Cutting the extra cart-page step before checkout: +5.6% checkout rate
Test run byVisuallyTesting and CRO tool
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsBonafide Health tested a redirect that removed an extra cart-page step on the way to checkout, and checkout rate went up 5.6%.
More shoppers also answered its how-did-you-hear-about-us question. Visually suggested and ran the test for the women's health brand and published it as a Visually case study.
- Checkout rate: +5.6% with the shorter path.
- Attribution: a larger share of shoppers filled in the how-did-you-hear dropdown, so Bonafide didn't lose the data it wanted.
- Sample size, test length and statistical confidence were not shared.
The change
The variant cuts one of the two cart screens before checkout. Where the attribution dropdown moved isn't fully clear.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
Clicking checkout in the cart drawer sent shoppers to a separate cart page with a how-did-you-hear-about-us dropdown, and only then to checkout.
Variant
A redirect removed one of the two cart steps, so shoppers had one less screen before checkout. The source isn't clear about exactly where the attribution dropdown ended up.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Each extra screen before checkout is another chance to leave. Removing one helped more people get through.
- Going from a cart drawer to a second cart page can feel like repeating a step, which adds friction.
- With one cart screen instead of two, shoppers may have been more likely to notice the attribution question. This is our reading; the source doesn't say.
Caveats: The case study does not fully explain where the attribution dropdown moved. This comes from a testing vendor's own case study, and sample size, test length and significance were not shared.
Who ran it
Visually ran this test for Bonafide Health and published the results (Visually case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Visually →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we remove the extra cart page between the cart drawer and checkout, then more shoppers will reach checkout because there is one less step to get through.
- Primary metric
- Checkout rate (share of carts that reach checkout)
- Guardrails
- Attribution survey response rate
- Average order value
- Upsell or cross-sell revenue from the cart page
- Who should test it
- Stores that have both a cart drawer and a full cart page in the path to checkout. If your cart page carries upsells or info that shoppers rely on, watch order value closely.
Questions
Should I send shoppers from the cart drawer straight to checkout?
Cutting steps usually helps. Bonafide saw a 5.6% lift in checkout rate after removing one.
Check first that the step you remove isn't doing a job, like collecting data or showing upsells.
Will a shorter checkout path hurt my post-purchase survey data?
Not in this case: a larger share of Bonafide's shoppers answered the attribution question after the change.
Keep the question somewhere shoppers still see it, and track the response rate.
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