Melissa Cameron
Melissa Cameron
E-comm Optimisation
A short CRO focused initiative, that lead for £51k additional revenue and 0.2ppt increase in conversion.
Timeline March 2026 - June 2026
Project Summary
Apple Pay Express was introduced across Web and iOS to reduce checkout friction, enabling customers to complete their purchase using their stored payment and delivery details. Following the initial launch, the experience was iterated by surfacing Apple Pay earlier in the purchase journey through the product listing page preview, creating an even faster path to purchase for customers with high purchase intent.
Looking at customer behaviour, we identified a clear opportunity. A significant proportion of customers were purchasing their card just two or three days before the occasion. These customers typically bought a single card, rarely added a gift, selected next-day delivery and were simply trying to complete their purchase as quickly as possible.
Impact
Across platform incremental revenue
£51K
% of customers using Apple pay
15%
Overal conversion gains
0.2ppt
Problem definition
During our peak trading periods, ecommerce conversion had declined from 25.8% to 23.6% year-on-year, representing a 2.2 percentage point reduction in customers successfully completing a purchase.
When analysing the checkout funnel, we found that customers were progressively dropping off throughout the journey. Only 88.6% of customers who entered checkout progressed beyond the first action, with continued attrition through address, payment and confirmation before reaching purchase completion.
Combined with customer behaviour data, we identified a clear pattern: last-minute shoppers typically purchased a single card, selected next-day delivery and rarely explored additional products. These customers had high purchase intent but were being asked to navigate a lengthy checkout experience that required multiple forms, payment details and unnecessary interactions.
Customer Problems
Web & App
Customers are often in a rush and want to complete their purchase quickly.
-
Entering payment details and billing information is time-consuming and error-prone.
-
Even small moments of friction in checkout can cause abandonment.
-
On mobile, typing and form-filling is disproportionately painful.
On iOS app specifically:
-
Users are predominantly returning customers.
-
Users are more likely to be Apple Pay-enabled and comfortable using it.
-
There is high expectation for seamless, native payment experiences.
Opportunity Tree
Before committing to a solution, the team mapped the challenge using an ecommerce opportunity tree. This helped broaden the problem space and explore multiple ways to reduce checkout friction, rather than jumping straight to Apple Pay. By breaking the opportunity down into customer needs and ‘How Might We’ questions, we identified a range of potential improvements—from payment options and privacy to delivery, address management and checkout simplification. Apple Pay emerged as the highest-impact opportunity based on customer behaviour, feasibility and commercial value.
Hypothsis
Because we observed checkout conversion had fallen from 25.8% to 23.6% year-on-year, we believe changing the payment experience by introducing Apple Pay Express, will result in higher checkout conversion through a faster, lower-friction journey, measured by ecommerce conversion, Apple Pay adoption and incremental revenue.
Proposed Solution
Phase 1: Apple Pay Express in Checkout
-
Add Apple Pay as an express payment option within checkout.
-
Allow customers to complete purchase using Apple Pay with minimal manual input.
-
Leverage stored Apple Pay shipping + billing details to reduce form completion.
Phase 2: Apple Pay on PDP
-
Introduce a “Buy with Apple Pay” button directly on PDP.
-
For eligible products (e.g. single card, no add-ons), allow customers to:
-
Tap Apple Pay
-
Confirm shipping details
-
Complete purchase
-
This bypasses basket and full checkout entirely.
This phase will be strictly A/B tested due to potential AOV impact.
The results
On Web+0.2ppt improvement to ecom conversion. Through the remainder of 2026 this is worth roughly:
-
~3k incremental orders
-
~£27k incremental revenue
Within the variant around 11% of purchases are through Apple Pay Express CheckoutOn iOS+0.5ppt improvement to ecom conversion. Through the remainder of 2026 this is worth roughly:
-
~2.7k incremental orders
-
~£24k incremental revenue
Within the variant about 15% of purchases are through Apple Pay Express CheckoutAcross both platforms the estimated rest-of-year impact is ~£51k incremental revenue