The Progress Bar – An Analysis of Top 100 Online Retailers

Published: October 8, 2008

Updated: August 8th, 2020

checkout progress bar

The checkout process for ecommerce websites represents the number of steps taken by visitors in order to get the products delivered to their doors. It is the path followed from the click on the checkout button to the “Receipt” page. Visitors are required to go through more or less “steps”, depending on which website they buy the products from, and depending on the logged-in status.

Very often, website owners want to know what is the perfect number of checkout pages for their websites. To misquote Dylan, “The answer, my friend, is “testing” in the wind”. There is no universal number of steps that will work for all websites. The magic number of steps depends on your audience and how you address their factors such as concerns, friction, and anxiety. The only way to find your “perfect number” of checkout steps is to A/B test different lengths and paths.

I took screenshots for more than 100 major e-tailers and I analyzed how they display the progress bar image during the checkout process.

Despite the fact that there is no universal progress bar to address all websites, there are, however, some guidelines you can follow. I marked the “DO’s” in bold and green.

One of the things I was surprised to discover is that several e-tailers don’t even have a progress bar. More than 10% (12 out of 111) of them are not displaying the bar, which can be confusing for their visitors.

Findings:

1. Are e-tailers numbering the steps in their checkout progress bar?
Yes – 52
No – 47

2. Do they provide a sense of action to visitors (i.e., arrow icons symbolizing the “move forward” action)? For this one, I considered that numbering the steps provides a strong “sense of action” to users.
Yes – 80
No – 19

3. Highlight the current checkout page against the rest of the pages in the process?
Yes – 98
No – 1

4. Do e-tailers provide a “Review Order” or “Confirm Order” page?
Yes – 75
No – 24

5. How many steps do visitors perceive when they look at the progress bar?
2 – 3
3 – 21
4 – 30
5 – 38
6 – 6
7 – 1

6. Is it the progress bar displayed horizontally or as a vertical list?
Horizontal – 92
Vertical – 7

7. Do e-tailers address any anxiety concerns in the progress bar? For example, telling visitors that the checkout process is secure.
Yes – 6
No – 93

8. If the checkout process has more than five steps, how many e-tailers are numbering the steps?
13 out of 38

9. How many e-tailers are grouping the Billing and Shipping Page in a single one?
27 out of 99

10. How many e-tailers provide some confidence of mind to visitors by marking completed steps as “being correctly done”?

1 out 99 (1800contacts.com is the only one)

Enjoy the Progress Bar collection:

checkout steps 1800 Contacts
checkout steps 1800 Flowers
checkout steps 1800 Pet Meds
checkout steps Abe Books
checkout steps Aber Crombie
checkout steps American Eagle
checkout steps Amazon
checkout steps Apple
checkout steps Art.com
checkout steps Avon
checkout steps Bass Pro
checkout steps Bath and Body Works
checkout steps Bed Bath and Beyond
checkout steps Best Buy
checkout steps Blair
checkout steps Bloomingdales
checkout steps Blue Nile
checkout steps Barnes and Noble
checkout steps Buy.com
checkout steps Cabelas
checkout steps CDW
checkout steps CDW
checkout steps Chadwicks
checkout steps Circuit City
checkout steps Cold Water Creek
checkout steps Costco
checkout steps Crate and Barrel
checkout steps Crutchfield
checkout steps Delias
checkout steps Dell
checkout steps Disney Shopping
checkout steps Domestications
checkout steps Drs Foster and Smith
checkout steps Drug Store
checkout steps eBags
checkout steps eCost
checkout steps Eddie Bauer
checkout steps eFollet
checkout steps eTronics
checkout steps FTD
checkout steps The Gap
checkout steps Hallmark
checkout steps Harry and David
checkout steps Hickory Farms
checkout steps Homeclick
checkout steps Home Depot
checkout steps Hewlett Packard
checkout steps JC Penney
checkout steps JC Whitney
checkout steps J Jill
checkout steps Lands End
checkout steps Lillian Vernon
checkout steps Liz Claiborne
checkout steps LL Bean.com
checkout steps LL Bean.com
checkout steps Lowes
checkout steps Macy's
checkout steps Major League Baseball
checkout steps Musician Friend
checkout steps New Egg
checkout steps Nieman Marcus
checkout steps Nordstrom
checkout steps Northern Tool
checkout steps Office Depot
checkout steps Office Max
checkout steps Omaha Steaks
checkout steps Oriental
checkout steps Overstock
checkout steps Palm.com
checkout steps PC Connection
checkout steps Peapod
checkout steps Pet Smart
checkout steps Ralph and Loren
checkout steps Proflowers
checkout steps QVC
checkout steps Radio Shack
checkout steps REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.)
checkout steps Ritz Camera.com
checkout steps Saks
checkout steps Scholastic.com
checkout steps Sears
checkout steps Schwans
checkout steps Sephora
checkout steps Smart Bargains
checkout steps Sony Style
checkout steps Spiegel
checkout steps Sportsman's Guide
checkout steps Staples
checkout steps Talbots
checkout steps Target.com
checkout steps Toys'R'Us
checkout steps Urban Outfitters
checkout steps Victoria's Secret
checkout steps Vista Print
checkout steps Walmart
checkout steps Walgreens
checkout steps Williams Sonoma

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