ABOUT

CONCEPT
The Economist's subscription checkout lost users at every step. Of everyone who set out to buy, 50% dropped off at the first step (account) and only 30% made it through the whole funnel. Users hit 7 redirects and 22 form fields before they could pay, the page was slow, and mobile lagged behind desktop even though most traffic was mobile. The brief: replace it with one simple, mobile-first checkout that answers the questions people have before they buy.

EXECUTION
- Data first: mapped the biggest leaks in the funnel and why users dropped out
- Used Hotjar heatmaps, session recordings and a survey to see where people hesitated, struggled with forms or lost sight of what they were buying
- Ran workshops with product, engineering and stakeholders, plus competitor benchmarking
- User tested the old checkout, then wireframes and concepts, comparing a cascade layout with a progress bar
- Designed a single-page "cascade" checkout: form fields cut from 22 to 12, no redirects, a basket summary and price breakdown visible throughout, step count up front, inline validation, and a review step
- Launched as an A/B test in the US (July 2024), then rolled out globally by March 2025, adding Apple Pay and PayPal

RESULTS
- +29% checkout completion (34% to 44%)
- +43% completion on mobile
- 7 to 0 redirects and 22 to 12 form fields
- A further +2.7% conversion from Apple Pay Express and passwordless checkout
- Users "liked the simplicity of the checkout process and would feel confident making a purchase"