Checkout guidelines
What is the checkout in e-commerce?
The checkout is the sequence of steps in which a shopper enters address, shipping and payment details and places the order.
The guidelines below describe what a good checkout needs, for shoppers, search engines and AI agents.
14 guidelines.
Platform
Audience
- CHECKOUT-DC-BUTTON-01critical
The order button says that ordering means an obligation to pay
Decision Clarityhuman · agent · machine - CHECKOUT-DC-ARRIVE-01highSeasonal
Each delivery option shows the expected arrival date
Decision Clarityhuman · agent · machine - CHECKOUT-DC-COST-01high
No cost appears at checkout that was not determinable earlier
Decision Clarityhuman · agent - CHECKOUT-DC-FIELD-01high
Every checkout field has a label, a required marker and errors tied to it
Decision Clarityhuman - CHECKOUT-DC-GUEST-01high
Consumers can complete a purchase without creating an account
Decision Clarityhuman - CHECKOUT-DC-OPTIN-01high
No paid addition is pre-selected and no consent is pre-ticked
Decision Clarityhuman · agent - CHECKOUT-DC-SUMMARY-01high
What is ordered and what it costs is shown next to the order button
Decision Clarityhuman · agent · machine - CHECKOUT-SR-BACK-01high
Returning to an earlier step preserves entered data
- CHECKOUT-SR-PAYFAIL-01high
A failed or cancelled payment leaves the order intact and payable
System Robustnesshuman - CHECKOUT-SR-VALID-01high
Validation errors keep what was entered and say what is wrong
System Robustnesshuman - CHECKOUT-TDE-CONFIRM-01high
The order confirmation records what was agreed
Trust & Decision Enablementhuman · machine - CHECKOUT-DC-EXPRESS-01mediumSeasonal
Express payment options appear before the long forms
Decision Clarityhuman · agent - CHECKOUT-DC-GIFT-01mediumSeasonal
A gift order makes the recipient's address clearly separate from the buyer's
Decision Clarityhuman · agent - CHECKOUT-ME-AUTOFILL-01medium
Address and contact fields carry correct autocomplete tokens
Machine Extractabilityhuman · agent · machine