# Checkout and payment

> Foundation four of seven. Checkout is the narrowest and most fragile part of the operation, and the part most retailers test least. The constraint hides in the fields nobody trimmed and the mobile page nobody tested under load.

Source: https://barkingcat.ai/thinking/bulletproof-for-the-golden-quarter/checkout-and-payment/

## Bulletproof for the Golden Quarter · Foundation 4 of 7

The narrowest part of the funnel, carrying the heaviest load.

Download the full playbook as a PDF: [fifteen pages, no form, no email, no gate.](https://barkingcat.ai/assets/bulletproof-for-the-golden-quarter.pdf)

## The fields nobody trimmed

Checkout is the narrowest and most fragile part of the operation, and the part most retailers test least. A checkout with more fields than it needs, on the device most of your traffic now uses, is a constraint that only shows itself when the load is heaviest. On the busiest hour of your year, the customer does not care why the payment page timed out.

**The customer test.** At the single most decision-heavy moment, the checkout, have you removed every reason to pause that you control. The ones you leave in are the ones your competitor removed.

## On the checklist
- Checkout is tested on mobile, under load, on the right payment methods.
- Guest checkout exists and works.

## Before peak arrives

This playbook is the front-end read a house can run on itself. [The Barking Cat Review](https://barkingcat.ai/review/) takes the whole house apart, shop front and back office, finds the binding constraint, and puts commercial numbers against it before peak arrives.

## Find your constraint before the traffic arrives

[THE PRE-PEAK CHECKLIST](https://barkingcat.ai/thinking/bulletproof-for-the-golden-quarter/checklist/)

## Contact

steve@barkingcat.ai

Barking Cat Advisory Limited. Registered in England and Wales, company number 17338003.