Focus area · Checkout and conversion

Customers start checkout. Why don't they finish?

The short answer

Stores and ordering apps lose customers to friction that piled up with good intentions: account fields asked too early, products buried in the catalog, offers that send people hunting, slow pages. I map where your funnel loses time and customers, from first visit to completed checkout, then remove steps instead of polishing them. In restaurant e-commerce, that cut ordering time by 50% at Jack in the Box and lifted delivery conversion 300% at Restaurant Brands International.

By Walter Colindres Updated

Where conversion usually leaks

  1. Account creation asks too much, too early. Every field is a small tax before the customer has bought anything.
  2. The catalog is organized around the back end. Customers can't find what they came for, or the products that grow the order.
  3. Offers are disconnected from products. Customers add a deal, then hunt for the item it applies to.
  4. Sign-in fails. A forgotten password at the moment of purchase means a lost sale.
  5. The site or app is slow underneath. Catalog loading, cart updates and lookups add time customers feel but can't name.

Results

My deepest conversion results are in restaurant e-commerce, where customers have the least patience of all:

50%Less end-to-end ordering time in the Jack in the Box app.Case study → $4MMAnnualized revenue opportunity from one menu hierarchy change.Case study → +300%Delivery conversion, and +150% pick-up conversion, across Restaurant Brands International's ordering platforms.Background →

I also led Growth & Retention at Vistaprint, keeping millions of small-business customers coming back.

How we'd work together

A Digital Audit (2–3 weeks, starting at $8,500) maps your funnel and ranks the fixes. A Fractional Head of Product retainer (starting at $6,000 a month) is for brands that want me to lead the fixes through to measured results. To have the fixes designed and built as well, add Design & Build, scoped per project.

Questions people ask

Why do customers abandon carts and orders?

Rarely because of one big failure. Usually it’s accumulated friction: account creation asked too early, a catalog or menu organized around the back end, offers disconnected from the products they apply to, failed sign-ins, and slow pages at key moments. Where ordering apps lose guests →

How do you increase e-commerce conversion?

Measure the whole path from first visit to completed checkout, find where time and customers are lost, and remove steps rather than optimizing them. At Jack in the Box that cut ordering time in half.

Does catalog or menu structure really affect revenue?

Yes. At Jack in the Box, moving one value category in the menu hierarchy was worth about $4MM a year. How products are grouped and surfaced decides what customers find and how much they buy. Read the case study →

Is restaurant ordering really e-commerce?

Yes: a catalog, a cart, customization, offers, payment and fulfillment, with less patience from the customer than almost any other kind of store. The same principles apply to retail checkout.

Related
Case study · Jack in the Box Half the time to order Case study · Jack in the Box $4MM from one change Service Start with a Digital Audit
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