Guest Checkout
Zappos previously required customers to create an account to complete a purchase. As friction during checkout increased cart abandonment and blocked first-time purchases, introducing guest checkout became a critical initiative to modernize the experience and meet user expectations.
I led the UX design effort to create a faster, account-free checkout flow while aligning across product, engineering, and marketing teams under tight timelines.
Project Overview (TL;DR)
Problem
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Account creation was a barrier for many customers, leading to increased drop-off and negative VOC (Voice of Customer) feedback.
Goal
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Deliver a guest checkout experience that reduces friction, increases speed, and improves conversion rates without requiring account creation.
Conversion Rate Results
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Guest checkout adopted by 11.24% of users
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Guest AOV reached 79% of logged-in user AOV
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Cart drop-off reduced in checkout entry flow
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Created opportunity for user re-engagement via post-checkout follow-up
Role
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Lead UX/UI Designer
Tools
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Figma, Illustrator, Photoshop, AfterEffects
Time
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3 months
Deliverables
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Guest checkout (mobile & desktop)
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Redesign checkout
Stakeholders
Project Managers, Engineers, Tech Leadership, Marketing Leadership
Scope
MVP of guest checkout and revised checkout for desktop and mobile.
Methods
Premortem Workshop, Brainstorming Workshop, Competitive Analysis, Usertesting, Wireframe, Designing, Prototyping
Customer Problem
Chelsea, a busy professional, wanted to buy a pair of hiking boots. She found the perfect style, added it to her cart, and was ready to check out — until she hit the login wall. Creating an account felt unnecessary, time-consuming, and frustrating.
Chelsea’s story reflects a common blocker for first-time buyers. Customers expected a quick checkout, not a commitment. We aimed to remove friction and rebuild trust in the process.
Customer Painpoints
02
Extra steps increase drop-off
Complex flows with multiple logins, one-page-layout, payment issues, and auto-filled data often led to order errors and frustration.
"Automatically changed my shipping address because of Amazon Pay. Almost didn't notice before placing my order."
-Zappos Customer
Process
Premortem Workshop
Bringing the Teams Together
I facilitated a workshop to align product, engineering, customer service, and marketing. We mapped risks, timelines, team dependencies, and system limitations.
Key risks identified:
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3 Month turnaround time
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Limited time for design, development, and QA
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New experience that required research to assess feasibility for launch
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Possible limitations/restrictions for return orders for guests
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Limited Customer Service Specialists available to handle possible high call amount of guests needing assistance
I developed a roadmap to outline when each team is expected to contribute and when the UX team is scheduled to deliver the flow. Since guest checkout is a new experience for Zappos, the front-end and back-end developers worked concurrently to define its functionality. The UX team collaborated closely with developers to ensure feasibility within the tight timeframe.
Asana Roadmap of 3 month turn around on Guest Checkout
Sections for the UX team to understand the flows for Checkout
Discovery & Research
Gathering info from Customers and Baymard
I benchmarked the current flow and mapped customer complaints. VOC data and Baymard research revealed that 25% of users abandon carts due to forced account creation.
"You need to allow guest checkout, even if the email address is already in use. The hoops are ridiculous when I just want to give you my money."
-Zappos Customer
25% of online shoppers have abandoned shopping carts due to forced account creation.
-Baymard
Current flow of checkout
Design
Rebuilding Checkout Flow to Minimize Friction
Wireframing the New Flow
After documenting the existing flow and identifying customer pain points, we developed a rough wireframe of the new flow to support Guest Checkout.
Existing payment flow compared to the proposed flow.
Outcome & Reflection
Results
Add a Title
The introduction of guest checkout at Zappos marked a significant milestone in simplifying the shopping experience for our customers. Since its release to 100% of users, we’ve observed notable trends:
• Guest Adoption Rate: Guest checkout is being utilized by 11.24% of users, indicating a meaningful preference for a frictionless purchase process among a segment of our audience.
• Average Order Value (AOV): Guest checkout users currently achieve an AOV that’s 79% of the value seen with account holders, which indicates that even without the added benefits of an account, guest shoppers are still making meaningful purchases.
Impact Highlights:
• Lowered Barriers to Entry: The guest checkout option opens Zappos to a broader audience, including first-time buyers and those wary of creating accounts.
• Opportunity for Conversion: With nearly 15% of users opting for guest checkout, there’s an opportunity to convert these users into account holders over time through follow-up campaigns and incentives, potentially increasing their AOV.
• Customer-Centric Focus: This feature reinforces Zappos’ reputation for customer-first design by catering to diverse shopping preferences.
Designing Progressive Checkout Stages
Buy-in from Developers on New Pages
I led the design of new pages based on the proposed wireframes, partnering with developers to resolve flow concerns and surface additional requirements from supporting teams.
Proposed Flow — Areas in RED are new experiences that needed support from the Front-End and Back-End team to help
Reflection & Future Opportunities
Follow ups
While the new filtering experience significantly improved usability and conversion, further personalization opportunities emerged during research and testing.
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Account Signup after order is complete
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Users were hesitant to create accounts at checkout start but willingly shared necessary information during the process. Enabling one-click post-checkout account creation presents a strong opportunity for user retention.
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Introduce Apple Pay
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Straight-forward.
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Adjusting Form From One Page to Stage by Stage Process
Reducing Cognitive Load on Customers
The original checkout experience presented a single, lengthy form, which led to incomplete submissions, user errors, and unclear feedback about required fields. I redesigned the flow into a three-stage checkout, allowing users to focus on one section at a time and making it easier to identify and resolve errors. I also introduced progress indicators to clearly communicate the number of steps remaining, helping users navigate the process with greater confidence and reducing abandonment.
Current Flow — One page layout which led to errors and drop-offs. The Place Your Order button is sticky to the bottom of the page which was one of the major problems with the page as users would click it continuously hoping for no errors.
Proposed Flow — Separating sections into 1. Shipping 2. Payment 3. Review. Making the form more digestible and each section fits into the screen