Your Checkout Asks Too Much: The Field Count That Kills Completion
The count is the problem
Eleven fields is the average, and it is already too many. Baymard's 2024 research puts the average checkout at 11.3 fields, down from 12.7 in 2019, and the institute's own finding is that most sites need only 8. The average checkout also runs 5.1 steps, and 17 percent of shoppers abandon because the checkout is too long or too complicated. Those are not people who changed their mind about the product. They are people who decided the form was not worth it.
The split-name field is the clearest example of a field that costs you money for nothing. Baymard found that 89 percent of sites split the name into two or more fields, and 42 percent of users typed their full name into the first-name field, then had to go back and fix it. A single full-name field, split on the back end if you need it split, removes a failure point and a field in one move.
What to cut, and what to keep
Cut the company field on a consumer store. Cut address line two unless you ship to apartments that need it, and if you do, make it optional and label it optional. Cut the phone number unless you actually call customers, and if you do call them, say why on the field. Cut the separate billing address step for the overwhelming majority of orders where billing and shipping match, and pre-fill it from the shipping address with a single checkbox to change it.
Keep the email, because it is the order confirmation and the recovery channel. Keep the payment fields, obviously, and keep the address fields the carrier needs to deliver. Everything else is a candidate for deletion. The test is simple: if the field is not used by fulfillment, by the carrier, or by a system that touches the order, it does not belong in the checkout.
The test that proves it
Run the cut as an A/B test against the old checkout, and measure completion rate, not clicks. A shorter checkout that converts worse is a broken checkout, and the usual cause is a field that was actually needed, usually the phone number for a delivery carrier that calls the customer. Measure for two weeks, across desktop and mobile separately, because mobile is where the field count hurts most: a field that is a minor annoyance on a desktop keyboard is a thumb-typing exercise on a phone.
If completion rises and support tickets about checkout do not, keep the cut and look for the next one. The checkout is never finished; it is a form that should get shorter every quarter as you learn which fields nobody uses. For the email side of the same funnel, new arrivals versus bestsellers on the homepage covers what the shopper saw before they reached the checkout, and the 90-day rule for dead stock explains the inventory that a shorter checkout has to move faster.
Frequently asked questions
How many fields should a checkout have?
Baymard Institute's research says most sites need only 8 fields, against an average of 11.3 in 2024. Every field beyond what fulfillment, the carrier, and payment actually need is a reason to abandon.
Why do shoppers abandon checkout?
Extra costs are the top reason, at 40 to 48 percent, but 17 percent abandon because the checkout is too long or too complicated. A long form is a cost in itself, and it is the cost you control most directly.
Should I split the name into first and last name fields?
No. Baymard found 89 percent of sites split the name, and 42 percent of users typed their full name into the first-name field and had to fix it. Use one full-name field and split it on the back end.
How do I test a shorter checkout?
A/B test it against the old checkout and measure completion rate, not clicks, for two weeks across desktop and mobile separately. Mobile is where the field count hurts most, so the numbers have to be split by device.