A checkout that doesn't lose customers: 7 rules for a shorter path to payment

1. Don't force customers to create an account

Registration before purchase is the most expensive form in e-commerce. A customer who wanted to buy a hoodie is suddenly inventing a password with a capital letter and a special character, and then hunting for the activation email in the spam folder.

Sell to guests. Offer an account after payment, in one click ("Set a password and track your order"). A customer whose parcel is already on its way creates an account more willingly than one you keep standing at the door.

2. BLIK first, not buried in a dropdown

In Poland BLIK - a six-digit code generated in the banking app - is not just one of the payment methods; for a large share of customers it is the method. Six digits, a confirmation in the app, done. No typing in a card number, no CVV, no looking for a wallet.

If BLIK is hidden under "other payment methods" in your store, you are forcing the fastest checkout path to pretend it is niche. Show it as the first, default option - and keep cards and transfers next to it for those who want them.

3. Every form field has to justify itself

Go through your checkout line by line and ask one question about every field: what happens if this field isn't there?

• Phone number - the courier will call before delivery. It stays.
• Company name on a private order - nothing. Out.
• Date of birth - really? Out.
• Middle name, a correspondence address "if different" - hide it behind a checkbox, don't show it by default.

You can collect marketing data later, once the customer is happy with the purchase. At checkout, collect only what the parcel cannot arrive without.

4. Show the full amount straight away

The most frustrating moment of online shopping is when a €149 cart turns into €172 on the last screen because shipping was added. The customer feels cheated - even if the shipping cost was fair and stated in the terms.

Show the delivery cost before the customer enters checkout: in the cart, on the product page, in a "€30 away from free delivery" bar. A surprise at the end of the path always costs more than information at its start.

5. Don't send the customer out of your store sooner than you must

Every exit from your store - to another page, with a different logo, a different look and a loading screen - is the moment the customer remembers they are on the internet and have four other tabs open.

The cart, the details, the choice of delivery and payment method should all happen in your store, in your colours. And if the customer confirms the payment itself on the provider's page - as with PayU or Przelewy24 - they should land straight on the method they already chose, not on yet another list of every method. A customer who clicked BLIK should see a field for six digits, not a second choice. The less the customer feels they are "leaving", the less often they actually leave.

6. Write validation errors like a human

"Invalid data format in field 3" is a message written for a developer, not a customer. "Your phone number should have 9 digits - you entered 8" says exactly what to fix.

And show the error next to the field, not in a red bar at the top of the page you have to scroll up to. On a phone that bar is often off the screen altogether.

7. Test it on a phone, with a weak signal

Most traffic in Polish e-commerce comes from phones. And yet checkouts are designed on a 27-inch monitor, in an office, on fibre.

Run a test: take your phone, step out of Wi-Fi range and buy something in your own store. Check whether the fields are microscopic, whether the numeric keyboard pops up for the phone number, whether the "Pay" button hides under the browser bar. Fifteen minutes that will tell you more than an hour of analytics.

What it all adds up to

None of these seven things is a trick. They all come down to one assumption: the customer already wants to buy. Your job is not to convince them - that has already happened. Your job is to get out of their way.

In DoSwiftly the cart, payments (PayU, Przelewy24) and shipping (InPost, Orlen Paczka) are part of the platform - you don't assemble them from plugins. Customers can buy as guests, and when they choose BLIK in your store, the payment provider opens the code screen for them straight away. See what's inside.