Experiments that improve checkout pages in retail

Four experiments that reduce distraction, increase trust, and help more visitors complete their purchase.

• WHO: E-commerce & CRO teams

• INDUSTRY: Retail

• IMPACTED PAGES: Cart page, checkout flow, mini-cart

Experiment 1: Removing distractions from the cart page

Hypothesis: If messaging is adjusted and elements unrelated to a visitor's purchase are removed from the cart page, focus will be dedicated to the transaction.

Image source: Optimizely

Results:

Takeaways:

1. Removing the banner promoting membership from the cart page was an effective tactic for keeping visitors focused on the transaction.
2. Merely adjusting copy did not have a meaningful impact on visitor behavior.
3. Removing the membership promo banner led to a significant decrease in new registrations.

Experiment 2: Displaying accepted payment methods at checkout

Hypothesis: If accepted credit card brands are prominently displayed at checkout, this will increase customer trust and result in higher conversions.

Image source: Optimizely

Results:

Takeaways:

1. Sometimes, experimentation uncovers learnings you have not previously been looking at.
2. Financial gains are not always found via conversion, also through cost savings and impacting LTV.

Experiment 3: Multi-armed bandit optimization across checkout

Hypothesis: If multi-armed bandit experiments are run across the checkout flow, more users will purchase paid greeting cards because the best-performing experience will be automatically prioritized.

Image source: Optimizely

Results:

Takeaways:

1. Tested greeting card pricing and flow changes, leading to a 24% increase in users selecting a paid card.
2. Using sequential statistics with bandit allocation ensured traffic was routed to winning variants without manual intervention.
3. Optimized checkout flow raised average order value by 8.4%, showing that small add-on nudges can drive significant revenue impact.

Experiment 4: Improving mini-cart functionality

Hypothesis: By adding a delete icon and functionality to the mini-cart flyout, more users will initiate checkout directly from the mini-cart, reducing the number of steps to convert.

Image source: Optimizely

Results:

*For visitors who engaged with the mini-cart

Takeaways:

1. Implementing the delete functionality along with other enhancements proved to be an effective method in getting more users to checkout directly from the mini-cart.
2. For users who engaged with the mini-cart, we saw a significantly positive result across numerous metrics for Variation 1 above the Control.
3. Adding the delete icon and functionality alone, however, did not prove to be a winning experience, as observed by Variation 2.

The cart is where good sessions go to die

Every distraction, every confusing step, every missing signal is a purchase that does not happen. And you rarely find out why. The Experimentation Ideation Agent surfaces what to test on your checkout flow, and the Experiment Summary Agenttells you what the results mean, so every test teaches the next one.

When tests connect instead of sitting in isolation, that is when learning compounds in an experimentation program.

See experience optimization in motion