The 15-minute stranger test
You cannot see your own checkout. You built it, you know which boxes are optional, you know the phone field wants no spaces. A stranger knows none of that. So you have to fake being a stranger, on purpose, with some rules.
- Use your phone, not your laptop. Most of your buyers do.
- Use a private window, so nothing is filled in for you.
- Buy the cheapest thing, with a real card, and refund yourself after.
- Every time you pause, squint or retype, write down the box.
What we look for
Same few culprits, nearly every time.
- A phone field that rejects normal ways of writing a number, like spaces or a plus sign. That is the Fern & Co box in the reel, a made-up store with a very real problem.
- Boxes nobody needs, like company name or a second address line shown open.
- Surprise costs that only show up on the last step.
- An account wall before payment.
- Errors that only show after you press Pay, and wipe what you typed.
The phone field is so common it got its own guide. The short version is accept any format, use type="tel" so phones show a number pad, and say why you need the number.
One box, one fix
Do not write a 30-item list. You will fix none of it. Pick the box that made you pause the longest and fix only that one this week. Then do the test again.
TRY THIS TODAYBlock out 15 minutes today. Buy something from your own store on your phone in a private window. Write down the first box that made you hesitate, and change that box before Friday.
Moxel does this from real visitors instead of from you pretending. It records which field people touched last before leaving and turns it into one ranked fix. The longer walk-through is find your checkout drop-off.
What the reel said
ON SCREENA moth types a phone number into a checkout at Fern & Co.
ON SCREENThe field turns red: Enter a valid phone number. The moth flies away.
ON SCREENSend us your checkout.
ON SCREENWe find the box they quit on. Fix: accept any phone format.
ON SCREENDrop your URL below, or DM us LEAK.
Asked a lot
- How do I find where customers abandon my checkout?
- Buy from your own store on a phone in a private window and note every box that makes you pause. For real data, use a tool that records the last field people touched before leaving.
- Why do phone number fields lose buyers?
- They often reject normal formats like spaces or a plus sign, and some people do not want to share a number. Accept any format and say why you need it.
Sources
- Explain why the phone field is requiredBaymard Institute, Edward Scott, March 2020, updated July 2025.
- Cart abandonment rate statisticsBaymard Institute, updated September 2025.
- <input type="tel">MDN.