Clarifying guest checkout at GANNI: inconclusive
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsGANNI tested ways to make it clearer that shoppers could check out as guests, and the first round of tests was inconclusive.
The fashion brand ran the tests itself, and they were published as a VWO case study.
The team then moved on to a different fix, merging the email and details steps, which did win.
- Conversions: inconclusive. The first round showed no clear winner.
- No numbers, sample size or duration were shared for this round.
- The learning fed a follow-up test that combined the email and details steps into one, which raised conversions.
The change
The variant adds a clear note that guest checkout is allowed; the email step stays.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
Shoppers had to enter an email address before they could reach the checkout page. GANNI believed many read this as a sign that guest checkout wasn't possible, and left.
Variant
The first-round variants added clearer signals that guest checkout was available. The case study doesn't describe the exact designs.
Why it likely came out this way
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Telling people guest checkout exists may not help if the extra email step is still in the way. The friction was the step itself, not the wording.
- Shoppers who reach checkout may skim past explanatory text and react to the form they see.
- The changes may have been too subtle to move behavior enough to show up in the data.
Caveats: GANNI shared no numbers, sample size or duration for this round, and the variant designs aren't described. Treat it as a directional learning, not a measured result.
Who ran it
GANNI ran this test for GANNI and published the results (VWO case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on GANNI →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we make it clear that guest checkout is allowed, then fewer shoppers will abandon at the email step, because they will stop assuming they must create an account.
- Primary metric
- Checkout completion rate
- Guardrails
- Drop-off at the email step
- Account sign-up rate
- Revenue per visitor
- Who should test it
- Stores that ask for an email before checkout and see heavy drop-off there. If your flow already looks guest-friendly, removing the extra step is probably the better test.
Questions
Does showing a guest checkout option reduce cart abandonment?
Often, but not always. GANNI's attempts to clarify guest checkout were inconclusive, while removing the extra step later worked.
Why would asking for an email first hurt checkout?
Shoppers may assume they need an account and leave.
It also adds a screen before they see the checkout form.
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