Checkout & Payment Flows

Overview

Checkout is a funnel where every field, click, and surprise costs conversion — average cart abandonment sits near 70%, and roughly 1 in 4 abandoners cite forced account creation or a too-long checkout. The proven flow minimizes steps, defers everything deferrable, and never loses user state.

When to Use

• Building any cart → payment → confirmation sequence, web or native
• Adding express payment: Apple Pay, Google Pay, Shop Pay, PayPal
• Reviewing an existing checkout for abandonment causes
• Designing error handling for declined or failed payments
• Adding saved payment methods or one-click reorder for returning customers
• Not for: subscription pricing and paywall flows (see flow-paywall)
• Not for: OS-controlled in-app purchase sheets — StoreKit/Play Billing render their own UI; you only choose the trigger point and the screen before it

The Proven Flow