Creating A Seamless Checkout Process

Slow websites kill conversions. Not long ago, a brand came to us struggling. Their traffic was strong, but sales were stagnant. Customers were abandoning their carts, bounce rates were high, and revenue wasn’t where it should be. The culprit? A slow-loading website. Every extra second it took for their pages to load was costing them potential sales. The reality is that online shoppers have little patience. Studies show that even a 1-second delay can cause a 7% drop in conversions. If your checkout process lags, customers will leave. If your product pages take too long to load, they’ll go to a competitor. The good news? Speed optimization isn’t just about fixing a slow site—it’s about unlocking higher conversions and better user experience. Here’s how to do it: - Compress images and optimize code to reduce load times - Invest in high-performance hosting and implement proper caching - Simplify your UX to ensure a seamless, fast checkout experience This particular brand took action, and within weeks, their site speed improved, bounce rates dropped, and sales went up. If your ecommerce store is slow, so is your revenue growth. Speed it up before your customers leave for good. Need help optimizing your website? Let’s talk. AbsoluteWeb.com

What CR doesn’t tell you But 7 components do You fixed the Conversion Rate, but nothing changed. Because CR is just the tip of the iceberg. It doesn’t explain the customers' journey. And definitely not the drop-offs. With Nick Valiotti, PhD we mapped 7 elements of conversion that reveal where your funnel actually leaks. That's what's under the water: 1/ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗲 = Product page views / Sessions Shows if users are landing on high-interest products or generic pages. 2/ 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝘁-𝘁𝗼-𝗩𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗲 = Add to carts / Product views Reveals product appeal + pricing clarity. 3/ 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 → 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 = Checkout starts / Carts opened Do people commit after opening the cart? 4/ 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱 → 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 = Purchases / Shipping method selected Highlights issues with delivery cost, speed, or trust. 5/ 𝗣𝗮𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱 → 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 = Purchases / Payment method selected Do people quit after choosing how to pay? 6/ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗲 → 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 = Purchases / Promo code applied Reveals whether discounts drive actual commitment. 7/ 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲-𝘁𝗼-𝗩𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗲 = Purchases / Product views The real conversion beyond CR. These metrics tell you why CR changed. Not just that it did. 🤓 Save this if you want to audit your funnel like a pro

When sales start slipping, discounting is the easiest lever to pull. It's also the most expensive. It doesn’t just eat into your margins. It trains your customers to never pay full price. Here's the secret many brands miss → customers aren't necessarily looking for the lowest price. They're looking for a great return on the dollars they spend. They want VALUE. At Obvi, we built our entire checkout experience around this insight. Instead of leaning on discounts to get that first order, we help customers envision the transformation their purchase will create. And then we stack value at every step of checkout. Here's the 3 factor framework that works for us → 1. We showcase real outcomes, not random reviews. When someone adds a fat burner to their cart, they see stories like "Started in January, down 20 lbs by April." They immediately picture their own journey, not just another transaction. 2. We demonstrate how products work together. Our upsells aren't random. We show data: "92% of customers who hit their goals used these two products together." Each addition builds toward their ultimate goal. 3. Then we layer in smart incentives. Free shipping kicks in at a two-month supply because that's when transformation really begins. Our volume discounts align with typical success timelines. Even our bonus products are chosen to enhance results, not just pad orders. The whole checkout flow builds confidence. Each step reinforces they're investing in real change - from our FDA certifications to manufacturing standards to our guarantees. By the time they hit "purchase," they're not thinking about price. They're thinking about results and the investment they are making in themselves. All of this was built and tested using AfterSell by Rokt, and the results speak for themselves. Our average order value is up, our customers are happier, and we're not sacrificing our margins to drive sales. The key lesson? Help customers see the return on their investment, and they'll spend more while feeling better about it. That's how you drive sales without destroying your margins. #proudpartner

🛒 You can’t track purchase intent by tracking ATCs. 𝟭. “𝗔𝗧𝗖” 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 “𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿”. It’s a placeholder, not a promise. 𝟮. 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗣𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁. It’s a tool for collecting, not committing. 𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝘀 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲. It helps them compare…not decide. 𝟰. 𝗡𝗼 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 = 𝗻𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. Clicking isn’t buying. It costs nothing to put something in an online cart. 𝟱. 𝗔𝗧𝗖𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆. Interest? Yes. Intent? Not even close. If you really want to track intent, do this instead: ✅ 1. Track high-friction actions Not all clicks are equal. Look for: • Initiate Checkout • Payment Info Entered • Return Visitor → PDP → Checkout • Product added after reading reviews These behaviors show someone is moving past curiosity into commitment. ✅ 2. Analyze sequence, not single actions One ATC means nothing. But: 𝘈𝘛𝘊 → 𝘝𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺 → 𝘈𝘥𝘥 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴? Now we’re talkin’ intent. Watch the flow, not the isolated click. ✅ 3. Measure time spent on key friction points If someone lingers on: • Product comparisons • Return policy pages • Size charts or FAQs They’re mentally preparing to convert. They’re not just browsing at that point, they’re weighing the trade-offs. ✅ 4. Look for repeat product interactions If someone revisits the same PDP 2–3 times in a week, that’s real consideration. Bonus points if they come back from an email or ad reminder. ✅ 5. Use survey overlays or post-exit polls Ask simple, direct questions like: “Are you planning to buy today?” “What’s stopping you from checking out?” Self-reported “logic” + behavioral data = gold. 𝘛𝘓𝘋𝘙: 𝘈𝘛𝘊 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵-𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘺. 𝘛𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘮.

I said this in a webinar recently: The name of the game in DTC is  “whoever can afford the highest CAC will survive.” But to do that, you need a high AOV, a sticky subscription program, or a lot of cash in the bank. We went with focusing on increasing order value. Here are 4 of my favorite ways we’ve found to ⬆️AOV so far… 1. Upsell "more of the same" - Instead of upselling something new, we offer more of the same product the customer with a volume discount. This approach has increased our take rate SIGNIFICANTLY without hurting conversion. Why it works: The customer is already invested in the product - they’ve learned about it through ads, LPs, etc. So we just tap into their existing commitment, making the offer more enticing. 2. Urgency & Scarcity During the purchase flow, we highlight messages like "This product sells out fast" or "For best results, use for 8–12 weeks.” You can also try things like countdown timers and “low inventory” messaging to really drive this home. Why it works: Customers at the bottom of the funnel can be motivated by FOMO —they don’t want to miss out on getting the deal you’re offering, especially one they perceive as beneficial. If a product might sell out soon or if buying more now means they won’t run out later, they’re more likely to purchase right away or more of it. 3. Sequential Offers After someone buys from us, our post-purchase funnel begins immediately with our volume discount upsell. If they skip that, Obvi presents them our cross-sell and down-sell offers in a sequential funnel: First → Volume/bulk discount upsell Second → Complementary product offer Third → Smaller accessory or branded gear Why it works: This structured approach helps avoid overwhelming the customer with too many offers at once. Each step is designed to maximize potential revenue (highest-performing upsell shown first) while maintaining a logical flow. 4. Maximize the Thank You Page This is a simple one that a lot of brands miss.  Your thank you page has a bunch of valuable real estate that every one of your buyers look at it. At Obvi, we maximize this with post-purchase surveys and network offers. Network offers are a complete no-brainer for us. Big brands like Nike and Hulu pay to present offers to our customers on our Thank You page. If a customer opts in, we get some $. Why it works: It’s a win-win-win. The customer gets a good deal, the big brand gets another subscriber, and the seller gets incremental profit. For Obvi, it has resulted in about +$0.45 more per transaction so far. Post-purchase surveys won’t directly add $ to your bottom line, but they give you valuable insights about customer behavior and perceptions. Not to mention marketing attribution. That’s it, you know our ⬆️AOV secrets. BTW, AfterSell by Rokt is the tool we’ve used to test and execute these tactics. If you’re a Shopify brand looking to grow your AOV without hurting your conversion rate, they can help you get there. 

When AI agents start shopping for us, will your checkout make the cut? Very soon, your assistant will book travel, restock groceries, and tweak subscriptions on its own. Agents don’t care about brands. They optimize a simple scoring function: probability of success × speed × total cost (price, fees, fraud/friction, returns risk). If your flow underperforms, they’ll route to someone else, automatically and forever. What agents will measure: ⚡ Speed: sub‑second pages, low API latency, reliable inventory/tax/shipping quotes. 🔒 Trust: strong auth without captchas, passkeys/SPC, consistent identity for card‑on‑file.  💳 Payment performance: high approval rates, smart retries, 3DS that’s mostly frictionless, network tokens and wallets. 🧠 Machine readability: structured product/offer data and a clean checkout API with idempotency and webhooks. 🔁 Aftercare: predictable refunds, cancellations, and status updates via API. Translation: If an agent tries two travel sites and one is 2× faster with fewer payment failures, it will learn to prefer that route next time. The “winner” keeps compounding—everyone else gets screened out. Don’t get screened out. Make your checkout agent‑ready now: 👉 Make offers machine‑readable. 👉 Expose a minimal “quote → pay → confirm” API. 👉 Remove human-only blockers (captchas) from trusted agent flows. 👉 Orchestrate payments for speed and approvals, not just cost. 👉 Publish structured returns, delivery promises, and fees. In the agent era, the easiest place to buy wins.

Abandon cart is only 1/7 of the story. Most brands only hit "send" after an empty cart, without realizing there are 𝗦𝗜𝗫 other exit points are waving a white flag for help. 1. 𝗦𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗔𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 They bounced from the home page. Use a soft re-invite - "Still exploring? Here's what people love most on day one." 2. 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 They browsed a category but never drilled deeper. Spotlight a best-seller from that collection and add social proof. 3. 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗔𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 They typed a query and left. Fire a message that echoes the exact term ("Looking for red linen?") and suggest a shortcut to results. 4. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗕𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘀𝗲 𝗔𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 They lingered on a product page. Send a quick FAQ or user photo to erase last-mile doubts. 5. 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗔𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 Items in cart, but life got loud. A gentle nudge plus urgency ("Inventory is low") wins the easy saves. 6. 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗔𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 They reached the billing screen. Address friction directly-shipping, payment methods, guest checkout, whatever the data shows. 7. 𝗣𝗮𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗔𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 Card entered, transaction failed or timed out. Offer alternative payment options or a one-click resume link. Each of these moments carries different intent signals-search terms, dwell time, SKUs, even error codes. Feed that context into your flows and the message feels helpful, not pushy. Remember: most shoppers aren't saying no. They're saying 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸. Meet them exactly where they paused, and "later" turns into "order confirmed."

Your most returned product can teach you the most. Every return tells you something. But a lot of the time, we don’t pay attention. Here’s what to do: Step 1: Find the product with the highest return rate. Step 2: Read through the reasons people give for returning it. Step 3: Make simple content that helps stop those problems before they happen. Some examples: • If people say it’s “too small” → Add a size guide video on the product page and send it again after they buy. • If they say “doesn’t match the photo” → Show real photos from real customers, in natural lighting. • If they say “didn’t know how to use it” → Send a quick how to guide when the product ships. You probably don’t need to change the product itself. You just need to set better expectations.

The most successful ecom checkouts have only 8 form fields, max. Yet the industry average? A whopping 14.88 fields. Your customers are mentally exhausted before they even reach your checkout page. They've already made dozens of micro-decisions just to select your product. Google's Retail UX research shows 27% of users abandon orders due to "too long/complicated checkout processes." Every unnecessary dropdown, checkbox, and text field creates another opportunity for your customers to give up. We've identified three form optimizations that consistently boost conversions: ↳ Use a single "Full Name" field instead of separate first/last name fields ↳ Default "Billing Address = Shipping Address" and hide it unless changed ↳ Eliminate optional fields entirely... if you don't absolutely need the data, don't ask for it Every extra form field costs you conversions. And according to that Google report, the best performing sites have slashed their checkout forms by 56%. The psychology is simple: every decision depletes your customer's mental energy. By the time they reach payment, their decision tank is running on empty. Are you sabotaging conversions by asking for information you don't actually need?

This week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Sukita Tapadia, CMO at The Pant Project—and it felt like sitting in a masterclass on tactical marketing. 30–40% jump in add-to-carts. 50% improvement in conversion rate. Organic traffic up after 18 months of plateau. All from two obsessions: page speed and buyer psychology. Every morning, her team watches session recordings using tools like Hotjar and Clarity. They study user stalls, exit points, and scroll depth—then ship micro-fixes. They found users getting distracted, so they simplified the website to reduce decision fatigue, especially for male shoppers. Their strategy going ahead: Fewer categories. Cleaner UI/UX. Focus on page speed (brought to under 2.5 seconds) That alone pushed conversions to a 50% increase for ready-to-wear. This isn’t gut-feel marketing. It’s structured. Iterative. Data-obsessed. 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀: 🔷Page speed isn’t just a tech metric. It directly impacts revenue. After bringing load times below 2.5 seconds, conversion rates increased by 50%.  🔷Assuming your customers have heard enough of you is a mistake. There is so much stuff on the internet that it is easy for your message to get lost. By surrounding the user with consistent, repeated messaging, they made The Pant Project the default choice for customers.  🔷  New customers don’t give you the benefit of the doubt. Sukita applies “trust transfer” to remove that hesitation. Every touchpoint—ads, testimonials, product quality, influencer content—builds trust so that a new customer feels safe making the switch. 🎙 This is just a preview. The full episode drops Friday—watch out for it.