eCommerce

Here’s a shocking ecommerce statistic: roughly 70% of shopping carts are abandoned before purchase. That's not just a number—it's potential revenue walking out the door. The good news is that switching to a funnel checkout page can bring that number down significantly.

In this guide, we'll explore the differences between Shopify’s default cart checkout and a funnel checkout page. By the end, you’ll see why more and more e-commerce brands are turning to funnel checkouts to maximise their conversion.

Shopify Cart vs. Funnel Checkout - The Basics

To understand why funnel checkouts outperform Shopify's default cart checkout, we first need to understand the fundamental differences in how they're designed.

Shopify Cart Checkout

Shopify's cart checkout follows the traditional e-commerce model: 

1. A customer browses

2. Adds items to their cart 

3. Completes a single checkout page (or a few predefined steps)

   

It's a simple, linear experience designed to work for all stores, regardless of industry or product type.

Funnel Checkout

In contrast, a Funnel Checkout treats the purchase journey as a series of carefully designed steps, where each page serves a specific purpose. The journey is optimised to perform best with the product’s target market. 

A fashion brand's checkout may flow differently than a supplement any's, because the funnel is custom-built for each specific business and their target market.

The choice between a cart and funnel checkout may seem small, but it has real implications for how customers move through your checkout and whether they complete their purchase.

Shopify’s Cart - The Best Option?

Shopify's native checkout is an industry leader for a reason. It has some real strengths, such as:

• Seamless integration with your store

• Built-in payment options (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Shop Pay)

• A recognisable interface that customers trust

For new sellers prioritising simplicity, these advantages matter. However, for brands focused on growth and conversion, there are a number of limitations:

• Limited customisation: You can't fundamentally change the layout or redesign the experience to match your brand psychology.

• No strategic upsells: You can't present complementary products at checkout—when customers are most engaged and ready to spend.

• One-size-fits-all design: A supplement company needs a different checkout flow than a fashion brand, but both use the same interface.

• Limited analytics: You can see total conversions, but can’t drill down to where customers are falling off or which elements cause friction.

• Unnecessary form fields: The default checkout includes fields that may not matter for your business, adding friction to the checkout process.

These limitations can be the difference between an ecommerce store that scrapes by, and one that becomes a leader in the category. And funnel checkouts can address them all.

Where Funnel Checkouts Win

Funnel checkouts deliver all the functionality of a Shopify cart checkout, without the limitations. 

1. Complete Brand Control

Your checkout can be fully customised to match your landing pages and brand aesthetic. When customers move from a compelling landing page to a generic Shopify checkout, there's a disconnect. Custom funnels maintain the narrative and build trust throughout the journey.

2. Strategic Revenue Tools

This is the game-changer. Funnel checkouts let you add order bumps and upsells at the moment of purchase:

• A vitamin customer sees a complementary magnesium offer

• A course participant gets an advanced module option

• A device customer sees a relevant accessory bundle

You can test different offers and get detailed reports showing you what works. This turns your checkout into a tool that actively drives your average order value (AOV).

3. Multi-Step Design Reduces Friction

Instead of overwhelming customers with all fields at once, funnel checkouts present information sequentially. This reduces decision fatigue and makes the process feel manageable, driving higher completion rates.

4. Advanced Analytics

Funnel checkouts show:

• Exactly where customers drop off at each step

• Which form fields cause friction

• How upsells perform

This granular data lets you assess the true impact of each variation, enabling continuous optimization that's impossible with Shopify's basic metrics.

5. Form Field Optimization

Every additional field is a potential abandonment point, so funnel checkouts let you include only what matters. Selling digital products? Remove address fields. B2B? Add a company name. This flexibility dramatically reduces friction and improves the buying experience. 

6. Superior Speed

Over 50% of visitors abandon sites that take more than 3 seconds to load. Funnel platforms are optimized for speed and typically load in under one second—a direct conversion driver.

When to Choose a Funnel Checkout

A funnel checkout makes sense if you:

• You want complete control over your checkout design and brand experience, not a generic, one-size-fits-all interface.

• You need to maximise your AOV through strategic upsells and order bumps at checkout.

• You want granular analytics showing exactly where customers drop off and which elements create friction

• You need flexibility to customize form fields for your specific business model 

• Page speed and conversion optimization are priorities, and you can't afford to lose customers to slow load times

The Bottom Line

Shopify's native checkout provides a great standardised transaction process, as long as you’re not concerned with conversion optimization, customisation, or analytics.

Funnel checkouts are built specifically to maximize conversions and revenue through multi-step design, strategic upsells, customisation, and advanced analytics.

If you’re an e-commerce brand looking to maximise conversion, your checkout experience is too important to leave on the default settings.

Reach out today to find out how our funnel checkouts can deliver better results for your brand.