Dropping the email field from checkout: +5.8% checkout rate
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsRemoving the email field from PayU's hosted payment checkout, and asking only for a phone number, raised checkout completion by 5.8%.
PayU ran the test itself, and it was published as a VWO case study. The result was reported as statistically significant.
- Checkout completion: +5.8%, reported as statistically significant.
- The email field was dropped for good after the test.
- No sample size or duration was shared.
The change
The email field is removed, leaving phone number as the only contact field.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The checkout page asked customers for both an email address and a phone number before paying.
Variant
The email field was removed, so customers only entered a phone number.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Form analytics showed that asking for both email and phone caused drop-offs at that step.
- Many of PayU's customers in India had a phone number but no email address, which PayU later confirmed by contacting customers.
- Local rules required a receipt to be sent through only one channel, so the second field added effort without being needed.
Caveats: This is a payment gateway's hosted checkout used by many merchants, not a sign-up flow. The finding depends on an audience where many people lack email, so it may not travel to other markets.
Who ran it
PayU ran this test 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 PayU →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we ask for one contact field instead of two at checkout, then more customers will complete payment because there is less to fill in and fewer people get stuck.
- Primary metric
- Checkout completion rate
- Guardrails
- Receipt delivery success
- Failed or disputed payments
- Customer support contacts
- Who should test it
- Payment, fintech and SaaS products whose checkout asks for both email and phone, especially in mobile-first markets. It probably won't help if you need email for account access, invoices or product delivery.
Questions
Does removing form fields increase checkout conversion?
Often, if the field isn't needed. PayU saw a 5.8% lift by dropping email when a phone number was enough to send the receipt.
Should checkout ask for email or phone?
It depends on your customers. In PayU's market many people had a phone but no email, so phone alone worked better.
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