A customer can spend ten minutes deciding whether to attend an event and abandon the purchase in less than ten seconds.
The event looked interesting. The price seemed acceptable. The customer clicked “Buy Tickets.” Then the checkout asked for unnecessary information, revealed unexpected fees, required an account or simply became difficult to use on a phone.
The sale disappeared.
Checkout matters because this is where interest becomes commitment. Research into online checkout consistently shows that unnecessary friction can cause customers to abandon purchases, even when they have already decided they want the product.
The job of a ticket checkout is not to persuade customers all over again. It is to make completing a decision they have already made as easy and reassuring as possible.
Make the Path as Simple as Possible
A checkout should ask only for information that is necessary to complete the transaction or provide the service. Every additional field creates another task for the customer. Every unnecessary screen creates another opportunity to hesitate.
This does not mean removing information that is genuinely required. An organiser may need an email address to deliver tickets, payment information to process the transaction or other details for operational reasons.
But if a piece of information is not needed at this stage, ask whether it really belongs in the purchase process.
Account creation is a good example. Research from Baymard found that 18% of surveyed online shoppers had abandoned an order because they did not want to create an account, and its checkout research recommends making guest checkout easy to find.
The best checkout is not necessarily the shortest one. It is the one that removes every step that does not help the customer complete the purchase.
Show the Real Price Early
Few things damage checkout confidence faster than discovering that the price has changed.
If a customer selects a £40 ticket and reaches payment expecting to pay £40, an unavoidable £7 charge appearing at the end creates uncertainty at exactly the wrong moment.
In the UK, current Competition and Markets Authority guidance states that prices should be clear, complete and accurate and that mandatory charges should generally be included in the total price presented to consumers. The guidance specifically addresses “drip pricing”, where unavoidable charges are revealed later in the purchase journey.
For event organisers, the practical lesson is straightforward: Show customers what they will actually pay.
The checkout should clearly distinguish the ticket price, any applicable charges and the final total. Customers should not need a calculator to understand the purchase.
Price transparency is not just a legal consideration. It removes one of the biggest sources of last-minute doubt.
Design for the Phone in Someone's Hand
A ticket purchase often happens while someone is travelling, sitting in a café or messaging friends about whether they should attend.
That means mobile checkout is not a secondary version of the desktop experience.
Buttons need to be easy to tap. Text needs to be readable. Forms should minimise typing. Payment methods should work properly on mobile. Customers should not have to zoom in, scroll sideways or repeatedly re-enter information.
The entire journey needs to be tested on actual phones.
This matters because checkout usability problems are widespread across both desktop and mobile experiences; Baymard's recent benchmark found that 63% of mobile sites assessed had mediocre or worse checkout UX.
If the checkout is difficult with one hand and a small screen, it is difficult for a significant part of your audience.
Give Customers Confidence at the Payment Step
The payment screen is where the customer is about to commit money.
At this point, uncertainty becomes expensive.
Customers should be able to see what they are buying, the final amount, the available payment options and what happens after payment.
Use familiar payment methods that make sense for your audience and market. Do not overwhelm customers with every possible option, but do not force them into a method that is inconvenient or unavailable to them.
Payment errors also need to be handled properly.
If a payment fails, explain what happened and what the customer can do next. Do not simply display a technical error and leave them wondering whether they have been charged.
Baymard's payment UX research highlights payment-method availability, clear totals and effective error handling as important parts of the final purchase step.
At payment, the customer needs certainty more than creativity.
Remove Distractions Once the Customer Has Decided
The event page is where you sell the experience. Checkout is where you complete the transaction. These are different jobs.
Once a customer has reached payment, unnecessary banners, competing offers and excessive navigation can distract from the action you actually want them to take.
Keep the important information visible: event details, selected tickets, total price, payment options and relevant terms. But avoid turning the final purchase screen into another advertising page.
Even seemingly useful elements can create problems. For example, a prominent coupon field can encourage customers to leave checkout and search the internet for a discount code they did not originally intend to use. Baymard's research specifically recommends handling discount-code fields carefully for this reason.
When the customer is ready to pay, reduce the number of things competing for their attention.
Measure the Checkout Like a Sales Funnel
Do not decide that a checkout is working because it looks clean. Measure it.
Track how many visitors reach ticket selection, begin checkout, reach payment and complete the transaction. Then look for unusually large drop-offs between those stages.
If customers reach checkout but disappear when the final total is displayed, investigate pricing and fee communication. If they disappear at account creation, examine whether registration is necessary. If they reach payment but fail to complete, investigate payment methods, technical errors and customer confidence.
This is much more useful than simply looking at the overall number of abandoned carts.
And remember that not every abandonment is a checkout problem. Some people are browsing, comparing events or simply not ready to buy. Baymard's research explicitly distinguishes unavoidable browsing behaviour from abandonment caused by checkout usability.
The funnel tells you where customers leave. Testing and customer feedback help you understand why.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the most important part of a ticket checkout?
A: Clarity and low friction. Customers should understand what they are buying, what they will pay and how to complete the transaction without unnecessary steps or uncertainty.
Q: Should customers be required to create an account?
A: Not unless there is a genuine reason. If an account is not necessary to complete the purchase, a clearly visible guest option can remove an unnecessary barrier. Baymard's research found account creation to be a significant source of abandonment for some shoppers.
Q: Should ticket fees be shown before checkout?
A: Mandatory charges should be communicated clearly and early. In the UK, current CMA guidance says unavoidable charges should generally be included in the total price presented to consumers and specifically warns against hiding mandatory fees until later in the transaction.
Q: How can I improve mobile checkout?
A: Reduce typing, use clear touch-friendly controls, keep the interface simple, support appropriate mobile payment methods and test the complete journey on real devices rather than relying only on a desktop browser.
Q: How do I know where customers are abandoning checkout?
A: Measure conversion between the major stages of the purchase journey. Then investigate the steps with the largest unexplained drop-offs using usability testing, technical monitoring and customer feedback.
If you need additional advice or support, the TicketCRM team is always ready to help with your questions!