5 Checkout Mistakes That Are Costing You Sales (and How to Fix Them)

Let's talk about where the most money is lost in ecommerce: checkout. The average cart abandonment rate in Latin America is over 70%. That means out of every 10 people who add something to their cart, 7 leave without paying.

Not all of those abandonments are recoverable -- some were just browsing. But a significant portion leaves because of problems you can fix.

Mistake 1: Requiring Account Creation Before Purchase

This is the classic. The customer wants to buy, and you ask them to create an account with email, password, confirm password, full name, tax ID... and they're gone.

The fix: guest checkout. Always. In Shopify, it's enabled by default. If you turned it off, turn it back on. You can ask for an email for order tracking without forcing account creation.

Fact: stores that enable guest checkout see a 10-15% increase in conversions almost immediately.

Mistake 2: Surprise Costs at the End

Nothing kills trust faster than reaching the final step and finding a shipping cost you didn't expect, an extra tax, or a payment method surcharge.

The fix:

• Show estimated shipping costs on the product page or in the cart, before checkout
• If you offer free shipping above a certain amount, display it in a visible banner across the entire store
• Never charge a payment method surcharge -- build it into the price

Information	Where to show it
Estimated shipping cost	Product page + cart
Free shipping threshold	Global banner
Delivery time	Product page
Accepted payment methods	Footer + checkout

Mistake 3: Too Few Payment Options

In any market, if you don't offer the payment methods your customers prefer, you're losing a significant share of sales. Make sure you support credit cards, debit cards, and the local payment methods that dominate in your region. For higher-priced items, offering installment plans can make a real difference.

The payment methods that matter most (in general order of importance):

1. Debit cards (the most used method in many markets since 2023)
2. Credit cards (with installments for high-ticket items)
3. Bank transfers / local payment gateways
4. Digital wallets (PayPal, MercadoPago, or regional equivalents)
5. Apple Pay / Google Pay (growing fast on mobile)

If you use Shopify Payments, most of these are available. On other platforms, verify that your gateway covers at least the top three.

Mistake 4: Endless Forms

Every extra field in your checkout is another chance for the customer to leave. Review what you're asking for and eliminate anything that isn't strictly necessary.

Necessary fields: name, email, shipping address, payment method.

Fields you can remove or make optional: phone (make it optional), company, tax ID (only if you issue invoices), "how did you hear about us?", notes field.

In Shopify, you can customize this from Settings > Checkout. Fewer fields = more sales.

Mistake 5: No Abandoned Cart Recovery

If someone reached checkout, entered their email, and left, you have their data. Use it.

An automated abandoned cart email sent 1 hour later recovers between 5% and 10% of those sales. That's money that was already in your store and walked out.

Set it up like this:

• Email 1 (1 hour later): "Did you leave something behind?" with a photo of the product and a direct link to checkout
• Email 2 (24 hours later): "Your cart is still waiting" -- add an incentive if you want (free shipping or a 5% discount)
• Email 3 (72 hours later): final reminder, no discount. If they didn't buy, let them go.

In Shopify, abandoned cart emails are configured in Marketing > Automations. On other platforms, tools like Klaviyo or Mailchimp do the same thing.

Checkout is the last stretch of the race. Every small improvement there has a direct impact on your sales. You don't need to redesign your entire store -- you just need to remove friction where it matters most.

Want us to audit your checkout? Get in touch and we'll give you a diagnosis with actionable changes.