Amazon’s one-click buying eliminates friction at all costs. For them its likely that customers who adopt one-click increase spending, visit more frequently, and purchase across wider product categories. The design choice is deliberate: minimize dwell time, reduce decision fatigue, maximize impulse purchases. This optimizes ruthlessly for conversion rate. That orange “Buy Now” button—using urgency-triggering color psychology—converts browsing into buying in under a minute.
In contrast, Warby Parker’s checkout process kinda slows you down. Their Home Try-On program ships five frames for free, encouraging customers to consult friends, post on social media, and even message stylists for advice. This “friction” increases purchase likelihood by 50%. These design choices optimize for average order value and reduced returns. Customers who feel confident spend more and keep what they buy. This builds customer lifetime value through reduced acquisition costs and increased retention. It seems like they want to build more of a reliability/quality brand.
Patagonia checkout does something completely different. They go for the values angle, with their checkout embedding anti-consumerism into the buying experience. Their Worn Wear program lets customers trade in used gear for credit, creating a circular economy loop. Repair services and transparency about environmental impact live alongside the checkout. This approach seems a bit counterintuitive—encouraging customers to buy less, repair more, and consider secondhand options reduces immediate revenue. The way they make up for this is with staunch brand loyalty. Customers actually believe in the mission and values of the company, and will likely be returning for more purchases in the future.
