Order overview in checkout step 2: -25% cart abandonment, +12% sales
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsAdding an order overview to the second checkout step, along with other changes, cut cart abandonment by 25% and lifted sales by 12%.
ReplaceDirect, an online seller of laptop parts and batteries, ran this test itself, and it was published as a VWO case study.
Several changes shipped together, so the result belongs to the whole redesign, not the order overview alone.
- Cart abandonment: down 25% versus the original step. Fewer shoppers left once they reached the details form.
- Sales: up 12% during the test, which the case study links to the drop in abandonment.
- After all traffic moved to the new page, ReplaceDirect reported the sales lift at 14%. This is a post-rollout figure, not a split-test result.
- The case study calls the result significant but does not share sample size, duration or confidence level.
The change
The variant adds an order overview, step-specific benefits and a shorter form.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
Checkout step 2, where shoppers enter personal details and a shipping address, had no summary of the order. It listed general store benefits next to the form.
Variant
The same step added an order overview showing the products, total cost and delivery date. The benefits were swapped for ones that fit this step, the layout was cleaned up and non-essential form fields were removed.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Seeing the products, total and delivery date while typing an address may reassure shoppers that nothing unexpected will be added.
- Benefits that match the step, rather than general ones, may answer the doubts people have right at that moment.
- Fewer form fields mean less typing, which usually helps completion, especially on long checkouts.
- Because these changes were bundled, it is not possible to say which one did most of the work.
Caveats: Several changes were bundled into one variant, so no single element can take credit. Sample size, test length and confidence level were not shared, and the 14% figure comes from after the full rollout.
Who ran it
ReplaceDirect ran this test for ReplaceDirect 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 ReplaceDirect →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we show an order overview with products, total cost and delivery date on the address step of checkout, then fewer shoppers will abandon because they can confirm the order before committing.
- Primary metric
- Checkout completion rate (orders per visitor reaching the address step)
- Guardrails
- Average order value
- Checkout page load time
- Form error rate
- Who should test it
- Stores with multi-step checkouts where the order summary disappears after the cart step. It is less likely to help on one-page checkouts that already show the order next to the form.
Questions
Should checkout show an order summary on every step?
In this test, adding one to the address step went with a 25% drop in abandonment.
Showing what is in the order and what it costs helps shoppers confirm they are buying the right thing.
Does removing checkout form fields increase conversions?
Often, yes, because each field adds effort. Here field removal was bundled with other changes, so its own effect is unknown.
What should an order overview in checkout include?
ReplaceDirect showed the products, the total cost and the delivery date.
Those three answer the most common questions shoppers have before paying.
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