
Recover Revenue
Most stores obsess over traffic and ignore the last 30 seconds of the journey. A checkout friction audit is the cheapest CRO work you can do: no tools, no budget, just one focused hour walking your own funnel like a first-time buyer.
1Map the Whole Path
Friction compounds. A tiny hesitation at each step adds up to a closed tab. Write down every screen between product and confirmation.
- 01ProductAdd to cart
- 02CartReview + edit
- 03CheckoutInfo + payment
- 04ConfirmationThank you
2Walk It on a Phone, on Data
- 1
Use a real phone on cellular
Not desktop, not wifi. Most abandonment happens on mobile data.
- 2
Buy something for real
Go all the way to a completed order. Refund it after.
- 3
Narrate out loud
Every time you pause, squint, or reach for information you do not have - that is friction. Note it.
- 4
Repeat as a guest
No saved address, no autofill. That is your hardest-working new customer.
If you hesitate for even half a second, a real customer hesitates longer - and some of them leave. Every pause is a line item.
3Score Each Friction Point
Rate every issue you found on impact and effort, then sort. Fix high-impact / low-effort first.
| Friction point | Impact | Effort | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| No express payment (Shop Pay / Apple Pay) | High | Low | Do now |
| Surprise shipping cost at final step | High | Medium | Do now |
| Coupon field too prominent | Medium | Low | Next |
| Forced account creation | High | Low | Do now |
| Slow payment page load | Medium | High | Plan |
4The Fixes That Show Up Every Time
Enable express checkout
Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay above the fold in cart and checkout.
Show shipping early
Estimate cost and date in the cart, before the customer commits.
Guest checkout default
Offer an account after purchase, never before.
Trust near payment
Return policy, secure-payment note, and support contact by the pay button.
Do not fix everything at once
Ship changes in small batches so you can tell which one moved the number.
5Measure the Recovery
Track cart-to-checkout and checkout-to-purchase rates weekly. A friction audit that does not change those numbers was a list, not a fix.
Removing forced signup and adding Shop Pay took an afternoon and lifted checkout completion by 11%.— Founder, home goods store
FAQ
Once a quarter, and always after a theme update, a new checkout app, or a payment provider change.
Plenty: express payments, cart page UX, shipping presentation, trust content, and (on Plus) checkout extensions.
They help, but the manual walk-through finds most issues for free. Add tools once you have exhausted the obvious.
Want us to audit your checkout?
We run friction audits and ship the fixes for Shopify stores.
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