E-commerce · Guide· 4 min read
Why do customers add something to their basket, then leave before paying?
Run these five checks on your phone to find avoidable obstacles in your Shopify checkout.
This article contains affiliate links. If you choose a tool through one of them, Lioless may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support more practical, independent Lioless guides. Recommendations are based on usefulness, not commission.
Test The Journey Before Changing It
Start with one ordinary order and follow it from basket to payment. Record anything unclear, unavailable or unnecessarily demanding.
Why This Matters
A customer may be comparing prices or simply not ready to buy. But an unexpected delivery charge, compulsory login or missing shipping option gives them another reason to stop.
You can investigate these issues without a checkout rebuild. The checks below focus on standard settings and clear information, not Shopify Plus-only customisation.
Five Frictions To Check
1. Delivery Costs Arrive Too Late
Make your delivery price or calculation method easy to find before checkout. If you offer a free-delivery threshold, explain what qualifies and ensure the checkout matches.
Check Shipping and delivery settings against a normal basket and one near the threshold. Do not promise a delivery date your fulfilment process cannot support.
2. Customers Must Sign In
In Settings → Checkout, check whether account sign-in is required. For an ordinary consumer shop, consider allowing checkout without compulsory sign-in unless there is a clear business reason.
Shopify says required sign-in also prevents accelerated checkout options appearing in the cart. B2B and restricted purchasing journeys need separate consideration.
3. The Form Asks For Too Much
Review Shopify’s checkout form options. Make the company field optional or remove it when irrelevant; keep address line 2 optional so customers can enter flat details when needed.
Only require a shipping phone number when your carrier or payment provider needs it. Keep operational requirements intact rather than removing fields simply to shorten the form.
4. A Valid Address Gets No Delivery Option
Test an address you genuinely serve. Check that the product belongs to the right shipping setup and that its price or weight falls within an available rate.
Also check mixed baskets. Rates from different shipping profiles can combine, so two individually correct products may produce an unexpected delivery charge together.
5. Payment Choices Or Instructions Cause Confusion
Try standard checkout and an available express payment route on a compatible device. Express buttons can bypass the cart, so essential buying information should not exist only there.
Check that the total, selected delivery option and next action are clear. Do not assume every shopper sees the same wallet buttons.
Run The Mobile Checkout Test
Basket → Contact details → Delivery → Payment
At each step, ask: is the next action clear, and does the information match what the customer was promised?
Use one product, a mixed basket and an address you serve. Capture your own screenshots of problems, keeping customer and payment information out of them.
0 of 5 checks completed.
Test Payments Carefully
Follow Shopify’s test-order instructions before testing a transaction. Payment test mode prevents customers placing live orders; arrange the test appropriately and restore normal payments afterwards.
These checks cannot diagnose every abandonment or guarantee more sales. Complex checkout apps and plan-specific features need a separate review.
Considering a new store? Explore Shopify through Lioless (affiliate link). Check ongoing costs first; fixing an existing journey does not require moving platforms.
Fix One Obstacle, Then Retest
Choose the clearest fault, make one change and repeat the same journey. Record what improved before moving to the next issue.
Run My Checkout Test ↑
