Case Studies5 min read24 June 2024

How We Redesigned Checkout and Increased Revenue by 25%

Sarah Patel

CRO Specialist

By rebuilding a fashion brand's Shopify Plus checkout with Checkout Extensibility, we reduced drop-off and added £180k in annual revenue without increasing traffic.

A womenswear brand with a strong organic following was converting at 1.9% site-wide — reasonable, but their checkout abandonment rate told a different story. Nearly 72% of customers who reached the checkout information page were not completing their purchase. The problem wasn't awareness or intent — it was the checkout itself.

Diagnosing the Abandonment

Before touching a single line of code, we ran a structured audit: session recordings, heatmaps, exit surveys, and a Hotjar poll served on the checkout page asking a single question — 'What's stopping you from completing your order?' The answers were illuminating.

38% cited unexpected shipping costs appearing at payment step
22% said they couldn't find their preferred payment method quickly enough
17% reported confusion about the returns policy
14% said the checkout felt untrustworthy compared to the rest of the site

The Rebuild

Using Shopify Plus's Checkout Extensibility (available for Plus merchants since late 2023), we rebuilt the checkout experience from the ground up — without touching the underlying Liquid checkout template, ensuring upgrade compatibility.

Shipping Transparency

We added a checkout UI extension in the cart that showed the exact shipping cost and estimated delivery date before the customer entered their details. A 'free shipping progress bar' showing proximity to the £75 free shipping threshold drove a measurable increase in AOV as a side benefit.

Payment Method Visibility

We surfaced Klarna, PayPal, and Apple Pay icons prominently on the cart drawer and checkout header — not buried at the payment step. Klarna's instalment messaging was added to product pages and the cart, reducing the perceived cost of higher-ticket items.

Trust Signals in Checkout

Using checkout UI extensions, we added a collapsible returns policy summary, a Trustpilot star rating widget, and a security badge block. These additions matched the aesthetic of the storefront precisely, resolving the 'feels untrustworthy' feedback.

Key insightCheckout completion rate moved from 28% to 49% within 45 days. On their monthly order volume, that translated to an additional £15,000 in revenue per month.