Checkout Optimization

Checkout Optimization The two-day seminar for everyone whose baskets are full and whose orders are still too few: you learn why customers drop out, which friction you can remove and how to present payment methods and costs so that nobody leaves at the last step. By the end you know the three places in your checkout that cost the most.

Checkout Optimization at a glance

• Format: 2 days on site + self-learning track
• Level: basic to advanced
• Participants: max. 16 people
• Language: German (English on request)
• Certificate: AEI certificate of attendance
• Investment: €290.00 plus VAT

The checkout is the most expensive page in the shop. The traffic to it is already paid for, the interest is proven, the customer has decided — and still a share drops out. Every one of those dropouts is a purchase that did not happen and a customer who tries somewhere else next time.

The causes are rarely dramatic. A mandatory field that nobody understands. Shipping costs that only appear late. A missing payment method. A page that looks different on a phone than planned. Each single item looks small; together they are the difference between a basket and an order.

This seminar works on the checkout as a whole: from basket to order confirmation. You find the dropout points, rank them by impact and effort and decide what changes first. Metrics and tests run alongside from the start so that you do not decide by feeling again.

What you take away

• A map of the purchase process with the typical dropout points.
• A list of mandatory fields you can remove or postpone.
• A pattern for transparent cost and shipping communication.
• A selection of payment methods that fits your customers rather than your provider.
• A set of checkout metrics and a sequence for implementation.

Your learning objectives

• You name the reasons for dropouts and distinguish them from assumptions.
• You recognise friction in the purchase process and remove it without losing information.
• You present costs, delivery time and security so that they create trust.
• You choose payment methods by audience, basket and risk.
• You measure the checkout so that a change becomes visible.

The levers at a glance

Every field costs money. A mandatory field is a question the customer has to answer before they may pay. Whoever asks only what is really needed — and what can be delivered later — wins orders, not just data.

Costs have to be visible early. Shipping costs that appear only at the last step are the classic reason for a dropout. Whoever shows them on the product page and in the basket loses those who were never going to buy — and keeps the rest.

The right payment method is audience work. Invoice for regulars, card for the rest, one local provider for the one market. A long list does not help; it makes the decision harder.

The purchase does not end with the click. Order confirmation, shipping notice and returns are part of the experience. Whoever is careless there loses the second purchase, not the first.

Who is this seminar for?

For people responsible for revenue, conversion or order processing in a shop.

• E-commerce and shop managers who no longer want to guess the conversion rate.
• Marketing leads who buy traffic and want to know where it is lost.
• Product managers who steer the checkout together with development and payment providers.
• Customer service leads who know which questions arrive after the purchase.

Basic knowledge of web analytics is useful but not a requirement — the metrics are explained during the seminar. Anyone who runs a shop can do the exercises on their own case.

The seminar is not suitable for teams selecting a new shop platform. We work on improving an existing checkout.

Investment and dates

Participation costs €290.00 plus VAT, including the self-learning track, materials and certificate of attendance. There are six dates per year in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich and live online, plus an in-house variant for teams. You will find all dates in the list on this page.

For the exercises work through a test order in your own shop. Anyone without access receives a sample checkout on which the same steps are played through.

After the seminar

You keep the materials, a 24-point checklist for your own checkout and a template for evaluating dropouts by step. Both are built so that you can apply them within a week.

Two weeks after the seminar you receive a short follow-up: one measure you implemented and its effect on the dropout rate. We look at whether the expectation held.

For teams the seminar is available as an in-house event with your own checkout. The procedure stays the same, the examples come from your shop.

Programme: 2 days

Day 1 – Checkout fundamentals

• Why customers drop out
• The purchase process as a whole
• Reducing mandatory fields
• Showing costs transparently
• Signalling security
• Offering payment methods correctly

Day 2 – Creating trust

• Finding dropout points
• Checkout metrics
• Prioritising and testing
• After the purchase

Both days run from 09:00 to 16:15 with breaks in the morning, at midday and in the afternoon. Short self-checks sit between the blocks so you can test where you stand before moving on.

Each day has three parts: an introduction to the pattern, an exercise on your own checkout and a review in the group. At the end of day one you decide which three places to examine more closely on day two.

The seminar includes a self-learning track. It contains the patterns from both days as short units with examples and one self-check each. You can work through it before the date to clarify terms, or afterwards to repeat what stuck and what did not.

Our approach

We work on your checkout, not on a textbook example. At the start of each exercise you decide which step you are examining and which number you expect; at the end stands a measure with a measurable expectation.

The exercises are short and repeat in variations. That is deliberate: friction in the checkout is not seen, it is experienced — often enough that the eye for it settles in.

Every block ends with a sentence you could show a colleague: which step costs orders, why, and what changes first. That sentence is the difference between a finding and an idea.

We work in pairs, in small groups and in plenary, with changing partners. Every participant gets feedback on their finding, not just on their idea. Group level and participant count are deliberately limited: with 16 people no anonymous lecture is possible.