A shopper who reaches the checkout has already decided to buy. Most lost sales at this point are not about the product. They are about friction: a surprise cost, a long form, a missing payment option, or a page that feels unsafe.

That makes the ecommerce checkout the most valuable page to improve in any online store. Baymard Institute, which studies online shopping, puts the average cart abandonment rate at around 70%. Not every lost cart can be saved, but many can, and the fixes are usually small.

Show the full cost early

Unexpected costs are the most common reason people leave a checkout. Show shipping and any fees in the cart, before the customer types a single detail. If shipping depends on the address, offer a quick estimate by city or postcode.

Ask for less

Let people buy as a guest, and offer an account after the order.
Remove fields you don’t need for delivery or invoicing.
Use the right keyboard on phones: numbers for the phone and postcode fields.
Remember what the customer entered if they go back a step.

Offer the payments people use

In Indonesia that usually means bank transfer and virtual accounts, e-wallets and QRIS, alongside cards. A checkout that only takes cards turns many willing buyers away.

Every extra field is a small reason to stop.

Make it feel safe

Keep the checkout in the same design as the rest of the store, show who the customer is paying, and confirm the order clearly on screen and by email. A WhatsApp button for questions helps people who hesitate at the last step.

Design the ecommerce checkout for phones first

Most shoppers in Indonesia buy on a phone, so that is where the checkout has to work best.

Keep the order summary and the total visible, or one tap away, at every step.
Make buttons big enough to tap with a thumb, with the main action at the bottom of the screen.
Let the browser fill in names, addresses and phone numbers automatically, by labelling fields correctly.
Show errors next to the field, in plain words, as soon as the customer leaves it, not after they press “Pay”.
Keep the customer on your site for e-wallet and QRIS payments where the provider allows it, or bring them back to a clear confirmation page.

After the order

The checkout doesn’t end at the payment button. A clear confirmation page, an email or WhatsApp message with the order details, and tracking as soon as the parcel ships all reduce “where is my order?” questions, and make a second purchase more likely.

For orders by bank transfer, send a reminder before the payment window closes. Many unpaid orders are simply forgotten.

How to find what is losing you sales

Look at your analytics funnel: cart, checkout, payment, confirmation. The biggest drop is where to start.
Read the questions customers send on WhatsApp just before they buy. They point straight at what the checkout doesn’t explain.
Watch two or three people buy something from your store on their own phones, without helping them.
Change one thing at a time, and compare the weeks before and after.

Questions people ask

Should we use a one-page or a multi-step checkout?

Either can work. What matters is that each step is short and clear, and the customer always knows how far they are from finishing. On a phone, a few short steps often feel easier than one very long page.

Do we need customer accounts?

Not to buy. Offer guest checkout, then invite the customer to save their details after the order, when they have a reason to.

Is a checkout on a marketplace better?

A marketplace checkout is familiar, but you give up the customer relationship. Our note on your own online store or a marketplace compares the two, and selling to Singapore from Jakarta covers checkouts for buyers abroad.

A fast, clear ecommerce checkout with local payment options is built into our Creative Ecommerce package. If your current store is losing sales at the last step, tell us where and we will take a look.