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Checkout friction heatmap audit

Four weeks of session replay and heatmap analysis on a Shopify checkout path — the three drop-off points that mattered, the fixes we shipped, and the abandonment impact.

At a glance

  • Goal: Reduce cart abandonment
  • Duration: 4 weeks
  • Format: Case recap

Method

We sampled mobile and desktop sessions with rage clicks, dead clicks, and field-level abandonment. Heatmaps covered information, shipping, and payment steps; replays validated whether 'friction' was confusion, trust, or performance.

Top three drop-offs

  1. Shipping estimator buried below the fold on mobile — users bounced before seeing free-shipping thresholds.
  2. Guest checkout gated behind account prompts — unnecessary account creation on first purchase.
  3. Payment step layout shift from late-loading wallet buttons — mis-taps and exits on slower networks.

Fixes and outcome

We surfaced shipping reassurance earlier, defaulted to guest checkout, and reserved space for wallets. Cart abandonment fell over the following four weeks while payment success rate rose — without changing offer economics.

Audit checklist

  • Watch 20 failed checkouts before proposing UI changes.
  • Separate trust friction from performance friction in the backlog.
  • Re-measure abandonment by step, not only overall cart rate.

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