Why Your Shopify Store Is Losing Sales at Checkout (And How to Fix It)
Chris
Founder, Cold Strike Digital · LegendaryUSA.com operator
The Baymard Institute puts average checkout abandonment at 70.19%. That means for every 10 buyers who start your checkout, 7 leave without purchasing. Most of them aren't going to a competitor — they're getting hit with friction they weren't expecting and bailing.
We've audited hundreds of Shopify checkouts running our own store (LegendaryUSA.com) and working with clients. The same eight friction points show up in almost every store. Here's what they are and exactly how to fix them.
Forced account creation
Shopify's native checkout supports guest checkout by default — make sure it's enabled in Settings → Checkout → Customer accounts: set to 'Accounts are optional.' Forcing account creation before purchase is one of the fastest ways to kill conversion. According to Shopify's own checkout research, guest checkout reduces abandonment by 12–20% for first-time buyers.
Unexpected shipping costs at checkout
Shipping surprises at checkout are the #1 stated reason buyers abandon. Display shipping costs — or your free shipping threshold — on product pages and in the cart before checkout begins. If you offer free shipping over a threshold, show a progress bar in the cart: 'Add $12 more for free shipping.'
Too many form fields
Shopify's one-page checkout (Checkout Extensibility) is the current best-in-class setup. If you're still running multi-page checkout, audit your field requirements. Remove fields you don't actually need — every extra field is friction. Address autocomplete via Google Places API is built into Shopify's checkout and dramatically reduces form completion time.
No trust signals at the payment step
At the point of entering payment information, buyers need maximum reassurance. Add: SSL badge, accepted payment icons, money-back guarantee, and your return policy summary directly above the Place Order button. Shopify's checkout editor (in the Theme Editor) lets you add these without code.
Slow checkout page load
Use Google's PageSpeed Insights to test your checkout page specifically. Third-party apps that inject scripts into checkout are the most common cause of slowdowns. Audit your installed apps — many run scripts on every page including checkout even when not needed.
No express checkout options
Shop Pay, Apple Pay, and Google Pay reduce checkout to one or two taps for returning buyers. These accelerated checkout methods are built into Shopify Payments. Enable them in Settings → Payments. Stores that add Shop Pay typically see a 1.72x higher conversion rate for Shop Pay buyers versus regular checkout, per Shopify's own data.
Coupon code field visible with no code
A visible coupon code field creates checkout abandonment in buyers who don't have a code — they leave to search for one and often don't come back. Collapse the coupon field by default or replace it with a link ('Have a discount code? Click here'). This one change consistently lifts completion rates by 2–5%.
No order edit or quantity change in checkout
Buyers who realize they want to change an item mid-checkout will often abandon rather than go back. Add a clear link back to the cart from checkout, and consider Shopify's Order Editing apps that allow quantity adjustment without leaving the checkout flow.
After You Fix Checkout: Recover What Still Leaks
Even with an optimized checkout, some buyers will still abandon. That's where your abandoned cart email flow takes over. If you haven't built a proper Klaviyo abandoned cart sequence, read: How to Set Up Abandoned Cart Emails in Klaviyo.
For the broader product page issues that cause buyers to never reach checkout in the first place, see our Shopify CRO 10-Point Checklist.
What to Prioritize First
If you can only fix three things today: enable guest checkout (if it's not already), display shipping costs before checkout, and activate Shop Pay and Apple Pay. Those three changes alone will move your checkout completion rate measurably within the first two weeks.
Shopify's checkout settings documentation walks through the configuration options. The strategy of what to enable and why — that's what we bring.
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