Ashley Furniture boosts checkout conversions 15% by eliminating a redundant address-entry step
Using AB Tasty's experimentation platform, Ashley Furniture identified and removed a duplicate address-entry step from its online checkout flow, raising conversion rates by 15% and reducing bounce rates by 4%.
Background
Ashley Furniture's checkout process required new visitors who had not entered their address at account creation to do so mid-funnel, interrupting the purchase flow. This created friction that was driving cart abandonment before the payment step. With high traffic volume, even marginal improvements in checkout conversion would produce significant revenue impact.
What Was Implemented
- Used AB Tasty to run an A/B test on the checkout flow for new visitors
- Identified the redundant address-entry step as the primary friction point
- Designed a variation in which users without a saved address were prompted to enter it immediately after login — before entering the checkout funnel
- Deployed the test across all live traffic and measured impact on conversion rate and bounce rate
Results
The A/B test produced a 15% increase in conversion rate and a 4% reduction in bounce rate by removing the duplicate address-entry step from the purchase funnel. Matt Sparks, eCommerce Optimization Manager at Ashley Furniture, confirmed the ongoing use of AB Tasty for A/B and multivariate testing across the site.
Lessons
- Single-hypothesis, single-step checkout optimization can produce double-digit conversion gains; not all CRO requires complex multivariate testing.
- Identifying the root cause of abandonment (a redundant form step) is more valuable than optimizing superficial page elements.
- Moving friction earlier in the user journey (e.g., address capture at login rather than at checkout) is a recognized pattern for reducing purchase-funnel abandonment.
- Involving the UX team in conversion optimization — not just marketing — produces more durable improvements by addressing actual usability problems.