Score your checkout flow — each step costs conversions.
Audit your checkout
Pages from cart to confirm
Hidden until checkout
Apple Pay, Shop Pay, Google Pay
% who reach payment vs complete
Friction score
Friction score—/ 100
Estimated optimal CR
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Monthly recoverable revenue
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Annual recoverable
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Friction sources
Source
Impact
Fix
About this calculator
Checkout friction is the most-overlooked CRO opportunity in DTC. Operators obsess over PDP and cart-page optimization while shipping a 3-step checkout with required account creation that loses 30%+ of customers between cart and confirmation.
This calculator scores your checkout against 5 friction dimensions: number of steps, total form fields, account-creation requirement, hidden shipping costs, and availability of 1-click pay options. Each contributes to a friction score; high scores correlate strongly with abandonment.
The diagnostic insight: most checkout problems fix in days, not months. Removing required account creation, surfacing shipping costs in cart, enabling Apple Pay/Shop Pay — these are platform-level toggles, not engineering projects. Yet operators leave them off for years because no one looks at them.
Pair with the Cart Abandonment Revenue Calculator (sizes the recoverable revenue) and the Mobile vs Desktop CR Gap calculator (mobile checkout is where friction hurts most). Most stores can lift checkout CR 15-30% in a 2-week sprint focused on these specific dimensions.
Frequently asked questions
How much does each checkout step cost?
Each step in checkout costs ~5-10% of conversions. A 3-step checkout converts at ~70% of a 1-step checkout (Shop Pay style). Required account creation alone costs 25-40% of guest checkouts. Hidden shipping fees discovered at checkout cost 30-50% of orders.
What's the minimum checkout?
1 step: email + payment + shipping in a single form (Shop Pay, Apple Pay, etc). For new customers without saved info, 2 steps is acceptable: cart → single-page checkout. Anything 3+ steps loses conversions.
Should I require account creation?
No. Always offer guest checkout as default with optional account creation post-purchase ("save your details for next time"). Required account creation kills 25-40% of conversions for marginal future value.
Where do customers actually abandon?
Three big spots. (1) Shipping cost reveal — surprise costs are #1 abandonment cause. (2) Account creation requirement. (3) Payment method limitations (e.g., no PayPal/Apple Pay). Address these three before A/B testing button colors.
How do Shop Pay and Apple Pay help?
Hugely. Shop Pay's 1-tap checkout converts at 1.5-1.8× standard Shopify checkout. Apple Pay is similar. Adding both above-the-fold in checkout typically lifts mobile CR 15-25%. Both should be enabled and visible by default.