These articles are based on observations and test findings from our usability research on cart and checkout.

The ‘Credit Card Number’ Field Must Allow and Auto-Format Spaces (80% Don’t)
15% of sites don’t actively aid users in typing their 16-digit card number by autoformatting it with spaces. Learn why it's so important.
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10 Cyber Monday UX Best Practices

Phone Number UX: Always Explain Why the “Phone Field” Is Required (39% Don’t)

4 “Online Grocery” Ecommerce UX Best Practices

The ‘Credit Card Number’ Field Must Allow and Auto-Format Spaces (80% Don’t)

Checkout UX: Avoid “Apply” Buttons for Most Fields (22% of Sites Don’t)

Format the “Expiration Date” Fields Exactly the Same as the Physical Credit Card (72% Don’t)
Our UX testing found that difficulty inputting their credit card expiration date needlessly delayed users from placing orders — yet 72% of sites fail at this. See our latest Checkout findings.
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4 Ways to Improve UX for Ecommerce Mass Merchant Sites

5 Best Practices for Communicating Sustainability in Ecommerce

4 Ways to Improve the Post-Checkout UX

Desktop UX Trends: 10 Common Pitfalls & Best Practices

Reasons for Cart Abandonment – Why 70% of Users Abandon Their Cart (2025 data)

6 Ways to Improve the Relevance of Cross-Sells in the Cart (52% of Desktop Sites Don’t Do Enough)
Our large-scale usability testing reveals that product recommendations and offers that appear unrelated to the user’s cart contents erode confidence in the site and its recommendations — even relevant ones.
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Drop-Down Usability: When You Should (and Shouldn’t) Use Them

E-Commerce Gifting UX: 4 Ways to Provide a Superior Gifting UI and Flow

Checkout UX 2024: 11 Pitfalls and Best Practices

Checkout Optimization: 5 Ways to Minimize Form Fields in Checkout

2024 E-Commerce Checkout: Expanded and Updated Checkout Research Findings

Checkout Optimization: 5 Ways to Minimize Form Fields in Checkout
Checkout optimization: the average number of form fields in checkout is 11.3 — and 22% of users have abandoned due to checkout complexity. See how to reduce form fields to optimize checkout.
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Retain Data in Sensitive Credit Card Fields after Validation Errors (34% Don’t)

Usability Testing of Inline Form Validation: 31% Don’t Have It, 4% Get It Wrong

Improve Validation Errors with Adaptive Messages (98% Don’t)

Have an Address Validator (47% Don’t)

6 Ways to Get More Out of Your Order Confirmation Page

Payment Method UX: Designing Payment Selection
A subgroup of users relies on third-party payment options to complete their checkout — yet 21% of sites only accept 1 method. See our latest test findings on payment method UX.
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Form Field Usability: Avoid Extensive Multicolumn Layouts (16% Make This Form Usability Mistake)

Format the “Expiration Date” Fields Exactly the Same as the Physical Credit Card (72% Don’t)

Always Collapse Completed Accordion Checkout Steps into Summaries

Save Account Creation for the Confirmation Step (42% Don’t)

Payment Method UX: Designing Payment Selection

Checkout UX 2024: 11 Pitfalls and Best Practices
In Baymard's latest benchmark of 130+ leading e-commerce sites, 65% performed "mediocre" or worse in Checkout UX. Here are 11 common Checkout UX pitfalls and strategies for improving Checkout UX.
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Include All Order-Fulfillment Options in the Fulfillment-Selector Interface (50% Don’t)

Use “Delivery Date” Not “Shipping Speed” (41% Don’t) — From UX Research to Implementation Roadmap

Checkout Usability: Autodetect “City” and “State” Inputs Based on the User’s Postal Code (28% of Mobile Sites Don’t)

Provide a “Fully Automatic Address Lookup” Feature (55% Don’t)

Make “Guest Checkout” the Most Prominent Option (47% Don’t)

Phone Number UX: Always Explain Why the “Phone Field” Is Required (39% Don’t)
14% of users will abandon checkout if “phone” is simply required. Testing shows users just need an explanation of why the phone field is required — yet 39% of ecommerce sites don’t.
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Use “Shipping Address” as “Billing Address” by Default (16% of Mobile Sites Have Implementation Issues)

Avoid Unnecessarily Complex Password-Creation Requirements (82% Don’t)

Form Usability: Getting ‘Address Line 2’ Right

Use Buttons or Buttons Plus an Open Text Field for Updating Cart Quantity (61% Don’t)

250+ New Examples Added from Large-Scale Testing on European Sites

Baymard Update: 13 New Case Studies and 3 New 2021 Benchmarks (Checkout, Product Page, and On-Site Search UX)

6 Ways to Improve the Relevance of Cross-Sells in the Cart (52% of Desktop Sites Don’t Do Enough)

4 Design Patterns That Violate “Back” Button UX Expectations – 59% of Sites Get It Wrong

5 ‘Credit Card Form’ Implementations That Make ‘L.L. Bean’ Best-in-Class

5 ‘Order Review’ UX Implementations That Make Office Depot Best-in-Class

Checkout Optimization: From 16 Form Fields to 8 Fields (keynote presentation)

E-Commerce Checkouts Need to Mark Both Required Fields and Optional Fields Explicitly (Only 14% Do So)

CAPTCHAs Have an 8% Failure Rate, and 29% if Case Sensitive

Remove Select Features When There’s Only One Option Left (14% Don’t)

Consider Using Localized Input Masks for ‘Phone’ and Other Restricted Inputs (64% Aren’t Taking Advantage of Input Masking)

5 Common Usability Pitfalls of Custom Designed Drop-Downs (31% Have Drop-Down UI Issues)

How Users Perceive Security During the Checkout Flow (Incl. New ‘Trust Seal’ Study 2023)

Accordion UX: The Pitfalls of Inline Accordion and Tab Designs

Fixing Bugs – the Next ‘Big Thing’ in E-Commerce?

Form Usability: Validations vs Warnings

How to Recoup 30% of “Card Declined” Abandonments

Users Continue to Double-Click Online

Which Site Seal do People Trust the Most? (2013/2016 Survey Results)

A Holistic View on the Current State of Checkout Usability

Add Descriptions To Checkout Form Labels (92% Get It Wrong)

Why Your Checkout Process Should Be Completely Linear

Accordion Style Checkouts – The Holy Grail of Checkout Usability?

Visually Reinforce Your Credit Card Fields (89% Get it Wrong)

Checkout Experience: Don’t Require Seemingly Unnecessary Information (61% Get it Wrong)

A Consistent Shopping Experience With Product Thumbnails

Idea: Error-Fields Only

Checkout Usability: Apply Changes Immediately and Near the Input

Observation: Users Will Go Far to Avoid Repeat Form Errors

E-Commerce Copywriting: Returning Customer?

Account ‘Sign Up’: Ask to Confirm E-mail, Not Password

One Page Checkouts – the Holy Grail of Checkout Usability?

E-Commerce: Why Customers Abandon Their Shopping Cart

User Expectations: Create an Illusion of Space

Form Field Usability: Matching User Expectations

People Think Registration Leads to “Spam”

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Code samples, demos, and key stats for usability.