Guest Checkout

The problem

We were seeing a lot of drop-off on the checkout funnel when users were asked to create an account. We also saw we were majorly behind our competitors in this area, so we marked it as an important area for redesign.

We felt like we were putting up a brick wall in the shopping journey for those once-a-year, or even one-off, customers who might need a specific item from River Island. River Island can be a good place for someone to buy a suit, but they may never come back. Forcing them to sign up for an account felt like overkill for minimal reward, "I don't need to do this in store, so why should I do this online?"

What I did

• Competitor analysis to see how we were comparing to other retailers
• User journey mapped a new flow to reduce friction in this specific funnel

I audited the guest and post-purchase flows across John Lewis, Pull & Bear, H&M, All Saints, Mango and New Look, paying particular attention to how each handled account creation and FAQs.

Key decision

One of the key areas of the project was how much should we signal to the customer about the guest checkout. We needed to make it clear so we could get those users who were dropping to see this new flow and start it.

However we identified that we still needed to make sure it was clear enough for our current account holders to sail through the checkout, so we made each route similar in visual significance. The business valued their existing customers, and with good reason, so we needed to make sure this was not intrusive and sat alongside the current sign-in options we had.

Inviting sign-ups

The next area we identified was inviting sign-ups after the item was ordered. Let the user go through the checkout, buy the item, and then, if they're happy, they can easily create an account. That way we get more legitimate, interested account holders, rather than forcing unhappy customers who probably would never use River Island again.

Testing

I ran a usability test using UserTesting.com comparing two versions of the log in / sign up screen: Flow 1, a minimal screen giving guest and account equal weight, and Flow 2, a more persuasive screen leaning into the benefits of creating an account.

The results were clear. In Flow 1, 7 out of 8 users chose guest checkout — it felt quickest and lowest-effort. In Flow 2, the stronger visual hierarchy pulled more users toward signing up (5 of 8), but often at the cost of them missing the guest option entirely.

A few themes stood out:

• Users didn't want to feel pushed into an account; they preferred staying in control.
• An invitation to create an account after checkout landed well.
• Hesitation to sign up was partly fear of marketing spam, so control over email preferences mattered.

This gave us the confidence to keep both routes visually balanced rather than nudging users toward an account.

Outcome

We're still learning the impact of the guest checkout experience on River Island. It was suggested from early testing that this could generate an extra £3 million a year for the business, and we saw early indications that it was performing well.

One thing we wanted to push for more was smoothing out the checkout process itself. In another case study I go over the checkout experience, which heavily impacted the metrics we see on guest checkout.

Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think :)

Guest checkout experience