Bench 04: Cart and checkout
The last steps of the funnel, where small frictions cost real orders. Carts that reassure, checkouts that stay out of the way.
The bench guide
Working guides on this bench
Cart and checkout Checkout Forms: Fields, Order and Errors That Cost Orders Checkout forms lose orders field by field: the unnecessary question, the unforgiving format, the error that clears the page. This guide covers the field audit, the human order, and error handling that helps buyers finish. Cart and checkout Delivery Options and Costs, Stated Before Checkout Delivery choices should be understandable before the buyer reaches them: what the options are, what each costs, and when each arrives. This guide covers naming options plainly, defaulting honestly and keeping promises consistent. Cart and checkout Extra Costs Shown Too Late: The Abandonment You Cause Yourself Delivery charges, handling fees and mandatory extras revealed at checkout undo a decision the buyer had already made. This guide covers stating costs at the first price moment, handling variable costs honestly, and auditing the full journey for late reveals. Cart and checkout Guest Checkout and the Account Wall Problem Requiring an account before a first purchase asks a stranger to commit to a relationship before the first transaction has earned it. This guide covers guest checkout as the default, account offers after purchase, and the narrow exceptions. Cart and checkout Mobile Checkout: One Thumb, No Surprises Mobile checkout is checkout under the hardest conditions: one hand, interruptions, variable signal, and a small screen that hides context. This guide covers the layout, input and recovery disciplines that let a buyer finish anyway. Cart and checkout Payment Options That Match How Your Buyers Pay A checkout can only be completed with a payment method the buyer actually has and trusts. This guide covers reading your buyers' real payment habits, presenting options clearly, and handling payment failure without losing the order. Cart and checkout Progress, Steps and Expectations Inside Checkout Buyers complete checkouts they can predict: how many steps, what each step needs, what it costs in total and what happens after payment. This guide covers progress indicators that tell the truth and expectation setting at each step. Cart and checkout Recovering Abandoned Carts Without Training Buyers to Wait Recovery messages can rescue the genuinely interrupted buyer, or they can teach every buyer that abandoning a cart earns a discount. This guide covers the honest version: timely reminders, unchanged prices, and strict limits. Cart and checkout The Cart Page: Quiet Confirmation, Not a Second Shop The cart page works when it confirms the buyer's choices, states the full cost early, and hands over to checkout without reopening the whole shopping decision. This guide covers its layout, its one legitimate selling role, and what to remove. Cart and checkout The Discount Code Box: Help, Harm and the Middle Way The empty discount code box sends buyers hunting the web for a code, and some never come back. Removing it entirely strands buyers who legitimately hold one. This guide sets out the middle way: quiet placement, applied discounts shown clearly, and codes that apply themselves. Cart and checkout Why Carts Are Abandoned: The Causes a Small Store Can Fix Cart abandonment has many causes, and only some belong to the store. This guide separates the loss you cannot control - browsing, comparison, life interrupting - from the loss you cause, and orders the fixable causes by how cheaply they are removed.