Removing registration friction from YPO's checkout
Designing a guest checkout that simplified a complex purchasing journey and contributed to a 20% increase in conversion within two months.
Removing the biggest barrier to purchase
YPO’s online purchasing journey was built primarily around registered customers. Before completing an order, users were required to log in or create an account, introducing significant friction for people who simply wanted to make a purchase. The problem was particularly visible among personal and one-time purchasers, but the registration journey was also creating frustration for existing business customers. In some scenarios, moving through registration could result in changes to or even the loss of products already added to the basket.
Could we allow customers to complete a purchase without forcing them through the full registration journey?
My Role
I led the UX work from discovery and journey mapping through to prototyping and usability testing, working closely with project managers, business analysts, developers and the UI team to create a solution that could work within YPO's existing platform.
Removing the biggest barrier to purchase
YPO’s online purchasing journey was built primarily around registered customers. Before completing an order, users were required to log in or create an account, introducing significant friction for people who simply wanted to make a purchase. The problem was particularly visible among personal and one-time purchasers, but the registration journey was also creating frustration for existing business customers. In some scenarios, moving through registration could result in changes to or even the loss of products already added to the basket.
Could we allow customers to complete a purchase without forcing them through the full registration journey?
My Role
I led the UX work from discovery and journey mapping through to prototyping and usability testing, working closely with project managers, business analysts, developers and the UI team to create a solution that could work within YPO's existing platform.
The checkout was asking for commitment before customers could buy
We began by mapping the existing purchasing journey and reviewing competitor checkout experiences to understand where friction was occurring. One issue stood out immediately: there was no true guest checkout. Customers had to sign in or register before continuing, introducing unnecessary friction between purchase intent and checkout. For business customers, registration could also disrupt the basket they had already built. These findings led us to two hypotheses that shaped the direction of the project.
Mandatory registration may be causing customers to abandon their purchase before reaching checkout.
Opportunity: Remove account creation as a prerequisite to purchase.
Customers without existing accounts may represent an underserved purchasing segment.
Opportunity: Create a simpler route to purchase for occasional and first-time customers.
Rather than redesigning the entire checkout, we focused on removing the biggest barrier first.
The checkout was asking for commitment before customers could buy
We began by mapping the existing purchasing journey and reviewing competitor checkout experiences to understand where friction was occurring. One issue stood out immediately: there was no true guest checkout. Customers had to sign in or register before continuing, introducing unnecessary friction between purchase intent and checkout. For business customers, registration could also disrupt the basket they had already built. These findings led us to two hypotheses that shaped the direction of the project.
Mandatory registration may be causing customers to abandon their purchase before reaching checkout.
Opportunity: Remove account creation as a prerequisite to purchase.
Customers without existing accounts may represent an underserved purchasing segment.
Opportunity: Create a simpler route to purchase for occasional and first-time customers.
Rather than redesigning the entire checkout, we focused on removing the biggest barrier first.
One guest journey had to support four different scenarios
What initially seemed like a straightforward solution allowing customers to continue without registering revealed greater complexity once we explored YPO's underlying account and purchasing logic. Through collaborative workshops and journey mapping, we identified four scenarios that the new experience needed to accommodate.
Customers entering checkout without an existing account.
Customers transitioning into checkout with their selected products unchanged.
Customers encountering changes to products or prices during the transition.
Customers whose details may already exist within YPO's platform.
Mapping the scenarios helped us separate the complexity customers needed to understand from the technical logic that could remain behind the scenes.
Keep the purchasing experience simple, even when the system supporting it isn't.
One guest journey had to support four different scenarios
What initially seemed like a straightforward solution allowing customers to continue without registering revealed greater complexity once we explored YPO's underlying account and purchasing logic. Through collaborative workshops and journey mapping, we identified four scenarios that the new experience needed to accommodate.
Customers entering checkout without an existing account.
Customers transitioning into checkout with their selected products unchanged.
Customers encountering changes to products or prices during the transition.
Customers whose details may already exist within YPO's platform.
Mapping the scenarios helped us separate the complexity customers needed to understand from the technical logic that could remain behind the scenes.
Keep the purchasing experience simple, even when the system supporting it isn't.
Simplifying access without rebuilding the platform
With the four scenarios understood, I redesigned the journey around a clear principle: simplify the steps customers experience without requiring a complete rebuild of the underlying platform. The solution introduced an email-based magic-link route that removed the need for customers to create and remember another password before purchasing.
- Basket
- Mandatory registration
- Checkout
- Basket
- Guest access via email
- Checkout
The new journey removed mandatory password creation, allowing customers to continue through a simplified guest-access route.
Rather than exposing the complexity of YPO's account and purchasing logic, the new journey focused on making two critical moments easier to navigate. Together, these decisions reduced unnecessary friction while making exceptional scenarios easier to understand.
Allow customers to continue without creating another password, while accommodating the platform's existing account requirements.
Introduce clear messaging when products or prices change during the transition into guest checkout.
Simplifying access without rebuilding the platform
With the four scenarios understood, I redesigned the journey around a clear principle: simplify the steps customers experience without requiring a complete rebuild of the underlying platform. The solution introduced an email-based magic-link route that removed the need for customers to create and remember another password before purchasing.
- Basket
- Mandatory registration
- Checkout
- Basket
- Guest access via email
- Checkout
The new journey removed mandatory password creation, allowing customers to continue through a simplified guest-access route.
Rather than exposing the complexity of YPO's account and purchasing logic, the new journey focused on making two critical moments easier to navigate. Together, these decisions reduced unnecessary friction while making exceptional scenarios easier to understand.
Allow customers to continue without creating another password, while accommodating the platform's existing account requirements.
Introduce clear messaging when products or prices change during the transition into guest checkout.
Focusing development effort where it could create the most value
The project had a tight delivery window and needed to integrate with an established platform. Rather than introducing an entirely new checkout interface, I worked with the development team to reuse and adapt existing patterns wherever possible. This reduced implementation complexity and allowed us to focus design effort on the moments that mattered most — particularly the transition into guest checkout and the messaging required when basket contents changed. Some broader checkout improvements were intentionally left outside the initial release. The objective wasn't to create the perfect future checkout in one project. It was to remove the biggest source of friction quickly, validate the new behaviour and create a foundation that could be improved further.
Focusing development effort where it could create the most value
The project had a tight delivery window and needed to integrate with an established platform. Rather than introducing an entirely new checkout interface, I worked with the development team to reuse and adapt existing patterns wherever possible. This reduced implementation complexity and allowed us to focus design effort on the moments that mattered most — particularly the transition into guest checkout and the messaging required when basket contents changed. Some broader checkout improvements were intentionally left outside the initial release. The objective wasn't to create the perfect future checkout in one project. It was to remove the biggest source of friction quickly, validate the new behaviour and create a foundation that could be improved further.
We tested the smooth journey — and the uncomfortable one
Testing only the ideal guest checkout journey wouldn't tell us whether the solution could handle the situations most likely to damage customer trust. So we created two usability-testing scenarios. The first represented the ideal journey: the customer entered guest checkout and their basket remained unchanged. The second deliberately introduced changes to products or pricing during the transition. This allowed us to evaluate both whether customers could successfully complete the new journey and how they responded when the system had to deliver unexpected information. Users demonstrated a high level of task completion across the testing, while the scenario involving basket changes produced a slightly weaker satisfaction response. That difference was important. It reinforced that the underlying guest flow was understandable, while also validating the need for clear, proactive messaging whenever the system altered something the customer believed they had already chosen.
We tested the smooth journey — and the uncomfortable one
Testing only the ideal guest checkout journey wouldn't tell us whether the solution could handle the situations most likely to damage customer trust. So we created two usability-testing scenarios. The first represented the ideal journey: the customer entered guest checkout and their basket remained unchanged. The second deliberately introduced changes to products or pricing during the transition. This allowed us to evaluate both whether customers could successfully complete the new journey and how they responded when the system had to deliver unexpected information. Users demonstrated a high level of task completion across the testing, while the scenario involving basket changes produced a slightly weaker satisfaction response. That difference was important. It reinforced that the underlying guest flow was understandable, while also validating the need for clear, proactive messaging whenever the system altered something the customer believed they had already chosen.
Shipping the improvement without destabilising the wider checkout
Following validation, I worked with the UI lead to translate the new journey into final screens. We made a conscious decision to retain YPO's existing visual and interaction patterns for the initial implementation rather than introducing a wider redesign at the same time. This allowed the team to release the behavioural improvement faster while minimising disruption across the rest of the purchasing journey. The project demonstrates an approach I continue to value today: not every high-impact UX improvement requires a complete redesign. Sometimes the most effective intervention is identifying the single piece of friction preventing customers from moving forward and designing the smallest viable change capable of removing it.
Shipping the improvement without destabilising the wider checkout
Following validation, I worked with the UI lead to translate the new journey into final screens. We made a conscious decision to retain YPO's existing visual and interaction patterns for the initial implementation rather than introducing a wider redesign at the same time. This allowed the team to release the behavioural improvement faster while minimising disruption across the rest of the purchasing journey. The project demonstrates an approach I continue to value today: not every high-impact UX improvement requires a complete redesign. Sometimes the most effective intervention is identifying the single piece of friction preventing customers from moving forward and designing the smallest viable change capable of removing it.
Shipping the improvement without destabilising the wider checkout
Following validation, I worked with the UI lead to translate the new journey into final screens. We made a conscious decision to retain YPO's existing visual and interaction patterns for the initial implementation rather than introducing a wider redesign at the same time. This allowed the team to release the behavioural improvement faster while minimising disruption across the rest of the purchasing journey. The project demonstrates an approach I continue to value today: not every high-impact UX improvement requires a complete redesign. Sometimes the most effective intervention is identifying the single piece of friction preventing customers from moving forward and designing the smallest viable change capable of removing it.
Removing one barrier opened a new route to purchase
Within two months of implementation, YPO recorded a 20% increase in conversion. The new experience also helped reveal a previously under-recognised group of customers purchasing through mobile devices, highlighting the importance of supporting customers beyond YPO's traditional registered purchasing journeys. More importantly, the project demonstrated that the checkout problem wasn't simply about interface design. It was about understanding why customers were being asked to commit before they were ready, simplifying the underlying journey, and designing around the realities of an established platform.
Increase in conversion within two months
Removing one barrier opened a new route to purchase
Within two months of implementation, YPO recorded a 20% increase in conversion. The new experience also helped reveal a previously under-recognised group of customers purchasing through mobile devices, highlighting the importance of supporting customers beyond YPO's traditional registered purchasing journeys. More importantly, the project demonstrated that the checkout problem wasn't simply about interface design. It was about understanding why customers were being asked to commit before they were ready, simplifying the underlying journey, and designing around the realities of an established platform.
Increase in conversion within two months
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