Last updated: September 2026 · Reading time: 14 min · By the Best Web Developer team
Quick answer
Checkout optimization means removing every cost surprise, extra field, forced step and missing payment method between the cart and the confirmation page. The biggest wins are showing total cost early, allowing guest checkout, offering local wallets and pay-later options, cutting form fields to the minimum and making the mobile checkout fast. Together these fixes commonly lift completed orders by 10–35%.
Key takeaways
- Unexpected shipping fees, VAT or COD charges are the single most common reason buyers leave.
- Forced account creation and long forms cost more orders than slow page loads.
- In Saudi Arabia, mada, Apple Pay, STC Pay, Tabby and Tamara are baseline expectations, not upgrades.
- Measure each checkout step separately; averages hide the exact screen where buyers drop.
- Ship fixes in priority order: cost clarity, payments, form friction, speed, then recovery emails and messages.
Why checkout optimization is the cheapest growth lever you have
Checkout optimization is the cheapest growth lever because the buyers who reach your cart have already been paid for through ads, SEO or social. Recovering even a small share of them costs far less than buying new traffic.
Cart abandonment is when a shopper adds products to the cart but leaves before paying. The abandonment rate is the share of carts created that never turn into orders. In the stores we audit, it usually sits between 60% and 80%, and it is higher on mobile than on desktop.
Some abandonment is healthy. People use carts as wish lists or to check shipping. The goal is to remove the avoidable losses: surprise costs, broken payments, confusing forms and slow screens. The 25 fixes below are grouped in the order we implement them.
Note: about the numbers in this guide
Uplift ranges here are typical results from our own checkout audits and A/B tests, not figures from a published study. Your results will depend on traffic, product price, average order value and how broken the current flow is. Always test on your own store.
Fixes 1–10: cost clarity, trust and payment options
Start with money and trust, because a buyer who is surprised by the total or cannot find their preferred payment method will not finish, however fast your pages are.
Show the full cost early
- Display prices including VAT. In Saudi Arabia, consumer prices should already include 15% VAT. Never add it at the final step.
- Show shipping cost on the product page or cart. A simple “Free delivery in Riyadh over SAR 200” line removes the biggest surprise.
- Add a free-shipping progress bar. “Add SAR 45 for free delivery” raises average order value and gives buyers a reason to continue.
- Be upfront about cash-on-delivery fees. If COD costs SAR 10–20 extra, say so in the cart, not after the address form.
- Show a delivery date, not just a method. “Arrives Thursday 14 Oct” beats “Standard shipping 3–5 days”.
Offer the payment methods buyers expect
- Put express wallets at the top. Apple Pay and Google Pay let a returning buyer pay in two taps without typing an address.
- Support local cards and wallets. In KSA that means mada and STC Pay; in the Netherlands iDEAL; in the UK, cards and PayPal.
- Add buy-now-pay-later above a threshold. Tabby and Tamara in the Gulf, Klarna in Europe. Show the instalment amount on the product page.
- Handle 3-D Secure gracefully. Keep the buyer on your domain or a clean modal, and return them to the same step if authentication fails.
Make trust visible
- Show returns, security and support beside the pay button. A one-line returns promise, recognised payment logos and a WhatsApp support link reduce hesitation at the moment of commitment.
Highlight: the order of payment buttons matters
On Saudi mobile checkouts we usually place Apple Pay first, then mada, then Tabby or Tamara, then credit card, with COD last. Buyers scan from the top, and putting the fastest option first cuts the time to pay without removing any choice.
Fixes 11–18: forms, fields and flow
Form friction is where checkout optimization pays off fastest on mobile. Every unnecessary field, error or forced decision is a chance for the buyer to switch apps and never return.
Cut the form to the minimum
- Allow guest checkout. Offer account creation after payment with one tap, using the details already entered.
- Use phone and OTP login. In the Gulf, many buyers prefer mobile number sign-in to email and passwords.
- Remove optional fields. Company name, second address line and fax fields rarely matter. Most stores can get to 7–9 fields in total.
- Autofill the address. Use browser autofill attributes correctly and, in KSA, support the Saudi National Address short code or a map pin, since many buyers do not know their full postal format.
- Use the right keyboard. Numeric keypads for phone and card fields, email keyboards for email.
Handle errors kindly
- Validate inline, not on submit. Show a clear message next to the field as soon as it loses focus.
- Accept many formats. Phone numbers with or without +966, spaces or a leading zero should all pass.
- Keep data after an error. Never clear a filled form because one field failed or a card was declined.
Arabic and RTL checkouts
Bilingual stores need a checkout that is truly mirrored, not just translated. Step indicators, back arrows, price alignment and card-number fields must follow right-to-left logic, while numbers themselves stay left to right. The W3C Internationalization guidance covers the details. A broken Arabic checkout is one of the most common problems we find on Saudi stores.
Pro tip
Count your checkout fields out loud on a phone, in Arabic and in English. If you pass twelve, you have work to do. Then time a full purchase with a colleague who has never used the store. Anything over 90 seconds for a returning buyer with Apple Pay is a red flag.
Fixes 19–25: speed, measurement and recovery
Once the flow is clean, make it fast, measure every step and win back the buyers who still leave. These fixes turn a one-off improvement into a system.
Make every step fast
- Hit Core Web Vitals on checkout pages. Target LCP at or under 2.5 s and INP at or under 200 ms. Slow responsiveness on “Pay now” taps causes double charges and panic; Google explains the metric in its INP guide.
- Strip third-party scripts from checkout. Chat widgets, heatmaps and extra pixels often add 300–800 ms. Keep only analytics and payment scripts.
- Show progress and a sticky order summary. Buyers who can see the total and the steps left are less likely to back out.
Measure each step
- Track a step-by-step funnel. Cart, contact, address, shipping, payment and confirmation should each fire an event, split by device, language and payment method.
- Log payment failures by reason. Declines, 3-D Secure timeouts and gateway errors each need a different fix.
Recover the rest
- Send a short recovery sequence. One message within an hour, one after 24 hours, one after 72 hours. In KSA, WhatsApp often outperforms email, provided the buyer has opted in.
- Tag recovery links properly. Use UTM parameters so you know which channel and message recovered each order. Our free UTM link builder creates consistent links for email, SMS and WhatsApp in seconds.
Key benefits of systematic checkout optimization
Done properly, checkout optimization raises revenue from the same traffic, lowers support load and gives you cleaner data for every future decision.
- More orders from the same ad spend: a 15% lift in checkout completion is a 15% drop in cost per acquisition.
- Higher average order value: free-shipping thresholds and BNPL typically raise basket size by 8–20% in our projects.
- Fewer support tickets: clear delivery dates and error messages cut “where is my order” and “my payment failed” contacts.
- Less COD risk: moving buyers to prepaid wallets reduces refused deliveries and cash handling costs.
- Better attribution: step-level tracking and tagged recovery links show what really works.
- Compounding gains: every later campaign, season and product launch converts better.
“Buyers do not abandon carts. They abandon surprises, doubts and forms that fight them.”
— Best Web Developer strategy team
Checkout fixes for stores in Saudi Arabia
Saudi stores face a specific mix of habits: very high mobile use, strong demand for Apple Pay and mada, a large share of BNPL buyers and a lingering preference for cash on delivery in some regions. Your checkout should reflect all four.
Salla, Zid and Shopify stores
On Salla and Zid, local payment methods and shipping integrations are built in, so the work is mostly configuration: payment order, COD fees, free-shipping rules and Arabic copy. On Shopify, the checkout is fixed but extensible, and gateway choice for mada and STC Pay matters more. Our e-commerce development team works across all three.
Seasonal peaks
Ramadan, White Friday and Saudi National Day on 23 September bring traffic spikes of three to eight times normal in many stores. Load-test checkout and payment callbacks at least three weeks before, freeze non-essential releases, and prepare Arabic recovery messages that match the campaign. ZATCA-compliant e-invoices must still be generated correctly at peak volume.
Illustrative case: a Riyadh fragrance store fixes its checkout
Challenge: A perfume brand selling around SAR 1.2 million a year had a 78% cart abandonment rate on mobile. Shipping was shown only at the last step, Apple Pay sat below COD, and the Arabic checkout had a mirrored card field that rejected valid numbers.
What we did: Over six weeks we applied 17 of the 25 fixes: shipping and COD fees in the cart, Apple Pay first, Tabby instalments on product pages, 14 fields cut to 8, National Address support and a WhatsApp recovery flow.
Result: Mobile abandonment fell from 78% to 66%. Checkout completion rose 29%, COD share dropped from 41% to 24% of orders, and average order value grew from SAR 310 to SAR 356. Project cost was SAR 38,000.
Which checkout fixes to prioritise: impact vs effort
Prioritise fixes that are high impact and low effort first. The table groups the most common items by typical uplift and how long they take on a standard platform store.
| Fix | Typical impact | Effort | Typical cost (SAR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Show shipping and fees in cart | High | 1–3 days | 2,000–6,000 |
| Express wallets first | High | 1–5 days | 2,000–10,000 |
| Guest checkout and OTP login | High | 2–10 days | 3,000–18,000 |
| BNPL on product pages | Medium–high | 1–4 days | 1,500–6,000 |
| Field reduction and inline validation | Medium | 3–10 days | 4,000–20,000 |
| Checkout speed work | Medium | 5–15 days | 6,000–30,000 |
| Recovery via email and WhatsApp | Medium | 3–7 days | 3,000–12,000 |
Highlight: our checkout audit process
1) Pull 90 days of step-level funnel data by device and language. 2) Complete 10 test purchases across every payment method. 3) Record five real-user sessions on mobile. 4) Score all 25 fixes as done, partial or missing. 5) Rank by impact and effort, and ship the top five within 30 days. Our UI/UX design service runs this audit as a fixed-price sprint.
The future of checkout under Vision 2030
Vision 2030 targets a largely cashless economy, and Saudi checkouts are already moving that way. The next wave of checkout optimization will be about one-tap payments, smarter fraud checks and conversational commerce.
- Fewer cash orders: as wallets and BNPL spread, stores that still depend on COD will face higher return and handling costs than competitors.
- Passkeys and saved credentials: passwordless login and network tokens will shorten returning-buyer checkouts to seconds.
- WhatsApp and chat checkouts: more orders will start or finish inside messaging, which needs careful consent under the PDPL.
- Integrated e-invoicing: ZATCA FATOORA requirements push stores to connect checkout, invoicing and ERP cleanly.
- AI shopping assistants: clean product data and clear policies help AI agents recommend and complete purchases.
Frequently Asked Questions about cart abandonment
What is a normal cart abandonment rate?
In the online stores we audit, cart abandonment usually falls between 60% and 80%, and mobile rates are higher than desktop. The exact figure depends on product price, traffic source and how many people use the cart as a wish list. Instead of chasing an industry average, track your own rate by step, device and payment method and improve it month by month.
What is the main reason customers abandon their carts?
The most common reason is unexpected cost at the final step: shipping fees, cash-on-delivery charges, taxes or duties the buyer did not see earlier. Other major causes are forced account creation, long or confusing forms, missing payment methods, slow pages and doubts about returns or security. Showing the full cost in the cart fixes the biggest share quickly.
Is a one-page checkout better than a multi-step checkout?
Neither format wins every time. One-page checkouts work well for small baskets and returning buyers with saved details. Multi-step checkouts can convert better on mobile when each step is short and a progress bar is visible. The number of fields, clarity of cost and speed matter far more than the number of screens, so test both on your own traffic.
Which payment methods should a store in Saudi Arabia offer?
A store in Saudi Arabia should offer mada, Apple Pay and major credit cards as a minimum, plus STC Pay for wallet users. Buy-now-pay-later through Tabby or Tamara helps for baskets above roughly SAR 200. Cash on delivery can remain as a final option, but show any extra fee clearly in the cart and encourage prepaid methods instead.
Do abandoned cart emails actually work?
Yes, when they are timely and simple. A three-message sequence sent at about one hour, 24 hours and 72 hours usually recovers a meaningful share of carts. Include the product image, the total and a direct link back to the filled cart. In the Gulf, WhatsApp messages to opted-in buyers often perform better than email alone.
How long does checkout optimization take?
A focused programme usually takes four to eight weeks. The first week covers funnel analysis, test purchases and session recordings. Weeks two to five ship the highest-impact fixes such as cost clarity, payment order and field reduction. The remaining weeks cover speed work, recovery flows and A/B tests. Improvement should be visible in the first month.
Does guest checkout really increase sales?
In most stores it does. Forcing buyers to create an account before paying adds a password, email check and extra decision at the worst moment. Offer guest checkout by default and invite buyers to save their details after the order is confirmed, using the data they already entered. Phone and OTP login is a good middle ground for returning customers.
Start your checkout optimization this month
Checkout optimization is not a redesign project. It is a list of 25 specific fixes, ranked by impact and shipped in small batches: show the full cost, offer the right payments, shorten the form, speed up the pages, measure every step and recover the rest.
For Saudi stores, that means Apple Pay and mada at the top, clear COD fees, BNPL on product pages and a checkout that works properly in Arabic. Fix the top five this month and measure the difference before moving on.
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We will score your store against all 25 fixes, in Arabic and English, and send a ranked action plan with SAR estimates.
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