# Unnecessary checkout steps removed: +29% conversion

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Checkout (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Checkout steps, fields & flow
- Test run by: [MECLABS](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/meclabs/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://marketingexperiments.com/e-commerce-marketing/quick-cart-changes
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/gap-meclabs-fitness-checkout-steps-removed/

Removing unnecessary steps from a fitness company's checkout lifted conversion by 29%. MECLABS ran the test and presented it in a web clinic on shopping cart optimization, published on MarketingExperiments. The recap does not say which steps were cut.

## Result

**+29% conversion**

- Conversion: +29% against the original checkout.
- The recap reports only this headline figure. No sample size, duration or confidence level is given.

## Control

The original checkout made shoppers go through steps that were not needed to complete the order.

## Variant

The same checkout with the unnecessary steps taken out, so shoppers reached the end of the order sooner.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Every extra step is another point where a shopper can leave, so fewer steps likely meant fewer drop-offs.
- Shoppers in checkout are already motivated. Getting out of their way may matter more than persuading them further.
- MECLABS framed simple checkouts as common knowledge that many stores still don't apply, which suggests the original had obvious friction to remove.

## Caveats

Old data: MECLABS presented this test in a December 2012 web clinic, and the written recap gives only the headline number. Sample size, duration and confidence are not shared. We don't know which steps were removed.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we remove checkout steps that are not needed to place the order, then more shoppers will complete checkout because there are fewer points to drop off.
- Primary metric: Checkout completion rate (orders / checkout starts)
- Guardrail: Average order value
- Guardrail: Order errors or failed payments
- Guardrail: Opt-in rate for any data you stop collecting
- Who should test it: Stores whose checkout has extra pages, account steps or optional screens. If your checkout is already a short one-page flow, there may be little left to cut.

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Credit: MECLABS ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/gap-meclabs-fitness-checkout-steps-removed/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.