Abandon checkout Shopify: find the last screen

The final step is where a shopper has the most invested and the least patience. They have typed a contact and an address, and now they expect to pay. Three things commonly break that moment. A total on the review screen can differ from the cart because tax, delivery or a discount is applied late. A bank verification step can open in a separate window that the shopper does not notice. On a small screen, the keyboard, a sticky bar or a chat widget can cover the pay button, so the shopper taps around it. None of these shows as an error, so the shopper simply leaves.

• Compare the total on the last screen with the cart total, line by line, for the same address.
• Open the last screen on a phone and check that the pay button stays visible when the keyboard is open.
• Check whether a chat widget, cookie banner or sticky bar sits on top of the pay button.
• Pay with a test order in your payment provider's test mode and watch whether a verification window opens and returns.

By the last screen, a shopper has done the work. They have accepted the cart, given a contact and an address, and picked a delivery method. Their attention is now on one number and one button. A total that moved since the cart, or a button they cannot reach, breaks the one moment they were ready to pay. Because the shopper is so close, they rarely complain, and they often do not come back to try again. The store only records an unfinished checkout.

All three end in one abandoned checkout, so a report cannot separate them. The changed total is visible on the screen: the number at the bottom differs from the cart, and the difference usually traces to tax, delivery or a discount applied at the end. The bank window appears only after the pay button is pressed, so no screen before that point shows it. The covered button is visible only in a screenshot taken at phone size, where a widget or bar from another tool sits over it.

Start with the total, since it is the cheapest to check. Compare the cart and the last screen for one address, line by line. If they match, test the pay button on a phone with the keyboard open. The verification window comes last, because it needs a payment attempt, which a test in your provider's test mode can make and a simulated visitor cannot.

A simulated visitor fills in the checkout as a new shopper and goes up to the payment step, then stops. The run records the total on each screen, the position of the pay button in a screenshot, and any script error or blocked request that appears on that step. If a chat widget or a sticky bar covers the button, the screenshot shows the overlap at the size the visitor used.

The run stops before a real payment, so it cannot show a bank window that opens after the pay button, or a decline. Use it to check the total and the button position on the last screen. Then finish one test payment yourself in test mode to see the verification step. Run the same new-shopper visit after each change, on the same kind of device, so the screenshots can be compared.

A new app adds a line, a tax setting changes for one region, or a discount starts applying late, and the total on the last screen moves again. Run the same new-shopper checkout after each of those changes, on a phone, before the next promotion sends traffic. A total that matched last week can differ today, and the shopper will not say why they left.