The checkout process is extremely important to any online store. It’s here that all your work either comes to fruition or falls flat. After optimizing everything you can, this is the part that determines whether your customers actually give you money or walk away and become another cart abandonment statistic.

Due to this, optimizing your checkout process to rid it of distractions cannot be overemphasized. Checkout has only one goal: collecting money from shoppers. Anything that distracts customers from that primary objective should be removed from the checkout process.

Remove the main navigation

This will reduce the likelihood of a customer navigating away to another page on the site and abandoning their cart. No headers, no footers, no navigation bars. You should only have a site logo that links back to the homepage for customers who are lost, a link or button to go back to the cart, and an account icon to show the shopper that they are signed in.

For a good example to illustrate this best practice, take a look at how Shopify does it (see below). The header and footer are removed, but there is a way to go back to the cart and homepage).

Keep minimal links

Links are a distraction that can lure customers away from the checkout process and you should omit as many as you can. Stuff like social media icons should be nowhere in sight. Keep minimal links in the footer, such as your FAQ plus shipping & return policies.

That way, it focuses the shopper on the checkout and avoids distractions, while still allowing them to keep shopping if they’re not ready to buy.